Miss Grimsleys Oxford Career by Carla Kelly Read Free Book Online Page A

to one another.”
    Ellen smiled at her aunt and took a closer look at her elder brother. They had the same fair hair and blue eyes, but to her mind, there the resemblance stopped. She observed her brother in profile, admiring the regularity of his features, and wondering why they were so different in temperament, inclination, and goal.
I would give the world to walk these halls and quads, and Gordon cannot wait to leave it.
    Her own pleasure in the meal dissolved. She ate what was put before her and wished herself elsewhere. Gordon, when he recovered from his sulks, kept up a witty conversation with Aunt Shreve that earned him a kiss on the cheek as he escorted them back to the school and a handful of guineas.
    “Your mother thought you might be in need,” Aunt Shreve said. “She says that is all you will have until the quarter, so practice economy, my dear.”
    Gordon grinned and kissed them good night. The bell in Magdalen Tower tolled, and then another and another. “I'll be in touch, Ellen,” he said as his lips brushed her cheek.
    Aunt Shreve watched him go. “I worry for him,” was all she said as they opened the door and were greeted by Miss Dignam.
    “I will show you to your room,” she said, handing Ellen a candlestick.
    “One moment, Miss Dignam, if you please,” Ellen said. She set down the candle and reached in her reticule for the letter. “Miss Dignam, if you please, could I change these classes in embroidery and French for geography and perhaps geometry? I would like that, and I know that I can keep up.”
    Miss Dignam blinked. “We do not offer such things here! We find that a little Italian and a little French, and watercolors or embroidery are enough. Geometry? Goodness, child, these subjects are not for females.”
    “Do you mean I cannot study them here?”
    “Precisely.” Miss Dignam permitted herself a smile. “If you continue with us next year, the older students study the improving poetry of John Donne. But only with their parents’ approval,” she emphasized, “and only if it does not excite them.”
    “I had no idea,” Aunt Shreve said in a faint voice.
    “Oh, yes, my dear Eugenia. We follow the same pattern with the modern composers such as Beethoven.” Miss Dignam gestured toward the stairs. “Come, my dear, you will have a strenuous day tomorrow. We have been studying the different shades of blue and green in watercolors, and you must attempt to catch up with us. I recommend that you retire.”
    Ellen kissed her aunt good night and quietly climbed the stairs behind the headmistress. Miss Dignam opened a door and peered in.
    “You are sharing chambers with Fanny Bland,” she whispered. “She is an unexceptional girl, and all that is proper. I believe you are already acquainted?”
    Fanny made no sound. Ellen said good night to Miss Dignam, undressed in the dark, and crept into bed. The sheets were cold and stiff, as if Miss Dignam had added starch to the rinse water. Ellen huddled into a ball and ducked her head under the covers as the tears began to fall.
    When she finished crying, she blew her nose quietly and tucked her hand under her cheek. “Things always look better in the morning,” she said, her voice soft.
    As she drifted toward sleep, she thought again of the student on the hill. She had already forgotten his name, but she could not forget the independent way he strode down the hill.
You look so free
, she said to herself as she watched the shadows cross the window and the moon change.
I want to be free too.
    Ellen was almost asleep when she heard the sound of pebbles hitting against the window. She did not move, imagining that the sound came from some other part of the hall. She closed her eyes.
    The sound continued, little scourings of sound against the window. After debating with herself another moment, she rose silently from her bed and tiptoed to the window. She opened it and leaned out.
    Gordon stood below, his hands cupped around his mouth. “I