Chapter 6A?

Author's Note: I know, 6A, what was I thinking? But this popped up after seven was already merrily on it's way. I'll go back and rename the files properly in December or whenever it is i can stomach to look on this mess again.

Six A: The Letters of Charlotte Penn

Mrs. Stella Penn
Pennsbury Manor, Pennsylvania

October 1, 1902

Dearest Grandmother,

It has been a week since school began and I finally believe I am beginning to find my way in this strange new land. It has not rained every day, despite the popular notion of the charms of British weather. It has been pleasantly warm, the sky mostly free of clouds.

My room is on the upper most floor, in the corner of the tower. As a result, it is very large and I share it with two other girls, Virginia Smithson and Josephine Bailey-Smythe. You may have heard of Virginia’s uncle and guardian, the archeologist Jack Smithson. He is the man who discovered a few years ago a cache of royal mummies, coated with a golden substance, near the Valley of the Kings. Virginia says it was a small cache, only three intact mummies, the rest destroyed from either grave robbers or the elements. A bit gruesome, I know, but I do remember reading of the "golden mummies" quite clearly.

Virginia is intent on following into her uncle’s profession and is currently buried in tombs of Ancient Greek and Latin. What she really wants to study is Ancient Egyptian but our language teacher, Miss Radcliffe will not let her until she has a firm grasp of Greek and Latin. Of course this does not stop Virginia. I see the volumes of Egyptian grammar she stuffs into her book satchel and has to sneak past Miss Radcliffe’s door. (Miss Radcliffe is also the Warden of our floor and her door is always opened, offering her a perfect view of the stairs and the common room.)

Josephine’s father is lord something of somewhere north but I have not been able to get the exact title out of her yet. She is very modest about her family, which is a refreshing, and thinks little of titles or lands and estates. She is very political minded, though, and I suspect might be a revolutionary if placed in the proper climate.

As you may have guess, she has been studying political philosophy and history. Apparently, these are "independent study" courses and have been designed specifically for her. She carries around a copy of The Communist Manifesto like it was the Bible and quotes political theory to the maids in the kitchen. They smile warmly, give her a plate of fresh scones for her trouble, but I seriously doubt Josephine will be spearheading a kitchen revolt any time soon.
Please do not think ill of Josephine. She has been kind to me when no other student here has been. Josephine has been instrumental in escorting me about the castle and showing me the ropes, as it were.

Having assured you of the virtue of my roommates, let me do share that we have already had our first taste of detention. On the first night, Virginia was dead set to search for "Secret passages." She assures me this is a standard feature of all castles. We never did find a secret passage but the housekeeper, Mrs. Flood, did find us. We spent the following night peeling potatoes in the kitchen.

These are my two friends: Virginia has but a thin regard for the rules and Josephine encourages her to disregard that thin regard.

Mauldy Castle is enormous. Beautiful, of course, placed picturesquely in the center of a lake in a lush green valley. It’s stunning, but much of the English countryside that I have seen has been charming and beautiful. But the castle proper…I am habitually late to ever class, I’m sorry to admit. I keep getting lost! I can never find my way from one point to another. Parts of the castle have been modernized and wired with electrical lights but some parts remain positively medieval. The overall effect is a hodgepodge of warm, bright rooms and dark, mysterious corridors and steep, slick stone stairs that terrify me.

Sometimes I suspect the rooms shift when I am not paying attention. I can find my way to a class with ease but finding my way back to the dormitory always proves an adventures. Perhaps it is only the dormitories that shift about when I am not looking.

The grounds are beautiful. I have two classed held outside the castle. One is Sport, as the title implies, we participate in a variety of different sporting games. I share this class with both Virginia and Josephine. I must say, Virginia has amazingly poor control over her croquet mallet. She whacked the ball too hard and sent it flying into the trees. (Trees in England are nothing like the thick wooded forests of home. Here the growth of trees is thinned and has no underbrush growing.) We tromped our way through the trees and could not find that ball. We did find an abandoned cottage, looking mysterious and forlorn.

