Bloody Lessons by M. Louisa Locke Page B

Ned’s blue eyes, luxuriant mustache, and cheerful smile. As far as she knew, he had not succumbed to any of their blandishments, so maybe it was this shy, soft-spoken young brunette that was keeping him faithful. She wondered if there was a diplomatic way of getting Miss Beale to find out from Ned whether Seth Timmons was still at San Jose finishing up his studies. Yes, a better acquaintance with Celia Beale might be very illuminating.
    After a little more conversation, the rest of the teachers left, and Della Thorndike sat down to expand on Laura’s supervisory responsibilities with Kitty Blaine. When they got to the plan to have Kitty work on her own with the slower readers, Della said, “I don’t know how Kitty is going to respond if they aren’t completely cooperative. You might need to intervene if you see things getting out of hand. She is a bright young woman who excels in all her subjects, but as you may have observed, she can be a bit socially ill-at-ease. Her father, you know, is quite wealthy, nothing but the best for his little Kitty.”
    Laura wondered why being cosseted by a loving parent would make a young girl socially awkward.
    As if to answer her unspoken question, Della went on, saying, “Her mother died shortly after her birth, and Kitty was brought up entirely by English governesses. She was educated at home until two years ago when she entered the middle year at Girls' High.”
    Sighing, she leaned towards Laura and, in a confiding tone, said, “Kitty has had some trouble fitting in with the other girls. We have students from the best families in the city, so I don’t know exactly what the problem is. She seems most comfortable with her male instructors, who are dazzled by her erudition. She is fluent in Greek and Latin. Quite impressive. But I have decided this semester to take the poor thing under my wing. Mother her a little. I hope you will do so as well.”
    Aware that she was only a year or two older than Kitty, Laura wasn’t sure that the young woman would take at all kindly to being mothered by her. In fact, it was her distinct impression that Kitty wasn’t that enthusiastic about being Miss Thorndike’s special protégé. But, since Kitty knew Greek and Latin, the two subjects Laura needed to master if she wanted to pass the entrance exam for the University, it seemed sensible to cultivate her friendship.
    Della continued to tell her about her plans for Kitty, getting up to freshen their tea, obviously very at home in the Clement Grammar teachers’ room. As she chattered on, Laura’s thoughts drifted back to Hattie. She was frustrated that she hadn’t gotten the chance to tell her friend about her oldest Cupertino Creek student, Buck Morrison, and how Seth had intervened. And then there was the alley attack last week that she’d been anxious to talk to her about. The more Laura went over what happened, the less sure she was that it had been Seth. She really could have used some reassurance from Hattie on Saturday, but just when Laura was about to bring up Seth , the dratted Andrew Russell had interrupted them.
    She couldn’t understand why Hattie found Russell so attractive. He was only of medium build, with regular, unremarkable features. His chiseled jaw and his dark amber-colored eyes, magnified by gold-rimmed glasses, did give him an air of strength, but Laura found his habit of running his hands through his hair both irritating and immature. No doubt Hattie found it endearing . After Hattie had whispered into his ear, he had told Laura how pleased he was that she had agreed to attend “his sweet girl” at the wedding ceremony.
    Laura hadn’t been sure she would be able to stay civil if she had to listen to his fake attempts at trying to flatter her, so she manufactured a prior engagement requiring her immediate return to the O’Farrell Street boarding house. Mr. Russell had offered to get her a cab, but in her desperation to get away, she’d refused his offer and was