Chapter 9

They left with a promise of support for Simon’s studies. Being a woman, Susan got no such encouragement. That night, as they made their now traditional toast-making tryst, they were both aware that the Summer was coming to an end. “It has been a vacation, much different to what I had expected. I have enjoyed it; not least because of your company.”

“I also have much to be thankful for. Not only the pleasant days out, and the swimming of course; but also your aunt has become much more pleasant to be around. Perhaps I should not say so?”

“I understand, I noticed that she has even taken to wearing a little colour.” Great Aunt Jo wore the usual garb of an older lady – black. It implied she was in mourning but somehow it had become the norm for older women. Recently a bright scarf, or a pretty brooch had started to be in evidence. “Oh, my parents are travelling up to collect me. I think they feel they should make themselves better acquainted to Great Aunt Jo.”

Susan was, once more, aware that Simon was naive; he could not see the real reason for this sudden interest in Josephine Barker.

It was an unexpected, and extremely pleasant, coincidence that: firstly Simon’s father was taken ill and could not travel and then that the train Simon had therefore to catch home alone also transported the two sisters and their governess ... or rather it would have done had not their governess finally ruined herself by eloping with Captain Aramis of the French Light Dragoons. She was there on one evening, and not there on the next morning. Her trunk was gone, her room empty. This caused Simon far more excitement than the fact of his father’s illness. The plan for his parents to come for the final week was delayed, Simon breathed a sigh of relief; and perceived that so did his great aunt and her companion. It would not have been possible to refuse them, of course, but finding them unable to visit was met with crocodile tears from Great Aunt Jo. She sent a card hoping Simon’s father would soon be well enough to return to normal life. She also suggested Simon could return home earlier if he wanted, but he was content to remain, sure in the knowledge that a ‘life threatening illness’ was really little to worry about.

Mr Peters had in fact taken a minor chill and opted to escalate that to being near Death’s door, Simon was aware of his father’s ability to be far more ill than was appropriate in the circumstances. Naturally his mother could not travel alone, and had to remain beside Mr Peters’ bedside in case she was needed. A fulsome apology was sent, and Simon found himself not entirely sorry.

The loss of the governess was far more serious. Was it safe for two young ladies to travel alone by public transport? Their mother was convinced that they would be ravished in the first tunnel, raped and kidnapped and sold to an Arab Sheik for three camels. She read too many penny dreadfuls of the worst kind. Simon asked his aunt to write to her, to tell her that he would be honoured to escort them through the wilds of the lawless Midlands (even Aunt Jo laughed at this description of England’s middle counties). Susan found herself jealous of the three travelling away in a reserved first class carriage. “I perceive, Susan, a certain hesitancy. Rest assured, we shall see Master Peters again soon. I trust he is a very sensible and upright boy.” Miss Barker allowed herself a little smile at the knowledge that her companion had no idea whether she was deliberately making a double entendre joke or not – she was.

The journey south was therefore much more pleasant that it might have been. They allowed themselves to remove their pinching shoes, and Simon allowed himself to massage their toes – since he had seen far more in other circumstances, holding a lady’s feet hardly signified, but the two ladies who joined them at Peterborough would have fainted away in shock if they had seen. At the terminus in London, the goodbyes were demonstrative to the most obtuse and ignorant person that these three were more than simply travelling acquaintances. Simon’s father and mother observed with concern, Emily and Elizabeth’s parents observed and were horrified. None said anything in public, and none could obtain any information in private. The letters to and fro between them (Emily, Elizabeth and Susan of course, with Simon tolerated as long as he wrote to Emily AND Elizabeth together, not separately) indicated a friendship that Simon’s parents hoped would not interfere with his studies.

A week later he arrived at St B’s and found his room on the top floor much to his liking. That first dinner was pleasant. At the end when the new students were taking port with the Master, Simon was addressed directly as they had a joint friend in Lord Glendamore. From being one of the ‘scholarship oiks’, Simon was elevated to being one of the upper echelons of the college, not just this year’s intake. St B’s was a small, if ancient, college. It was rumoured to be one of the richest colleges but it always maintained a frugal outlook on life. He was content with that. The food was good but not the swan’s liver pate and wild Norwegian salmon eggs that some colleges made a great play of. He settled down to a life of study, sport (rowing and running) and maintaining his wide circle of letter writing friends.

It seemed that Christmas arrived almost before he had started. He told his parents that they should invite Great Aunt Jo and her companion, which they did in a way that made sure Miss Barker refused. Simon spent a week in Newborough before Christmas, renewing the toast tradition. Then he travelled home and basked in the knowledge that he was a good son and a good great nephew. Emily and Elizabeth managed a day in London with him as a chaperone. He had been accepted as such even after the display of friendliness at the end of the Summer. Perhaps their parents hoped that one of them might be his future.

The break passed quickly, he loved the work, and was quickly marked out among the younger students as having a particularly mature view of some aspects of morality. On the talk of women’s rights and duties, the speaker was surprised to find him one of her supporters against a monstrous regiment of unthinking men. His essays demonstrated an understanding of the effect and influence of women in the New Testament where many intending clerics dismissed it as unimportant.

The Master’s wife took a fancy to this boy who knew his own mind so well. That their daughter doted on the handsome young man who came to tea was not lost on her, nor that he never, ever acted with anything less that total decorum towards her. But he did treat her, at fifteen, as a young lady rather than as a girl-child, something that Mrs Deben was grateful for, she recognised that her daughter had more brain power than her two sons put together.

