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Authors: Lauren Baratz-Logsted

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The Education of Bet (26 page)

BOOK: The Education of Bet
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"Oh, Bet. Haven't you learned by now that nothing is ever as perfect as we dream it will be?"

"Perhaps not," I agreed. "But some things should be." I drew a deep breath. "Still, I will write to James soon. I owe it to him, to thank him for all his kindnesses to me. After all, he risked much, keeping my secret and then facing off with me against the others when they were so angry they might have killed us."

We sat in companionable silence for a long time then, breathing in the cleanness of the spring night.

"Funny," I said, "it is as though we never left here." I touched my hand to my artificial hair. "If not for your leg and this wig, it would be as though nothing had ever happened at all."

"Your hair will grow back," Will said softly.

***

A week later, having decided it was time, I got out paper and pen, intending to write a thank-you letter to James.

April 10, 18—

Dear James,

How odd it is writing you a letter when I have grown so used to talking to you face to face. I hope there was not too much trouble for you after I left. I am simply writing to properly thank you for—

I was interrupted by one of the servants, Molly, bringing in the post. There were exactly two items: a letter from the Betterman Academy, addressed to the old man—we would no doubt laugh as we read that together—and one for me, the return address of which began
James Tyler.
With trembling fingers, I tore through the seal.

April 7, 18—

Dear Bet,

I am writing you at the first opportunity time has permitted. I hope that this finds you well. You were forced to leave so abruptly, we did not even get the chance to say goodbye.

So much has happened since I saw you last! So much I want to tell you about!

Directly after you left, Dr. Hunter sent for me. He told me you had said that your secret identity was as much of a surprise to me as it was to everyone else. Oh, Bet! How kind it was for you to tell a lie in order to save me! But don't you see? I could never let such a lie stand. So I told him the truth, how I had known for quite some time that you were a girl. Well, of course he raged at that. The impropriety of it all! Just as he sent you away, he sent me away too, with a letter informing my father of what had transpired.

But my father did not react in the way Dr. Hunter had perhaps envisioned. Rather, he was quite pleased with the whole thing. I never told you, but the reason I was sent to the Betterman Academy in the first place was that my father believed I had been too coddled all my life. He wanted me to attend a school where boys would be rougher, where I would need to fight for my way among them. He wanted to make a man out of me, a better man.

"This is wonderful!" my father said upon finishing Dr. Hunter's letter informing him that I had been sent down. "You have flouted authority! You have broken the rules! And when caught? Rather than lying to get out of it when you might have done so, you have stood beside the person you committed your crime with, taking your fair share of the blame rather than letting a comrade—is
comrade
the right word when one is talking about a girl?—stand alone. Why, I think you may finally be ready for Eton, my boy!"

What can I say? Remember how I used to tell you that you were odd? Well, as you can plainly see from my father's eccentric reaction, I well know what odd really is!

But never mind stern Dr. Hunter and my peculiar father. What I wish to know is: When can I see you again? Now, I know what you will say: that it is impossible, that our different stations in life make such a continued ...
alliance
impossible. But don't you see? My father would care nothing about your beginnings—he would probably be
proud
of it! And as for me, it has never mattered a tinker's damn to me. All that has ever mattered to me is you.

So, what's that you're saying? You'll have to speak up louder so that I can hear you. When did you say that I might come to call?

Awaiting your—hopefully speedy!—reply,
James

I crumpled up the page of the letter I'd started to compose and with a cry of joy tossed it in the air. Then, taking up a fresh sheet, I resolved to start anew.

BOOK: The Education of Bet
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