Unseemly Ambition (17 page)

“
Yes, ma’am,” David
said.

“
And I hear that the young
ladies are showing an avid interest in the subject.” Lady Dunwick
waved her fan coquettishly in his direction. “I wonder why that
would be?”

David flushed pink. “I cannot say,
Lady Dunwick.”

She laughed, “My dear boy, don’t play
coy with me. I would have given my eye-teeth to have a tutor as
handsome as you!”

David cleared his throat. “We have
several students who have shown quite an interest—and ability—in
the mechanical sciences, actually,” he said. “A number of them have
petitioned our president to seek board approval for a mechanical
engineering program at the college.”

“
Mechanical engineering?”
Mrs. Wells interjected. “That doesn’t seem a suitable employment
for a young lady. Can you imagine these girls wearing
overalls
and tramping down
mine-shafts?”

“
Mother,” Concordia said.
She didn’t want to open this Pandora’s box.

David turned to Mrs. Wells. “It would
only be a certification program, not a major course of study. I
wouldn’t be teaching it, naturally. Professor Merriwether has
agreed to be the program’s faculty sponsor, and I know of
professors at neighboring colleges who would be willing to work
with the young ladies on an independent study basis. They would
need access to equipment—but the local thread mill would do, to
start.”

“
I’ve already told Langdon
that I’m against it,” Barton Isley interjected, puffing out his
chest in self-importance. “Besides the cost and the unfeasibility
of the enterprise, these young ladies, while hard-working and
eager, need to understand boundaries— what’s suitable and what’s
not.”

“
Exactly,” said Mrs. Wells,
nodding.

“
With all due respect,
Bursar Isley, it’s not your decision to make,” David said
firmly.

“
Perhaps not, but I have
convinced the president to heed my advice, and to not even bring
this nonsense before the board,” Barton Isley said with a smug
look.

Concordia resisted the impulse to ask
Isley if the president’s buggy had been removed from his office
yet. It had been nearly a week. The last she had heard, they had
not found anyone skilled enough to safely disassemble the vehicle
and remove it. No one had come forward to confess,
either.

Better not, she decided. But if things
weren’t sorted out soon, she would have a word with Miss
Lovelace.

Lily Isley interrupted the awkward
silence. “Concordia, you and David make a lovely
couple.”

Having taken this inopportune moment
to sip from her cup, Concordia choked and started coughing. Her
mother dispassionately patted her on the back, smiling broadly.
David shifted in his seat.

“
Er, umm,” Concordia
sputtered, “we are good friends, Mrs. Isley.” She turned to David
for help.

David took her hand in his.
That was certainly
not
helping, Concordia thought frantically. “Thank you, Mrs.
Isley,” he said solemnly.

Barton Isley chimed in. “Ah, yes, it
was only a matter of time, wasn’t it? We’ll be sorry to lose you,
Miss Wells.”

Concordia slipped her hand out of
David’s. “I beg your pardon? I have no intention of leaving the
school, Mr. Isley.”

Dean Maynard gave a snort.
“Should you and Mr. Bradley marry, it would be ludicrous to believe
you can maintain a career apart from the home. Hartford Women’s
College cannot possibly hire a married woman. But perhaps marriage
would have a—
settling
effect on you, Miss Wells.”

Isley nodded his agreement.
“Besides, my dear, it is the duty of every young woman to marry and
have children.
That
is your true vocation.”

“
I have a true vocation
already,” Concordia said through clenched teeth. Really, what were
these men thinking? And they were administrators at a
women’s college
?

Maynard had tired of the conversation
and was sipping his coffee in silence, a small smile tugging at his
mouth. But Barton Isley was not about to let the subject drop.
“It’s all very well for a young lady to teach and make her little
independent way in the world, for a time. In fact, it’s quite good
for one’s character to do so. But when the time comes....” His
voice trailed off as the maid approached.

“
Excuse me, sir? There is
someone at the door, and he insists upon speaking with you.” She
handed him a card.

One quick glance at it, with Lily
looking over his shoulder, and Isley rose. “Put him in the
Sophocles Room. Tell him I’ll be with him shortly.” He turned to
the company. “I beg your pardon. Some business has come up that I
must attend to.”

“
What is it, Barton?” Lily
asked with alarm. “Is it news of our Africa holdings?”

Barton pressed his lips together.
“Later, Lily. Later.”

Concordia watched the interchange with
fascination. Barton Isley had gone pale at the sight of the name on
the card, and was willing to abandon his guests to see to the
problem. Could it have something to do with the Inner Circle? But
his wife seemed familiar with the name, too, and the Inner Circle
would not include women. Then she remembered that both Miss
Hamilton and David had mentioned mining investments in ...was it
Rhodesia?

Very interesting. Perhaps this was
something Miss Hamilton could use, although the connection to
Florence’s murder and Eli’s disappearance seemed difficult to
conceive.

I do perceive here a
divided duty.

Othello
, I.iii

Week 7, Instructor Calendar

March 1898

A short while after Barton left the
group, the party broke up. David and Concordia were among the first
to leave, while her mother and Robert Flynn remained behind. “Lily
and I have some matters to discuss, dear,” Mrs. Wells said, with an
airy kiss to Concordia’s cheek. “But I’ll be seeing you soon...your
spring recess is next week, is it not?”

Concordia nodded. “We’ll make plans
for an excursion. Maybe some shopping, or the Antheneum? Splendid.
’Bye, Mother.”

