The Cottage in the Woods by Katherine Coville

Author:Katherine Coville [Coville, Katherine]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-0-385-75575-7
Publisher: Random House Children's Books
Published: 2015-02-10T05:00:00+00:00

24

A Fledgling in the Schoolroom

The last cold weeks of fall were upon us. Up in the schoolroom, Teddy—and Nurse—and I kept busy as the world outside turned white, and frost etched diamond-bright patterns on the windowpanes. The days grew shorter, the nights grew colder, and even we Enchanted ones were not totally removed from our animal instincts. Though we did not hibernate, the household retired by eight, and slept past sunrise.

My duties, already stretched to include afternoon lessons for Goldilocks, and my evening Latin instruction from Mr. Bentley, were now condensed into even less time, so that I went from one task to the next with scarcely a breath in between. My letters home to Papa became hastily scribbled notes assuring him I was well, but Papa, generous as he was, responded with long, colorful missives, filled with love and encouragement, which inspired me to persevere through many a demanding day.

In truth, I was grateful to be busy. Latin lessons with Mr. Bentley were, as I had feared, proving to be a hazard to my peace of mind. My moods were unquiet, alternating between confused melancholy and a tenuous euphoria, depending upon whether I felt that he was indifferent to me, or was developing a fondness for me, or was merely trifling with me.

The hours I spent with the fractious Goldilocks strained my abilities to the fullest. She was completely untutored, capable of communicating only through spontaneous hand signals and facial expressions. I found that she could count, for example, but only up to three. Three fingers held up seemed to stand for every number larger than two, whether it was five or one hundred—a common enough limitation among many here in the Enchanted Forest, where things are so often counted in threes. We practiced counting fingers, chairs, stockings, and anything else at hand. I also tried the button games that had worked with Teddy, but Goldilocks had a habit of absconding with as many buttons as she could hold in her little fist and refusing to give them back.

Communication being the most urgent issue, I impatiently awaited the arrival of the specialist the Vaughns had called in to evaluate the child’s mute condition. This was the distinguished Dr. Bernhard Ehrlichmann, who, intrigued by Dr. Robinson’s description of the patient, had agreed not only to come out of retirement and take the case, but to travel to the Cottage in the Woods to examine her. Mrs. Vaughn informed me that they had decided that a human doctor would be most suitable for this little human patient, and that Dr. Robinson had vouched for Dr. Ehrlichmann’s trustworthiness and his disdain for all forms of interspecies prejudice.

The doctor arrived one cold, clear day in December, a wizened little man with an air of courtly authority and great intellect. What hair he had was white, and his monocle gave him the aspect of a one-eyed owl. I was assigned the task of introducing him to Goldilocks. However, the child’s reaction upon his entering her chamber was to produce one of her little incoherent cries and retreat behind her hiding chair.

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