Читать книгу Felicity 3-book set - Valerie Tripp - Страница 11

elicity sat high atop the roof of her house and tilted her face up to the sun. The rooftop was a fine place to be on a bright blue October morning like this.

Felicity leaned back against the chimney. She put one leg on either side of the steep roof. The shingles were warm against her bare legs. A restless breeze played with her petticoats. Felicity shaded her eyes with her hand and looked out over the treetops and rooftops of Williamsburg. She watched a bright red cardinal bird swoop across the sky. Felicity grinned. How lovely it must feel to fly wherever you want to go, with nothing holding you down, she thought.

“Lissie! Lissieeee!” she heard Nan calling her.

Felicity decided to ignore Nan. She knew what Nan wanted. Today was apple butter day. That’s why Felicity was on the roof. She was supposed to be picking apples for Mother to make into apple butter. The best apples were at the very top of the tree, where the branches hung over the roof. So Felicity had fetched a ladder, climbed up to the roof, and filled her apple sack quickly and easily. Now Nan wanted her turn to pick apples. She wanted Felicity to work in the hot, stuffy kitchen, stirring the pot of sticky apple mush. Felicity was not ready to go in.

Felicity pulled one of the apples out of the sack and rubbed it on her sleeve. She took a big bite. Mmmm! Felicity seemed to taste the warm summer sun, the wild rains of September, and the cool, dark, starry nights of autumn in that juicy, tart bite. Between chews, Felicity wiggled her loose tooth with her thumb. She couldn’t wait for it to fall out. Ben was teaching her to whistle with her fingers in her mouth. She thought losing that tooth might help.

Felicity tried whistling. If I whistled loud enough, she thought, Nan and everyone in Williamsburg would hear me. They’d see me up here on the roof, as high as a flag! She smiled. Wouldn’t that be fine?

“Lissie!” she heard Nan again. “Where are you?”

“I’m up here,” Felicity answered. She waved to Nan from her perch.

“Lissie!” yelped Nan. She sounded scared. “Mother!” she called. “Come quick! Lissie’s on the roof! Mother! Come and see.”

“Whatever’s the matter, Nan?” asked Mrs. Merriman. She rushed out of the kitchen. William toddled along behind her. “What’s on the roof?” She looked up. When she saw Felicity, she gasped. “Oh my gracious! Lissie!” Then she said in a very stern voice, “Felicity Merriman, I will not shout for all the world to hear. Come down from that roof immediately.”

“Yes, Mother,” said Felicity. She slid down the roof to the ladder with a sinking feeling. I’ve done something wrong-headed again, she thought to herself. Felicity scrambled down the ladder so quickly she scraped her knee, lost her footing, and had to jump the last few feet to the ground.

When she landed, her mother felt her all over as if she might have broken bones. “Goodness, Lissie!” she said. “You gave me such a fright! Climbing way up on the roof like that! What were you thinking of?”

“Well, I…well, it didn’t seem dangerous,” said Felicity. “And there were so many more apples at the top of the tree.”

“So you thought you could fetch the apples faster. Is that it? Impatient as usual,” said her mother. She put her hands on Felicity’s shoulders and said gently but firmly, “You are near to ten years of age, Felicity. That’s old enough to know what’s a danger to you. And that’s too old to be acting careless and childish.”

Felicity shifted the heavy apple sack off her shoulder. “I’m sorry…”

“I know you are,” said her mother kindly. “But I do wish you would stop and think before you act. Sometimes you have no more sense than a giddy goose!” She sighed. “And let us hope no one saw you on the roof with your petticoats blowing above your knees, bare-legged as a newborn babe. ’Tis wrong and unseemly for a girl your age. Now put your shoes and stockings on and come inside quick as you can. Nan will finish picking the apples.”

Felicity trailed along behind her mother to the kitchen house. Her heart was as heavy as the apple sack. The kitchen was dark compared to outside. The air was hot and thick. Rose, the cook, was peeling apples, slicing them into four parts, and dropping them in a pot of water. Another big pot full of apple mush was burbling by the fire. Mrs. Merriman pointed to it.