The late-March evening air penetrated
Concordia’s shawl and dress with chill fingers. She shivered as
they waited for their cab to pull up.

“
Here,” David said, taking
off his jacket and putting it around her. She nodded her thanks,
breathing in the warmth and the scent of sandalwood that clung to
it. He helped her up the step.

They rode along in silence for a
while. David cleared his throat. “Nice party.”

“
Yes.” Concordia said. “It
was a shame that business matters interrupted Mr. Isley’s
evening.”

David was looking out the window, lost
in thought. They rode in silence for a while.

In the passing light of street lamps,
Concordia stole surreptitious glances at him, noting the
heavily-lashed brown eyes, luminous in the light; the broad
jawline, with a hint of days-end stubble; the dark hair that curled
along his ears and the nape of his neck. Familiar details of
someone she felt she knew comfortably well, and yet at the same
time she had the sensation of seeing someone new. How well did she
know this man? Over the years, they’d chatted about their
day-to-day lives—the frustrations, the absurdities. But had she
ever asked David about his hopes, his dreams, or even his fears?
Suddenly, she wanted to know. Everything. She realized with a shock
that she loved him.

As if aware of her glance, David
turned toward her. He opened his mouth to say something, then
hesitated.

In a flash of understanding she
realized that what he wanted to say had been an unspoken barrier
between them for a long time.

“
What is it, David?” she
asked gently.

He took her gloved hand in his, and
Concordia let it rest there.

“
I’ve been thinking about
this for quite a while,” he said. “I love you, Concordia. I want
you to marry me.”

Concordia’s hand trembled in his, and
he held it tightly.

“
I would make you a good
husband,” he continued. “I want you to have a place that you can
call your own, where you can be mistress of your own house, where
we could be partners, sharing our life together.”

Concordia looked up at him, searching
his eyes for something—what, she didn’t know. “What about my
teaching?” she asked in a shaky voice.

He kissed a spot on her inner wrist,
just below her glove, which made her breath catch in her throat.
“You’re a wonderful teacher, my dear. I know it will be difficult
to give that up. But your talents won’t go to waste, I can assure
you. When children come along...what a wonderful mother they will
have.”

Mercy!
Children…. Concordia felt as if she’d been pulled into a
whirlwind. She had never particularly cared for children, whom she
found loud, runny-nosed, and generally annoying. Except for Eli.
Her expression softened. The boy had slipped into her heart and
found a place there. Surely, that would happen with her own
children.

“
You can see how
impractical it would be for you to continue at the college after
we’re married,” David went on. “That is the sphere for single
ladies. But when they marry, they start a new life. A wonderful new
life.”

Concordia’s chest constricted. “I do
love you,” she said.

“
Oh, my dear,” he gathered
her into his arms and she put her head on his shoulder.

Eventually, he pulled away
to look into her eyes. “So, will you make me the happiest man
alive
? Will
you
marry me?”

Concordia hesitated.

“
Trust me,” he said,
holding both of her hands firmly. “Your happiness will be my goal,
for the rest of our lives together.”

He waited patiently through the
silence.

“
Yes,” she said, after a
long moment. “Yes, David, I will marry you.”

He pulled her close and kissed her,
for a long time. Concordia felt her worries dissolve away, replaced
by something else, a longing she’d only half-suspected she
possessed.

He chuckled deep in his throat when he
finally let her go. “I have been wanting to do that for a very long
time.”

“
When did you know?” she
asked.

“
It may have been as early
as the first time we met—when you ran me down with your
bicycle.”

She laughed.
“
Almost
ran you
down,” she corrected.

The cab lurched to a halt outside the
college gate. Concordia could see the gatekeeper
waiting.

“
We have so much to take
care of—” David began.

Concordia held up a hand. “Will you do
one thing for me?”

“
Of course.”

“
I want to keep this just
between us for the time being, until the end of the
semester.”

David frowned. “Why?”

“
I don’t want the work I’m
doing now to be—changed—by everyone anticipating my departure. You
heard how Mr. Isley talked tonight, even though you hadn’t even
made a declaration. During this spring term—my last—I don’t want to
feel that people are treating me as if I’m already gone. Can you
understand that?”

David hesitated, then nodded. “I think
I do. I suppose we can wait to tell everyone, although that won’t
be easy for me. I want to stand on top of this cab and tell the
world. But what about the school? They’ll need to replace
you.”

“
The college will have
plenty of time during the summer to find someone. We can announce
it near the end of term.”

David grinned and, when the gatekeeper
wasn’t looking, snuck another kiss on her wrist that made her
shiver. He helped her out of the carriage.

“
I’ll be fine walking back
from here,” Concordia said. “Good night, David.”

“
Good night, Concordia.
Pleasant dreams.”

March 1898

Week 7, Instructor Calendar

Between the coffee and the proposal,
Concordia barely slept at all. She smothered yawns throughout her
morning classes.

She returned to Willow Cottage to find
Miss Hamilton waiting in the parlor. She stopped short. “Weren’t we
supposed to meet this evening?”

“
I was anxious to learn how
last night went,” Miss Hamilton said. “Do you have a few minutes
now?”

Concordia glanced at the mantel clock
and nodded.

After glancing down the empty hallway,
Miss Hamilton closed the parlor door. “Did you learn
anything?”

“
Did I ever.” It had been
quite an evening of discovery, in fact, but Concordia pushed David
firmly out of her mind. She wasn’t ready to talk to Penelope
Hamilton, or anyone, about her engagement yet.
Engagement.
Mercy.