The teacher retrieved us and told us that the old groundskeeper cottage was dangerous and not to get any ideas into our heads. I swear, there is no way better to insure that we will investigate the cottage than elaborating the dangers therein. Virginia, as you may have reasoned, is pacing back and forth with impatience to get at the cottage.

The other is Horticulture, which the students plant and tend their own garden. The teacher, Mrs. Jensen, says I am at a disadvantage, being completely unfamiliar with the British climate, but assures me that I am doing well. Do not fear, Grandmother dearest, your granddaughter is not going to run off and become a gardener.

At the end of the month, I am told there will be a Halloween dance held near the Hedge Maze. I forgot to mention the Hedge Maze. Apparently, the hedge maze was installed for Henry VIII (Mauldy was one of his many residences) and has changed little over the years. I’m walked the maze. There are no blind alleys or dead ends. A path branches in a few places but winds it’s through to the other side. In the center is a fountain with benches. It is rather charming.

Not all has been well, though. Yesterday I had a spat with my roommate Virginia. We were in our sport class. The weather was miserable. The sky was dark gray and the wind was wet with the promise of rain. I was under dressed, as usual. Virginia and Josephine both shoed up wearing thick woolen sweaters and study rubber boots, referred to as Wellingtons. I have neither. So I was clothed in only a cotton blouse, which the wind sliced through. And it started to rain. Virginia knocked her croquet ball into the thick growth of trees. I suspect it was not as accidental as she claims. Josephine follows her in search of the ball so I had no choice but to follow. Trough the trees and the bushes, looking to no avail for this ball, when we stumbled onto a clearing with an abandoned, uninviting cabin. But this time I was soaked to the bone. Virginia wanted to explore the cabin. I asked not to. I asked to go back. The teacher had already told the class to go inside. I asked to return to the warmth of the castle.

Virginia said I complained too much. Too much! Did I complain when she dragged us about the castle in the dark, looking for secret passages? Did I complain when we dragged before the headmistress for violating castle rules? Did I even complain when we peeled potatoes in the kitchen for three hours? Until my hands turned shriveled and rubbery? No. I only asked to come in from the rain.

Now she acts as if she has no idea why I am angry with her. She apologized this evening. When I say Virginia apologized, Josephine put her up to it because she only wants peace in the room. We will have peace when Virginia Smithson realizes that she can not order about everyone she meets.

I have made other friends, broadened my social circle. You may recall Beatrice, we met on the voyage to England. I know you spent a great many days of that voyage ill, but I did make the acceptance of Beatrice and her brother, Linus. Imagine my surprise when I caught sight of Beatrice’s vivid red hair of the platform in London? What were the chances that we’d go to the same school?

Beatrice is a good friend of Regina Pomepanz. She is easily the most popular girl in the school. After Regina and Beatrice had dinner with me, everyone knows my name and speaks to me in the hall. Other girls want to sit next to me during class. It’s amazing what knowing the right people can do for you.

Regina suggested I go out for the school’s play. She had secured the lead female role in The Pirates of Pennzance. She assured me that I had a lovely singing voice and should at least be a minor character. Well, I thought, what’s the harm in trying? So I auditioned. I was scared and nervous, mostly. Couldn’t eat or drink all day just thinking of the audition. What if my voice cracked? What if I was terrible? Or worse, what if nothing came out at all? Well, all things worked out in the end and I sang at the audition and nothing mortifying happened and your granddaughter is now the very model of a modern major general!

Rehearsals start in a mid-October and the show starts in December. I think I’m even more nervous now.

Virginia said last night that the only reason Regina and Beatrice are being nice to me is to make Josephine upset. Didn’t even mention the play. Why can’t she be happy for me? Is it so unimaginable that a person might actually like me for myself? I have friends because they want to be my friends, not because of some contrived revenge scheme.

You may have noticed, Grandmother, that I started this letter with only amiable feelings for my roommates and now it ends with heated emotion. I apologize for my tirade. I imagine there is always a few rough patches to work out at the beginning of any school year.

Your Loving Granddaughter,

Charlotte