PART II

CHAPTER 10

"Appointment with Memsahib Pimm and the lovely girls of Lawson Peabody requested!"

It's a new girl what opens the big strong door of the Lawson Peabody School for Young Ladies—a young girl whose freckled face looks utterly confused.

"She is princess!" Ravi intones and stamps his little foot. He's gesturing to me, of course, when he says princess. I wear a cloak at the moment because I don't want a scandal, but the serving girl stares wonderingly at my khol-rimmed eyes and the flimsy veil covering my nose and mouth. Ravi is in his sultan garb, with his turban under his arm. We told curious passerby that he was in a play.

"I…I don't…" is all the serving girl manages.

Lee Chi, Jaimy, Jared, and Higgins emerge from the carriage we rode here in. Ian and the rest of the crew have either stayed on the Lee, which is moored in Boston's harbor, or taken a room in one of the many inns. Which reminds me, I must stop in at the Pig and Whistle later…

Lee Chi smiles a curious smile, does a little half-bow, and starts rattling off in Chinese. The poor girl is thoroughly terrified and calls for Mistress and oh…oh, there is Mistress Pimm now, looking same as ever with her steely gray hair and long black dress. Oh, Mistress Pimm, how I've missed you….no, stop it, don't mess up the show, now…

"What in Heaven's name is—" Mistress starts, but then she squints in my general direction and just gasps, "oh."

I take that as a cue to grandly glide through the doors. Ravi is to my right, Lee Chi is to my left. Jaimy and Jared march behind me, both garbed in their most splendid uniforms. I tried to make them wear loose fitting pants and no shirt to fit the Indian style, like, but neither Jaimy nor Jared could ever be found when I called for a fitting.

Higgins is last in the procession, and he's the one who catches my cloak when I swirl it off to reveal my very pretty and very flimsy and very revealing sari.

"Now, if you'll just make a left here, me boys," I whisper, "we'll find all the young ladies at lunch…ah, yes. Now, on my count…one…two…"

Three!

Ravi leaps out and centers himself in the grand archway that curves into the dining room. It is not long before I hear mutters from the girls within.

What is that?

Is it a Negro boy?

No, he looks…different…

Look at his clothes!

Ravi sinks into a bow, rises, and then calls out, "All rise for Princess!" That's my cue!

"All right, lads, hoist me up!" Jaimy and Jared lock their arms to make a sort of seat, and it is in that seat that I place my very low-class bottom. I do believe that carrying a near-undressed woman into a dining hall violates nearly all of what Jaimy's well-bred upbringing taught, but hey, he seems to be enjoying it. Jared just laughs lowly and tells me that none of my antics surprise him anymore.

Ravi shuffles around my two Princes as they carry me through the doorway. I think Jared is a little struck by the hilarity of all this—and Jaimy, too—because instead of setting me lightly and gracefully to my feet like we planned, they sort of awkwardly drop me. I peer at Jaimy over my veil. His face is bright crimson and he looks straight ahead.

I scan the crowd before me…oh, Dorothea, and Elspeth, and Connie, and Rebecca, how you've grown! And Joannie! And…and oh, Amy, dear, you're so thin.

"Oh…my…" I hear a certain voice say/ I glance in the direction of the breathy sound and see Clarissa Worthington Howe staring me straight in the face, her mouth agape. She closes in a little, as if to make sure it's really me. Who else would do something like this?

And then I hear Amy's voice, sounding on the verge of tears, saying, "Jacky, you will be the death of me, I swear it."

At that I fling off the veil and run over to my dear Sister and my very good old friends, even Clarissa, start cheering, and I am an enveloped in hugs and kisses and I-can't-believe-this's all around. I steal a glimpse back at Jaimy and Jared and Higgins, who is half hiding behind the door's frame. I call out to them.

"Come over, lads, and meet my friends! My very dear friends! Oh, it is so good to be back!"

"I hoped my lessons had taught you some sense of decency," sighs Mistress Pimm. I and Jaimy and Higgins are back in her office. Jared and Ravi, being neither my guardian figure nor my betrothed, were kicked outside.

"I am sorry, Mistress," I simper, as I have done so many times before.

"And you!" she exclaims, looking to both Higgins and Jaimy. "You allowed this behavior?"

"I had every intention of stopping her," Higgins says, I note, with a slight smile. Thanks, Higgins, darling; glad you've got my back.

"I do not own Jacky; I've only a small claim on her affections. Her actions are up to her," Jaimy intones. Pimm nods ever so slightly. She is usually very good at concealing her emotions, but I believe I see a trace of a smile playing about her lips.

"I presume this young…woman, as I shall not call her a lady, has kept you on your toes?" she inquires, gesturing to me.

"She has, Mistress," Jaimy answers seriously.

"Hey, this is how the finest of ladies in India dress," says I, a bit hurt. I think I look ravishingly exotic.

"India?" Mistress says, maybe allowing too much interest into her voice, hmm?

"Yes. I stopped there en route to Sydney Cove, Austrailia, a penal colony of Great Britain."
Mistress Pimm's eyes widen.

"But I'm sure Amy has shared my letter with you, has she not?" I press on.

Mistress barely nods. I think it really just hits her now that I, Jacky Faber, thought to be away for life, am now sitting down across from her—in her own office, no less. What a world, indeed.