“You stir, Lissie,” she said. “Don’t let the apples stick to the pot. And mind you don’t scorch your petticoat by the fire.”

Felicity stirred with a long wooden spoon. Round and round, again and again, she stirred the apple mush till her arms ached. It was tiresome work, and dull. Her hair stuck to her sweaty neck. Her hands were sore, and her back was stiff. As soon as one batch of apples was cooked soft, Rose took it away and put another pot on the fire. Felicity tried to hide her impatience. But after a while, she could not help asking, “Isn’t that enough? Haven’t we made hundreds of pounds of apple butter by now?”

“Goodness, no,” said her mother. “A whole pound of apples makes only one pint of apple butter.”

Pints were very small. Felicity sighed. “It seems to be a great deal of work for a little bit of butter. I don’t think it’s worthwhile,” she said. “And once the apple butter’s eaten, there’s nothing to show for all the hard work. You are left with nothing at all.”

Mrs. Merriman laughed. “I remember thinking just that same thing when I was your age,” she said. “And ’tis true, there’s nothing left that anyone can see. But I know that I’ve provided for my family, and that pleases me.” She looked kindly at Felicity. “Caring for a family is a responsibility and a pleasure. It will be your most important task, and one that you must learn to do well. I want you to be a notable housewife when you are grown.”

“Notable?” asked Felicity.

“Yes,” said Mrs. Merriman. “A notable housewife runs her household smoothly, so that everyone in it is happy and healthy. Her life is private and quiet. She is content doing things for her family.”

“Things nobody ever sees,” said Felicity.

“Many lovely things are private and hidden,” her mother agreed. She picked up one of the apples and sliced in half across its fat middle, instead of top to bottom. She held the halves up to Felicity. “Have you ever seen the flower that is hidden inside every apple?” she asked. “It’s there for those who know how to find it.”

Felicity grinned at her mother. There was indeed a flower inside the apple.

“My mother showed that to me when I was a girl and we made apple butter together,” said Mother. “She taught me to sew and cook and plant a garden and run a household. Now I am teaching you. Someday you will teach your daughter.”

“Oh, dear,” said Felicity. “It seems a great deal to learn!”

“Indeed, yes,” said Mrs. Merriman. “And that is not all you must know how to do. When I was just about your age, I had special lessons with my aunt. She taught me the proper way to act in polite society. She showed me how to serve tea and how to be a gracious hostess.” She smiled at the memory. “How I loved those lessons with my aunt! I felt like a graceful young lady instead of a gawky little girl.”

Felicity wiggled her tooth. She didn’t say anything, but the lessons her mother described sounded fussy to her.

Mrs. Merriman looked at Felicity thoughtfully. “Perhaps it is time for you…” she began. Then she caught sight of the pot of apple mush. “Mercy!” she said. “Stir, Lissie! This batch is near to burning!” And she did not finish the sentence she had begun.

But a few nights later, Felicity found out what her mother had been about to say. It was after supper. Everyone was gathered in the parlor around the fire. Its warmth was welcome, for the sun set early these fall evenings, and the dusk was chilly. Felicity sat on a low stool next to Nan. She was helping Nan learn to read the Lord’s Prayer printed on her hornbook.

Nan tilted the hornbook toward the firelight as she read slowly. “‘…Thy kingdom come.’” Then she stopped. “Lissie,” she asked. “Whose kingdom do we live in? God’s or the King of England’s?”

“Well, both, I suppose,” answered Felicity. “Isn’t that right, Father?”

Mr. Merriman, who was holding William on his knee and playing chess with Ben, looked over at his daughters and nodded. “Aye,” he said. “We live in the colony of Virginia, which belongs to the King of England. He rules us, even though he lives far away. Virginia is part of his kingdom.”

