Forever England by Katrina Nowak

Forever England by Katrina Nowak

Author:Katrina Nowak [Nowak, Katrina]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781732038165
Publisher: Scribble & Spark Bookworks


Chapter Twenty-Five

January 15, 1915: Rathmines, Dublin, Ireland

The first meeting of the Rathmines Literacy Club was small, but Elizabeth was overjoyed to finally have something useful to do, something worthwhile she could sink her teeth into, something to save her from tea and endless hours of boredom sitting in the library and staring out at what had once been beautiful summer gardens.

She had asked Nora if she knew of any young women who might like to learn to read—who might want to begin a study group, explore literature. She hinted at nothing more, but watched the maid’s reaction closely. The look Nora had given her was clear as day. She had expected the young maid to be enthusiastic, excited even. Instead, those green eyes had stared back at her under a veil of what looked like suspicion. Still, unmistakably, a fire sparked in those expressive eyes. And Elizabeth had wondered, not for the first time, just what was running through the maid’s nimble mind.

But despite any suspicions Nora might have had, a small contingent of Irish maids showed up at the Parsons residence one Sunday after Mass, just as she had promised,. Each of them was young, like Nora, and each seemed nervous, maybe even confused at the idea that they were about to be part of a study group. Elizabeth knew that something that seemed so ordinary to her didn’t exist for poor Irish.

“Most of ‘em were never allowed to go to school,” Nora explained, as Ronan escorted each girl to the library, dressed in his immaculate butler’s uniform, including gloves. Ronan, now bent over with pain and with a new pallid, almost deathly shadow to his skin. He had fallen ill with a sickness no doctor could explain, but that was slowly strangling the life from the dear old man. Everyone could see that, and yet no one on the staff had the heart to acknowledge that he wasn’t responding to any of the doctor’s elixirs; that he seemed to get worse, not better.

“Some of ’em might have learned some letters, but that’s about it,” Nora whispered as the last of the girls walked into the library in wide-eyed awe.

“Too much work to do, I suppose,” Elizabeth said, watching the girls. They looked as mesmerized as if they had been walking into a palace, not a plain, simple library. She felt a firm grasp on her wrist and was shocked to see that Nora’s tiny hands could produce such a force.

“No,” Nora said firmly, “they were not allowed to go to school.” Her stoic face was angry, but her words were still soft and kind. “Until our parents’ generation, it was illegal to educate a Catholic. So they went to school wherever they could secretly gather a group of youngsters. Usually the hedges.”

“Hedges?”

“Aye, the hedges. Gave some cover.” Her characteristic mischievous grin erupted. “Made it look as though they could just be working the land and not sitting for lessons. Hedge schools. And in some places still—just because it is legal to educate a Catholic doesn’t mean the landlords allow it.



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