He chuckled at her onslaught of questions. “That’s a lot to consider. I can see you have certainly thought this through.”
She stopped suddenly and gave a little laugh. “I must seem obsessed with the topic, but in my defense, I’ve had a great deal of time to consider all of this. Even though my mother is not with me, I feel as if her journals have been the best education on the matter—even as great as if I had been conducting the research myself.”
“Speaking of the journals,” he said as they traversed another flight of stairs, “I read the journals you gave me last night.”
“You did?”
He nodded. “I agree with what you have said about them. She was incredibly meticulous in her records. I thought it particularly interesting that she shared her impressions of the person conductingthe assessments. What a brilliant idea—to also consider any sort of prejudice or unrealized bias the person conducting the experiment might bring.”
“She was so concerned with being invalidated because of her sex that she’d go above and beyond what was necessary. I think it was that attention to detail that made her such a good teacher.”
They reached the landing to the ground floor, and she stopped. Gabriel didn’t want this conversation to end. There were so many other things he wanted to ask her about. He reached for a topic he hoped would lengthen it. “I heard something interesting from one of the gentlemen at the lecture. Something about a girls school?”
A pretty spark twinkled in her wide eyes as if in a sudden burst of excitement. “Yes. Well, I—we—hope there will be. There is a cottage on the property—Keatley Cottage—it is currently being refitted, and after the Christmas holidays we hope to welcome the first of our female students.”
“That’s wonderful!” he exclaimed with genuine enthusiasm. “I imagine that would have made Mrs. Wilde extremely proud.”
“It is a goal we shared. I want to expose young ladies to the same education my mother and I were fortunate enough to receive. Algebra, biology, botany . . . there is no reason why women cannot make contributions to those fields. I know it is not the most popular undertaking, but it is important. I’d be lying, though, if I said there aren’t many, many things that must fall into place if it is to come to fruition.”
“Such as?”
She opened her mouth to speak but closed it abruptly.
“My apologies if I am overstepping.”
“No, no. It is not that at all. There are some personal matters, issues within the Wilde family, that must be sorted.”
The information he’d learned about Rawlston resonated.She must be married at the time of her father’s death to remain at Keatley Hall.
It was Gabriel’s turn to hesitate. He had to remember that just because she was sharing several secrets with him about Mr. Bauer did not mean that she wanted to share her every personal thought.
He needed to stick to the plan.
Gabriel cleared his throat. “Mr. Bauer said he’s to perform demonstrations after dinner. If I am not being too bold, perhaps we might meet tonight in the conservatory to compare any new information?”
She nodded. “Absolutely.”
Laughter echoed from somewhere deep in the house, and she sobered. “I’d best be moving along. I am supposed to be meeting with the ladies as soon as the lecture is done.”
He bowed. “By all means. Do not let me keep you.”
Miss Wilde smiled, curtsied, and withdrew.
Gabriel stepped back as she exited the stairwell onto the ground floor, and then he began the climb back up to see if the men were still in the long gallery. The day would be over before he knew it, and there was still a great deal of work to do.
Chapter 18
THERE WAS NOway to avoid the interaction with the ladies in the White Parlor. Ella was, for all intents and purposes, Keatley Hall’s hostess. Her absence was likely already noticed.
She knew what to expect when she stepped inside. Phoebe, Miss Sutton, and three of the wives would be present: Mrs. Norton, Mrs. Parker, and Mrs. Shiveley. Apart from Miss Sutton, Ella had known each of the ladies her entire life, yet she hesitated.
“I must say it.” Ella overheard Mrs. Parker’s raspy, booming voice say, “I do question the Society’s decision to bring him here. I thought it tasteless, not to mention disrespectful, when Mr. Parker first told me of it.”
“Disrespectful? Oh, I don’t know,” countered the petite Mrs. Norton in a pinched, singsong voice that always made her seem decades older than she was. “Leonora would have found humor in this, do you not think?”
“After the things that pamphlet said about her in the name of phrenology?” rebutted Mrs. Parker. “I think not! Mrs. Wilde may have been a proponent of phrenology, but after the vile suggestionsof her in that ridiculous pamphlet, I think we can all agree that the whole idea is folly.”
“Do not be so quick to jump to conclusions, ladies,” Miss Sutton cautioned. “That debacle, albeit contentious, occurred nearly a decade ago, did it not? That is more than ample time for any discipline to be revised and modified. Since I never had the pleasure of being acquainted with Mrs. Wilde, I cannot speak to the pamphlet, but I can share what I know to be true. And I have seen outstanding revelations come from these phrenological readings.”
