Read The Whip for Free Online Page B

bed, and gesturing to the next one over.
    Charlotte was about to swing her little bundle over on top of the taut grey coverlet when they were startled by a sharp voice behind them.
    “Not so fast, boys…”
    It was Miss Haden. She grabbed each of them by their ears and tugged, maneuvering them toward another room.
    “Ow,” shouted Charlotte in a tone of girlish injury. Lee glared at her.
    In the center of the next room were positioned several large cold-water wash tubs, each enclosing its own shivering, naked victim. Snaking from each tub was a line of boys waiting to be washed and deloused. Miss Haden, with a final twist of her fingertips on the lobe of each ear, deposited Lee and Charlotte at the end of one of these lines before sweeping herself back into the other room with a missionary zeal for more stragglers. Lee and Charlotte looked at each other. They knew they were in for trouble.
    And indeed, it was just about ten minutes later that Miss Haden, her mouth set in a hard line, hurried Charlotte’s small towel-wrapped body out of the boys’ wing and marched her over to the main house in front of the shocked new headmaster.
    Some of the girls who were outside playing saw it all. They pointed at her short hair, laughing. One of them dangled Charlotte’s doll, taunting her with it. “Come here little boy… come and get your dolly.”
    The doll had marks across its face and its dress was half-torn off. Heartbroken, Charlotte started to reach for it but then forced her hand to her side. She made herself look away. She was trying not to care—but at the last moment, just as Miss Haden was about to drag her in through the doorway, Charlotte slipped from her grasp, bit the offending girl’s hand, ripping the doll from her astonished grip. Part of the poppet’s dirty dress was clutched in the thief’s fingers, but Charlotte did not care. She had succeeded. She had taken back what was hers. Miss Haden swooped on her prey and grabbed her by the arms, giving her ear a resounding snap. It hurt but Charlotte did not cry out. Lee would be proud of her. She was feeling strong and brave for the first time in her four years of life.

Eleven
    That night, in the girls’ dormitory, he came to her.
    The cavernous room had been tidied and painted, and the girls now slept one to a bed. Charlotte was curled on her side, her body damp from the summer’s heat. She couldn’t sleep. It was strange and lonely not to have Lee next to her in the bed. Then she heard the sound of a low, melodious whistle and her eyes opened wide. Lee. She sat up.
    He was in his nightclothes, climbing through the open window. He slung one leg over the sill and dropped to the floor without a sound. He’d already seen Charlotte’s silhouette and, raising a finger to his lips in caution, he tiptoed over to her. No one else stirred.
    She lifted the sheet open and wrapped her arms around him. With glee and relief she kissed him on his cheeks as he climbed in with her.
    He kissed her face and all over her soft body. He hugged her close and they fell asleep in each other’s arms.

    It was, of course, Miss Haden who discovered them at dawn. At first she couldn’t quite believe what she was seeing. She stood as if paralyzed for an uncomprehending moment, a candle guttering in her left hand, a scandalized expression on her pinched face.
    In her right hand she held her new silver wake-up bell. Coming back into herself, she began to ring it, tentative at first and then more and more, working herself into a frenzy. Tinkle. Tinkle. Tinkle.
    It was a devilish, loud, persistent sound. The girls began to wake up, lifting their heads, rubbing the sleep from their eyes— confused by the strange loud music. Tinkle. Tinkle. Tinkle. Some of them, out of habit, swung their feet out of bed and began to put their shoes on for some drill or other. Then they could see Miss Haden, standing in the middle of the room, staring with wide shocked eyes down at Lee and Charlotte