Read 03 Mary Wakefield for Free Online Page B

he said, “that I am too old to be taught by a woman.”
    “That is what your father engaged me for, so we must be pleasant about it, mustn’t we?” Mary tried to keep a cheerful smile but she found the small boy intimidating.
    “I consider,” he continued, “that you don’t know enough.”
    Meg threw herself on to a worn leather couch and exploded into giggles.
    “I know more than you think. Come now, that’s a good boy.”
    “I considah, I considah, I considah,” he went on, in a high affected tone, his eyebrows raised superciliously.
    Mary began to feel panic. What if she could do nothing with them? What if she had to confess this to Philip Whiteoak?
    Suddenly Renny changed his tactics. He darted to a cupboard, opened the door and began to rummage on a shelf. He approached her with a small glass jar in his hands.
    “Want to see them?” he asked.
    Meg jumped up and came to his side.
    “What?” asked Mary, relieved yet suspicious.
    He held the jar close to his face. She saw two revolting pinkish-brown objects.
    “Meggie’s tonsils!” he shouted.
    “How horrid!” She drew away in disgust.
    “I consider them my greatest treasures.” He studied them in rapt concentration.
    “Why do you keep on saying you
consider
?” Mary asked to change the subject.
    His sister answered for him. “Miss Turnbull was always saying it. Don’t you like it?”
    “No. To me it sounds very egotistical.”
    He would not let her know he did not understand the adjective.
    “That’s why
I
like it,” he said.
    A step sounded on the stairs. It was familiar to the children and Mary guessed whose it was. Philip came into the room. His tranquil gaze rested for a moment on the little group before he spoke, then he said, “Well, now, that’s a funny way to entertain Miss Wakefield. Are you sure she likes such things?”
    The children stood motionless, except that Renny joggled the tonsils a little.
    “Oh, I don’t mind,” said Mary.
    “Put them away, Renny. No, give them to me. I’ll take charge of them for a bit.” The jar was transferred from his son’s hand to his. “What I came up to say is, I’m going to drive to a farm ten miles along the lake shore this afternoon and if the children are good, Miss Wakefield, and I mean
very
good, the three of you may come with me — that is, if you would like the drive.” His eyes questioned Mary.
    “I should like it very much.” Thanksgiving filled her heart. If only she could get through these first days all would be well.
    “If you have any trouble of any sort, Miss Wakefield,” he said, his eyes now on his children, “please let me know.”
    He left them and was barely to the head of the stairs when Renny, planting himself in front of Mary, drawled:
    “I considah —”
    “What’s that you say?” called back Philip.
    “Nothing, Papa. We’re just beginning to work.”
    Philip continued his descent, smiling to himself. He was not going to have that young rascal make life miserable for such a lovely girl. Each time he saw Mary he was more astonished by her looks. Whatever could have possessed Ernest to have engaged such a beauty! He wagered that if his mother or sister had interviewed her she never would have been engaged. They had been at obvious pains to choose unattractive governesses for the children. Well, they need not worry. He had no desire to marry again. He was very content as he was. He owned a fine property. His occupations could not have been more congenial. From morning to night he was doing the things he wanted to. He had a deep sense of gratitude to his father for having left Jalna to him. Neither Nicholas nor Ernest would have appreciated it half so much as he. The governor had realized that. Their tastes were of the Old World — London and Paris, with a fling now and again on the Riviera. He was all for the New. Give him Canada every time, and to him Jalna was Canada. Both his brothers had had their share of his father’s money. Nicholas had spent