Page 41 of To Wager with Love

“Oh no,” Minerva said, her cheeks flushing a soft pink which made her look lovelier than ever. Harriet held back a sigh of frustration. “I don’t want a novel. I… I’d like something educational.”

Minerva put up her chin, a slightly defiant glint in her eyes that assumed Harriet would judge her too stupid to read such a thing.

“Of course,” she said, smiling at Minerva. It was a wonderful thing if the girl wanted to use her brain and Harriet would be happy to encourage her. “What subject did you have in mind?”

“Erm….” Minerva said, looking a little panicked. “What is there?”

“Well,” Harriet mused, opening the lid on a case that held the books she’d brought with her.

“Good heavens!” Minerva exclaimed, staring down in astonishment. “You brought all those to a house party?”

Harriet pushed her spectacles up her nose and shrugged. “I like to read. Now, then,” she said, looking down at the books. “I only have a limited selection here, but there’s philosophy, physics, natural sciences, chemistry….”

“Oh, um…. Chemistry, perhaps?” Minerva ventured, looking very uncertain.

“Oh, well, in that case, I shall lend you this,” Harriet said, selecting Conversations on Chemistry, the book Inigo had sent her. “I’ve read it myself, though I need to read it again as I was rather er… distracted and I don’t feel I appreciated it as I should. The author is a woman, though she’s not credited, but I have a friend who knows her and thinks highly of her. I thought it an interesting read for a beginner to the subject. It was very well and clearly written.”

Minerva took the book from her with a daunted expression suggesting she believed it would bite her.

“Don’t look so terrified.” Harriet smiled. “It’s not in Greek, I promise. Just try small sections at a time. If they don’t make sense, why not come and ask me and we’ll talk about it? Not that I can claim to be anything of an expert, far from it, only it is a subject that interests me, and I would like to learn more.”

“Is there any subject that doesn’t interest you?” Minerva asked, still looking rather intimidated.

“No,” Harriet said with a sigh, frowning at her book collection. “That is my besetting sin. I can’t settle to one subject and do it justice. I just enjoy learning, and if something new is set before me, I want to know about it. So I never really learn anything in sufficient depth, which I fear is a dreadful weakness.”

“But you know quite a lot about many things. I mean… I know nothing about… about anything! Unless you count knowing which dress to wear to what occasion, how to curtsey to a duke or a viscount, how to make tea, embroider, or a dozen other useless talents.”

“Minerva!” Harriet said, appalled. “That’s not the least bit useless. Those are things we need to know to navigate the world we’ve been born into, and consider why you know nothing else? You’ve never been to school, have you?”

“No, of course not.”

“Well, how ought you to know anything at all? Women are kept in ignorance to keep them docile and easy to control, if you ask me. Many men fear an educated woman as they might just discover we’re every bit as intelligent and capable as they are. Not all men,” she added, for fairness, for Inigo had encouraged her studies without hesitation.

Minerva stared down at the book in her hand and took a deep breath. “Well, I shall try, Harriet, and I shall come and talk to you about it if I can’t make head nor tail of the dratted thing.”

Harriet smiled at her. “Well, that’s a good start, and I shall look forward to having someone to talk to about it, I can tell you. Now, come along. We’d best hurry.”

***

Minerva travelled with Harriet, Lord St Clair, and Matilda, with Bonnie and Ruth following in Ruth’s carriage with Henry and Jerome. They arrived in Tunbridge Wells in good time, with the carriages setting them down close to The Walks. The general plan seemed to be to look at the shops, visit the nearby Chapel of Ease, King Charles the Martyr, have something to eat and then walk it off in The Grove park afterwards.

“Are you going to take the waters?” Harriet asked Matilda, who pulled a face as they passed by the Chalybeate spring.

The water had stained everything it touched a vivid orange, it was so rich in iron. A lady stood with a dipper at hand which you had to pay for the use of. The water itself was free, but if you wanted to drink it in a genteel fashion you paid for the privilege.

“No, I thank you,” Matilda said with a shudder. “I’m fit as a fiddle. If I was ailing, perhaps I’d force it down, but not if I don’t have to.”

“Agreed,” said St Clair with a smile. “Perhaps if they served it with brandy….”

Everyone laughed and moved on.

“Do you think it will rain again?” Harriet asked, looking up at a pale blue sky tumbled with an increasing number of fluffy white clouds. Darker, heavier clouds were visible coming in from the west, though.

“Well, I brought my umbrella, so it ought not,” Matilda said with a wink.

“Oh, Bonnie, let’s go back in here,” Ruth said, tugging at Bonnie’s arm as they passed a shop with its window bursting with hats and lavish bolts of fabric in all the latest colours. “This is where I bought that dear little hat.”

Bonnie and Minerva exchanged a glance. Minerva shrugged and returned a rueful smile.