A Simple Shaker Murder by Deborah Woodworth Read Free Book Online Page B

and a small group of children burst onto the brown lawn, running around each other in circles like puppies released from a pen. The air filled with shouts and giggles.As Rose and Gilbert turned to watch, Mairin’s tiny figure emerged alone, lagging far behind the rest of the children. She stopped just outside the door and watched the others at play.
    â€œI wasn’t aware you had taken over Mairin’s education,” Gilbert said, coldness hardening his voice.
    â€œWe certainly aren’t ‘taking over,’ ” Rose said. “Mairin seems lost and alone here. I thought she would benefit from being with other children for a while. It doesn’t look as if she is used to playmates. Does she spend most of her time by herself?”
    Gilbert hesitated. Rose studied his face and thought she saw irritation under the scholarly mask.
    â€œShe has come a long way,” he said. “When we took her in, she did not speak at all, did not know how to bathe, and she ate only with her hands. Celia was horrified. I think she has never really forgiven Mairin for being so like an animal at first, but really, it isn’t the child’s fault; it was the conditions of her upbringing. The proper environment will turn her around in time. We just have to be patient and keep working with her.”
    â€œWhat is Mairin’s background?”
    Gilbert watched as Mairin slid to the ground, her back against the Schoolhouse. She didn’t join in with the raucous, joyous play of the other children. “All we know is, she saw her parents die when she was five or so. Her mother was a Kentucky girl, Negro, I believe, and the daughter of freed slaves. Father was an Irish immigrant, so her people were uneducated. The child can’t have had much of an education herself. I wish we could have taken her into our care much earlier. But there’s still hope. Certainly Hugh thought so, or he wouldn’t have asked Celia to tutor her.”
    â€œAnd did she tutor Mairin?”
    â€œWell, I . . . that is, I didn’t keep watch over her or anything, but I assume she did.”
    â€œDid she take care of Mairin’s meals?”
    â€œShe was Hugh’s wife, after all,” Gilbert said.
    â€œI see.” What Rose did see was that Gilbert had paid noattention to the girl so in need of the proper environment.
    â€œHugh was fond of Mairin?” Rose asked.
    â€œYes, very. At first I think he felt sorry for her, poor little orphan.”
    â€œWhat happened after her parents died?”
    â€œShe has never been very clear about that. Apparently she was shunted around from relative to relative, probably starved. My guess is that she ran away at some point, though she won’t admit it, and who knows how long she roamed the streets on her own before Hugh found her.”
    A boy ran up to Mairin. Rose didn’t know the boy by name, but he was a child of one of the farm families living near North Homage, brought daily to the village for schooling. He put his hands on his hips and seemed to be scolding the girl. Nine-year-old Nora stopped her play and watched the two. She ran toward them as the boy started wagging his finger at Mairin, who shrank back against the wall. Soon Nora and the boy were arguing, and Mairin slipped away from them, back into the Schoolhouse.
    Rose picked up her skirts and ran toward the building. She could hear Gilbert hurrying behind her. The back door of the Schoolhouse led to a small storage room, then on to the schoolroom. In one corner of the storage room, behind a row of unused desks, Mairin had curled herself into a ball. Charlotte knelt beside her, but the child cowered away from her.
    â€œRose, what has happened?” Charlotte asked. “Mairin seems terrified, but I can’t get a word out of her. Has she been hurt? I wish I’d been out there, but I had some work to do, and I thought the children would be fine on their own for a while, with the