“But Virginia is part of God’s kingdom, too,” said Felicity. “Because the whole world, and heaven, and all the stars and everything there is belongs to God. See what it says here, in the rest of the prayer: ‘Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.’ That means God rules both heaven and earth.”

“Which word says heaven?” asked Nan.

“This one right here,” said Felicity. She pointed to it and read, “Heaven, H - E - A - V - E - N.”

“You can read everything, can’t you, Lissie?” asked Nan.

“Not everything,” said Felicity. “Not yet. But I do love to read. I’d like to attend the college here in Williamsburg, and read Greek and Latin and philosophy and geography, just as the young gentlemen do.”

“Oh, Lissie,” laughed Nan. “That’s silly! Girls aren’t taught at the college.”

Ben looked up from the chessboard and grinned. “Maybe you could pretend to be a boy,” he said. “I have a pair of breeches you may borrow.”

Felicity grinned back, but then she sighed. “I don’t see why girls aren’t educated, too.”

Mrs. Merriman looked up from her stitching and spoke. “Girls should be educated. Not in Latin and Greek, but in the things they need to know to be accomplished young ladies.” She looked at Mr. Merriman with a question in her eyes.

Mr. Merriman nodded and smiled. Then he said in a very pleased voice, “Felicity, your mother and I have decided it is time for you to begin your education.”

Felicity sat up. “Am I to be apprenticed, Father?” she asked hopefully. Some girls were apprentices. They learned to be seamstresses, or to make hats, or even to work in shops. Felicity had always dreamed of working in her father’s store.

“Goodness, no!” exclaimed her mother. “You are fortunate enough to be the daughter of Edward Merriman, one of Williamsburg’s most important merchants. You are to be educated as a gentlewoman.”

“Oh,” said Felicity. She was disappointed. “What am I to learn?”

“The things my aunt taught me,” Mrs. Merriman said. “You will have lessons in dancing, handwriting, fancy stitchery, the proper way to serve tea—”

“Tea?” interrupted Ben. “Lessons about serving tea?”

“Indeed, yes!” said Mrs. Merriman. “A lady’s manners are judged by the way she serves tea. My mother brought her best teapot with her when she left England to come to Virginia. She used to say the king himself would feel at home at her tea table. She served tea as properly in Virginia as any lady did in London. Now Felicity must learn to serve tea properly, too.”

“Tea and stitchery!” sighed Nan. “The lessons sound lovely!”

“I’m not very good at those quiet, sitting down kinds of things,” said Felicity.

“Well,” said Mrs. Merriman calmly. “Then you must improve yourself.”

Felicity was beginning to feel trapped. She asked, “Who will be my teacher?”

“A very respectable gentlewoman named Miss Manderly,” said Mr. Merriman. “She is going to give lessons to two other young ladies. They are sisters, and their family has just come here from England. Miss Manderly has kindly agreed to let you join them.”

“Ooooh!” squealed Nan. “Young ladies from England! They’ll probably already know the very most proper way to do everything, Lissie!”

“The young ladies from England will be learning from Miss Manderly just as Felicity will,” said Mr. Merriman. “And they will surely learn that proper and polite behavior is the same in Virginia as it is in England.”

Felicity sighed. She could see that these lessons were going to be boring and tiresome. I would much rather spend my time out of doors, she thought. I would rather be horseback riding, or playing, or digging in my garden. But Felicity knew she could not argue, or pout, or say she would not go to Miss Manderly’s. That would not be respectful. Besides, Felicity was sure it would do no good at all.

“The lessons begin in three days’ time,” said Mrs. Merriman. “So we must set to work tomorrow to make ready your best cap and stockings and clothes.”

“Aye!” agreed Mr. Merriman. He smiled at Felicity fondly. “Our pretty Lissie must look her very best. She will begin her lessons looking like the finest young lady in Virginia, and all of England, too. She will make us proud, to be sure.”

Felicity smiled back weakly. She was not at all sure. She pushed against her loose tooth with her tongue until it hurt.