The Girl Under the Olive Tree by Leah Fleming Read Free Book Online Page A

presume you have been to all the museums here?’
    Penny nodded, taken aback by her sharp tone. This was not an encouraging start.
    ‘If I take you on, I want no time wasting, no flitting off to cocktail parties on a whim. My spare time is precious and I’m not interested in excuses. Girls of your age can be keen one moment and then off onto the next craze once the assignments get harder. I won’t give praise unless it’s due,’ she continued brusquely, but her eyes were warm, Penny noted. ‘You’ve made a valiant attempt to impress, I’ll give you that, but we’ll have to go right back to basics if you are serious about archaeological illustration. Reputations are made or lost on how finds are represented on the page. Have you ever been to a stratigraphic museum?’
    Penny looked blank.
    Miss Bushnell smiled. ‘Latin and Greek; it means layers and drawing. It’s where discoveries are cleaned, sorted, recorded, drawn from many angles, then stored for reference and research. You must read John Pendlebury’s work and, of course, Sir Arthur Evans on Knossos.’
    ‘Papa once went to dinner in Oxford and he was a guest,’ Penny chipped in hopefully.
    ‘I’m not interested in your social goings-on,’ Miss Bushnell snapped. ‘You need to read all round your subject, and find out what’s been going on here in the British School of Archaeology. I can get you a ticket for the Penrose Library but first, here are some ground rules for our sessions. I’ll give you six and then I’m off on a dig. I will leave you a chunk of work while I’m away. If you make a decent shot at this, I’ll give you some more. Oh, and you must make a visit to a stratigraphic museum and see what really goes on. I also want you to observe an excavation and learn how the artifacts are recorded. I’ll be going back to Crete with the Pendleburys next spring. That might give you something to aim for.’
    Next spring. Penny gulped – she and Evadne were due home for Christmas – but she nodded. ‘That will be wonderful but I’ll have to check with my parents, of course.’
    ‘Why? How old are you?’
    ‘I’ll be eighteen by then.’
    ‘And never done a day’s work, I hazard a guess . . . There are children of thirteen full time in the mills where I come from. Surely your parents won’t object to your studies, though it’s dirty work. You won’t keep those nails or those hands, and your skin will turn to leather in the sun,’ she warned, inspecting Penny’s smooth hands and painted nails.
    ‘It’s not that, it’s just they have plans for me.’
    ‘Don’t tell me you’re going to be one of those debutantes with feathers poking out of the back of your head, traipsing down to Buck House to curtsy to a cake? If so, we might as well stop right now.’ Miss Bushnell turned to leave.
    ‘No, please,’ Penny pleaded. ‘I don’t want to be a deb. I’d rather stay here. I love Athens. I have Greek ancestry. Papa’ll understand. I’ll write to him and explain. I really want to have a useful career, something that interests me. Someone once said to me, “Find what you love and do it well” and I’m trying to do just that,’ she continued.
    ‘Couldn’t have put it better myself,’ said Miss Bushnell, turning back. ‘No education then?’
    ‘Afraid not,’ Penny sighed. ‘It isn’t thought necessary for girls like me. We can’t choose our parents, can we? They come from a different world and expect us to be just the same as them.’
    ‘Fair enough,’ Miss Bushnell replied, and her eyes softened. ‘Forgive me for blaming you for something you had no control over. But now things can change if you take charge of your own life. Don’t expect miracles, it takes years to train the eye to
really
see and interpret what is in front of you. You need confidence and reference books and patience by the bucket-load.’ Miss Bushnell shot out a leathery hand. ‘See you next week, Penelope. At least your parents gave you a good Greek