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few minutes about what a good student I am, always attentive and so on. Marm looked so out of place. Her usually rosy cheeks were the color of waxed beans, her mouth curved downward. She was unhappy with me for wanting to leave school; she was not comfortable in this woman’s house, forced into the position of having to barter for me. It made me angry to read all this in her face.
    â€œIt’s very lovely to speak with you, Mrs. Galewski, but you must remind me what brought your visit,” Mrs. Browning said.
    Marm cleared her throat and said, “It seems Prudence has managed to find a sort of job. She would be working at the New York City Department of Health and Sanitation, assisting a sanitary engineer.”
    My bright teacher turned to me, nose wrinkled, her perfectly plucked brows furrowed. She said, “A sanitary engineer? Why would you want to assist such a person, Prudence?”
    The question felt like a pin through my stomach. Shehad rarely spoken directly to me before, except to tell me how pretty I’d be if only I put my hair in curls and wore a ribbon in my collar.
    â€œMrs. Browning,” I said, “I’ve been working as Marm’s assistant through the whole summer.”
    I glanced at Marm, thinking of our argument about Mr. Soper choosing me.
    I pushed on: “I thought my mother was satisfied with me as assistant, even though I am only sixteen and a girl.”
    A blush spread on Marm’s cheeks, anger and embarrassment at my bringing our private argument about my interviewer to the public.
    I pushed myself to continue, to fight for this job: “Mrs. Browning, I feel inside me a need to expand my knowledge, to learn more about how the human body functions, and I think this job assisting the head epidemiologist would help me do just that.”
    Mrs. Browning’s eyes pressed into me like little thumbs. She said, “I’m surprised at your choice for your life, Prudence. I thought after graduation that you would seek work as a secretary, and not muck about in human filth. A girl with your skill could acquire respectable employment at one of the finer banks in the city. You could work up to privatesecretary for the bank manager. Or perhaps keep books at one of the fashion houses. Even governess for royalty. Proper work,” she said, “for which we’ve prepared you.”
    The thought of being in one of those jobs, counting other people’s money or watching their babies all day, nearly choked me. I looked at Marm, then back at my teacher, who nodded at me to speak.
    â€œI have learned a great deal at your school, Mrs. Browning,” I said.
    Her expectant eyes didn’t leave me, so I went on, “The work for Mr. Soper would challenge me.”
    Mrs. Browning asked me what exactly I meant by that.
    â€œI will not simply be a witness to death,” I said. “In working with Mr. Soper to find the source of disease, I will be helping to stop its spread. I feel that it’s an important job.”
    The tips of her nostrils flared. “And why does this man want
your
help? A young girl like you? Can’t he find a budding science fellow to do the work?”
    I felt my own eyes open like tea saucers. I wanted to shout,
I am a budding scientist! He saw that in me, why can’t you see the same?
But she didn’t see me as anything more than a girl, that was the problem, it had always been the problem. I held in the fury that twisted around my heart like rope.
    Instead I quietly replied, “He hired me as typist and note taker. It was only afterwards that he called me assistant.”
    An awfully wry smile spread over Mrs. Browning’s face. “Beyond typing, what exactly are your tasks?” she asked.
    â€œI don’t know. Mr. Soper will teach me when I begin,” I said.
    â€œFor example, will you
cure
the
disease
?” She smiled and tilted her head.
    I didn’t like her implications one bit. I repeated