A School for Unusual Girls by Kathleen Baldwin EPUB & PDF – eBook Details Online
- Status: Available for Free Download
- Author: Kathleen Baldwin
- Language: English
- Genre: Teen & Young Adult European Historical Fiction eBooks
- Format: PDF / EPUB
- Size: 2 MB
- Price: Free
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~London, April 17, 1814~
“What if Sir Isaac Newton’s parents had packed him off to a school to
reform his manners?” I smoothed my traveling skirts and risked a glance at
my parents. They sat across from me, stone-faced and icy as the millpond in
winter. Father did not so much as blink in my direction. But then, he seldom
does. I tried again. “And if the rumors are true, not just any school—a
prison.”
“Do be quiet, Georgiana.” With fingers gloved in mourning black, my
mother massaged her forehead.
Our coach slowed and rolled to a complete standstill, waylaid by crowds
spilling into Bishopsgate Street. All of London celebrated Napoleon’s
abdication of the French throne and his imprisonment on the isle of Elba.
Rich and poor danced in the streets, raising tankards of ale, belting out
military songs, roasting bread and cheese over makeshift fires. Each loud
toast, every bellowed stanza, even the smell of feasting sickened me and
reopened wounds of grief for the brother I’d lost two years ago in this
wretched war. Their jubilation made my journey into exile all the more
dismal.
Father cursed our snail-like progress through town and drummed
impatient fingers against his thigh. We’d been traveling from our estate in
Middlesex, north of London, since early morning. Mother closed her eyes
as if in slumber, a ploy to evade my petitions. She couldn’t possibly be
sleeping, not while holding her spine in such an erect fashion. She refused
herself the luxury of leaning back against the seat for fear of crumpling the
feathers on her bonnet.
Somehow, some way, I had to convince them to turn back. “You do
realize this journey is a needless expense. I have no more use for a
schoolroom. I’m sixteen, and since I have already been out in society—”
Mother snapped to attention. “Oh, yes, Georgiana, I’m well aware of the
fact that you have already been out in society. Indeed, I shall never forget
Lady Frampton’s card party.”
I sighed, knowing exactly what she would say next.
“You cheated.”
“I didn’t. It was a simple matter of mathematics,” I explained for the
fortieth time. “I merely kept track of the number of cards played in each
suit. How else did you expect me to win?”
“I did not expect you to win,” she said in clipped tones. The feathers on
her bonnet quivered as she clenched her jaw before continuing. “I expected
you to behave like a proper young lady, not a seasoned gambler.”
“Counting cards isn’t considered cheating,” I said quietly.
“It is when you win at every hand.” She glared at me and even in the
dim light of the carriage I noted a rise in her color. “And now, given your
latest debacle—” She stopped. Her gaze flicked sideways to my father,
gauging his expression. I would’ve thought it impossible for him to turn any
stonier, but he did. Her voice knotted so tight she practically hissed,
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