Alexander Graham Bell: Master of Sound #7 by Ann Hood

Author:Ann Hood [Hood, Ann]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780698159853
Publisher: Penguin Group US
Published: 2013-10-10T04:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 7

ENTERING THE PARISH

Grandfather Bell settled them all in the drawing room, which looked like a living room to Maisie with its arrangement of sofas and chairs. A coal fire burned in the fireplace, and the children sat close to it for warmth. Outside, darkness had fallen and even with the streetlamps lit, Maisie couldn’t see the gardens across the street.

A maid in a gray uniform with a white apron and cap came in wheeling a small cart of sandwiches and tea. Maisie watched Felix survey the sandwiches suspiciously. She was hungry enough to eat almost anything, but Felix could be persnickety. Apparently, he was the only fussy one, though. Hadley and Rayne looked ready to dig in.

Aleck helped himself right away, filling a plate with sandwiches and little triangular scones. He spooned some jam onto the side of his dish, and then added what looked like spoiled cream.

Maisie did exactly as he did, but paused over the cream.

“Is this okay to eat?” she asked him.

“I would think so,” Aleck said, amused. “It’s clotted cream.”

Hadley and Rayne took some of everything, but Felix wrinkled his nose at the word clotted. He decided to stick with just jam. One type of sandwich appeared to be cucumbers with butter, a favorite of Great-Aunt Maisie. Another had some dry gray meat in it and bright green jelly. Felix passed on those. He decided that if he had to paint the city of London, he would use the color gray for almost everything.

By the time they’d finished eating, Grandfather Bell’s students had started to arrive. About ten women made their way into the drawing room, removing hats and gloves and finding seats, chattering together as they did.

“They all look so pretty!” Rayne said with a sigh.

“Can you Adam and Eve it?” one of them said, peering at the five children. “I was going up the apples and pears and thought I’eard dustbin lids up ’ere.”

“Dustbin lids?” Hadley repeated.

Even Aleck looked confused at what she said.

The woman laughed. She’s young, like Miss Landers, Felix thought. Up close like this, he could see that the fabric of her dress was worn in spots and slightly frayed at the hem. Her hands were rough and red, and some of her teeth were gray. Yet somehow she was pretty despite that.

“I’ve been on my plates all day,” she said as she dropped onto one of the chintz-covered chairs.

She pointed a finger at Felix.

“Use your loaf, boy!” she said. “I’m a working girl.”

That made all the other women laugh, too.

Grandfather Bell’s voice broke through the laughter.

“That slaughtering of the English language,” he said in his precisely enunciated words, “is what is called Cockney.”

“Like Eliza Doolittle,” Maisie whispered to Felix.

Felix thought of the young and pretty Audrey Hepburn and tried to imagine this woman singing “Wouldn’t It Be Loverly?”

“It’s like we’ve stepped right into a scene from My Fair Lady,” Rayne said softly.

“Translation,” Grandfather Bell said. “‘Apples and pears’ is stairs. ‘On her plates’ means on her feet. And ‘use your loaf—’”

“Means use your loaf!” the woman interrupted cheerfully.

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