"I do apologize for my actions earlier," I say solemnly. And I do, a little—but I believe I'd ride through the streets of Boston on an elephant if it would cause Clarissa to make that shocked face again.

Mistress stands up briskly. "Well. I presume you are here to ask me once again if I would welcome you back to my school. Most of your former classmates are very close to completing their last year of instruction—"

"Actually, Mistress," says I, taking hold of Jaimy's hand, "I came today to ask if you and my dear friends here would attend my wedding. It would give me great pleasure, and I believed you already deemed my young man to be a good man, which he is.

Anyway, we intend to stay with Amy Trevelyne for awhile, if she doesn't mind, until we find a place of our own—"

"I did not ask for your life plans. Remember that it is good etiquette to carefully choose words and answer only what is asked," Mistress says, but she's glowing and I'm beaming and I say, "May I go visit the girls?" and she says, "They are in music."

Oh, joy!

I get up, but before I start for the door, I run and wrap Mistress Pimm in a hug, propriety and etiquette and all that be damned.

"Thank you for everything. If it were not for you, there's a very good chance I wouldn't be alive today," I whisper in her ear. It's a true thing—convincing others that I was a fine lady has saved my hide many times. Or at least gained me some respect.

With one last squeeze of her hand, I let the poor and thoroughly flustered woman go and Jaimy and I head for the music room. Come, Jaimy, I want to show you off!

As Jaimy and I sprint down the halls together, I point out all the various rooms and favorite haunts. And there's where I learned penmanship, and there's where I learned that fancy embroidery stuff…still not so good at that…oh, music room.

We burst in the music room just as the girls are finishing up a lovely rendition of "Sheep May Safely Graze", so hell, I join my voice with theirs. Jaimy, too, sings along the last line. The boy has a decent tenor. The girls' faces, upon recognizing me, crack into grins; the new faces look to one another in confusion.

"May we please take that second verse again?" the Maestro says. He also turns absentmindedly to the intruder and asks, "May I help you, Miss—Miss Faber!"

"The one and only," says I brightly.

"But you were…Austrailia…"
"Aye, I was sentenced there, but the winds of fate washed me back here once more, along with my betrothed." I reel back and put on the haughty Look. I think it seems out of place with my sari, but oh, well.

I introduce Captain James Emerson Fletcher to the music teacher. Amy stares wide-eyed at me and Rebecca—not so little anymore—is fairly bursting at her seams with excitement.

"It appears that our choral practice can wait until tomorrow," the Maestro relents with a smile. Some of the girls let out a cheer and crowd around to hear what brought me back to America's shining shore. I give them a condensed version.

"I don't believe a word of it," says Clarissa when I'm through. Normally, I'd be miffed at a comment like that, but now I just shrug and say, "I can hardly believe it myself."

"Is that…a tattoo on the back of her neck?" a small, mousey girl asks, plainly horrified. I smile slightly and am about to elaborate on Cheng Shih, but Rebecca jumps in and exclaims, "That's not the only one she has!" Some of the fresh faces in the group—and Connie, I note—gasp. I really wish I kept my China girl hairstyle.

There are a few more questions and answers, some more of me showing off, and then a lot of me showing Jaimy off. Yes, girls, he's a former Captain in Her Majesty's fleet; now a Captain in my—our—shipping company. Born of very good blood, Clarissa, thank you. Some of you met him before…yes, Rebecca, all the book stories are true. I steal a glance at Amy, whose alabaster exterior still wears a look of shock. How can you still be shocked, Amy, when you know my life story?

Jaimy, being the proper lad that he very much is, bows gallantly to each of the girls when he's introduced. One lass, I note, stands out from the rest of the New Girls. She has strikingly glossy brown hair, full rouged lips, dark eyes, and the most positively glowy white skin. And when she parts those red lips to speak, I'm shocked to hear an English accent in her voice.

"Who is she?" I whisper to Amy, who's at my left. Her eyebrows raise and she says dryly, "Diona Prynne."

I wait some amount of time before I realize Amy's not gonna tell me much more than that on her own. This Diona Prynne rises out of a deep curtsy to my Jaimy. Her face sports an impeccable look.

"So she's British?" I comment.

"Plainly," Amy sighs. I bristle. Hey, Amy, what's the matter? Why are you so brisk? Clarissa, noting my confusion, sweeps in next to me and whispers about Diona, "She's a whore, is what she is."

Diona swivels slowly and walks as though books are balanced atop her head. Jaimy watches her brush away.

"All right, Sisters," I sing out, cutting off all the introductions and bowings and discussions and whatnot. I am tired and I just want to get things settled and I've seen enough of everyone, I think. "I shall see you all in good time, but I think it's best for Jaimy and me to get settled in." There are slight moans of sorrow at that, but so be it. I pull Amy aside. "May we stay with you, dear Sister, until we find an apartment of our own?" She shrugs and manages a small smile.

"Oh, Amy, we have such plans! And the stories I have to tell you—why, enough for two books, maybe! Or maybe even a play!" I know I sound stupid but I'm trying desperately to lighten the mood. Amy's usually pretty morose, but not this much…

"Of course, Jacky," she says tightly. "Come by after school is finished and we'll leave for Dovecote." She gives me another tiny, quick smile and turns away to her next class.

Well, Jacky, you're back, all right, but things ain't the same…no, they ain't.