Term followed term and Simon found himself visiting Newborough for an extended break in the Summer. His parents once more regretted that they were unable to make the journey, but were pleased to see Simon doing his bit for the family inheritance. Great Aunt Jo arranged more trips out; Helen – the girl he had helped rescue – visited more often that might be normal; Emily and Elizabeth persuaded their parents that the ladies only carriage meant they were safe to travel up, and Simon’s Aunt welcomed them as visitors too; Lord Glendamore had them all out for a private visit in addition to the Sunday School picnic, at which they met Olivia VanHarren – who was being feted in the music halls of the North of England. Great Aunt Jo was less sure of the propriety of that particular visit, but consoled herself that nothing could happen with so large a set of guests. Olivia VanHarren was, of course, famous for her song ‘You can’t see my melons til you’ve bought them’. In the Autumn, Miss VanHarren found herself in Cambridge and made the close acquaintance of Lord Glendamore’s son, she was nothing if not flexible in her affections. When her tour also took her to Oxford in the autumn, she was pleased to be taken punting by the young student Simon Peters, who made not one ribald remark and treated her as if she was the perfectly innocent creature, a friend of the family. Some of his fellow students recognised her and envied him his circle of friends.

All in all the Summer break was very relaxing, edifying and enjoyable. The young people renewed their private swimming lessons; Helen expressed an interest in learning to swim but it all took too long to persuade her mother and father, which was just as well. “Next year. Oh yes, I will be back, if Aunt Jo will have me.” Aunt Jo didn’t admit it, but his visits were the high spot for her. Church was boring, the Ladies’ Club was stultifying and even Susan’s attempts to jolly her along were only partially successful. She had started to read more interesting works though, even on a Sunday. Nothing too salacious, but she was recognising the morally uplifting nature of books other than missionary works and the Bible. She was even seen to smile at Miss Austen’s clever use of language and plot in those books.

Simon’s second year began with two of his fellow students being sent down for ‘conduct unbecoming to a student of St Bede’s College or Oxford University’. Rumours were rife that actresses had been found in their rooms, but Simon heard the truth in private from the Master himself. The real, and hushed up, story was that they had been found in one room, in one bed, one inside the other person. It was still illegal to bugger a fellow, student or not, but it would not do for the college to be tarred with such a story; so the actresses story was ironically deemed more acceptable. Simon showed his maturity once more by not telling a soul – except Susan at his Christmas visit. Sadly his mother was ill and unable to offer to be hostess to Aunt Jo and companion over the holiday, Providence smiled in that she made a recovery on Christmas Day.

Easter arrived and Simon wrote suggesting Miss Barker and Miss Withers-Ainable visited him in Oxford, which they both readily accepted. The Master was kindness itself to them, giving them tea on the Master’s lawn, and Simon reciprocated by taking their daughter Jane with them when they went punting on the river.

Later, on the same visit, they watched him in the college eight rowing against other colleges and all the adoring females were convinced that he was the best in the crew (though knowing nothing about rowing). Simon admitted that he enjoyed the camaraderie but had no particular competitive streak in him. Two days before the Misses Barker and Withers-Ainable were due to leave, his parents arrived for a surprise visit. There followed two days of difficult conversation, poorly covered prevarications about visits and an atmosphere that Simon could see, Susan could feel and his parents seemed unaware of. They thought this visit as good as a visit to Newborough, something that Josephine Barker felt strongly was not the case; but was happy not to have to welcome them to her sanctum in the North, as she called it.

That Summer vacation brought a difficulty; Helen had not forgotten his statement that ‘next year we shall arrange it’, now that her mother and father had agreed. Emily and Elizabeth arrived for a two week stay and Helen pressed them to help her. Susan could see the difficulty; it was not that they needed to swim naked in the private pool, more that they all looked for it as a delightful secret. Finally she grasped the nettle and took Helen to get the costume and insisted they all went to the baths. “Helen, this is a private bath, no-one sees in, and no-one talks about what they see here. Is that understood?” Helen nodded calmly, not really understanding. “No, you must promise out loud. Remember, if you break the solumn oath of the Sisterhood of Swimmers, you will be cast out and condemned as a liar even if you are not one. Do you understand?”

“Not really, but I shan’t tell. What is it? What is so ... oh! You and the girls are lovers!”

“No, not that. I am surprised you know of such possibilities. But do you remember how we were visible under our essentials when we rescued you?” she nodded, “Well, that means there was little point in maintaining the fiction of being covered. This private bath is as if you are bathing alone, in your bathroom.”

“Oh! You mean ... Well, that’s nothing new, my brothers and I still share our bath at home. I’m not meant to tell that so now we both have secrets to keep.”

“Your brothers are eleven and twelve now. And they share your bath?”

“Well, we take it in turns as the bath is not big enough, but we are all in the bathroom together. You won’t tell, will you?”

“They see you in your natural state?” All of them were undressing now; all except Susan were stunned into a silent state at this new revelation. It seemed that behind closed doors families were less reticent. Indeed she admitted that they had shared with their mother too until the boys began to notice their mother’s nudity; their mother then absented herself but left her daughter to supervise and to be looked upon as education of the shape of a woman. Helen shyly undressed with the rest of them. It was one thing being seen by her brothers as she had been since she was young and unformed, but now she was to show herself to other women who were further along that aging process that made the female body more and more alluring ... and then less so again. She was also showing herself for the first time to a male non-relative. Her aunt had once suggested that men became overwhelmed with lust at the very sight of a breast, such that it was essential to stay covered at all times. Helen knew that was absolute rubbish of course, and even if it were not that a man had the same duty to control such feelings as a woman; but she was still nervous of what he might think.

Helen turned to look at the water and found herself facing Simon with a very frank salutation of her body. “Oh! Is it? Oh.”

“All natural my dear.” Susan explained. “Though I agree, last time we were a little less obvious about it all under the water. Simon, can you really not control it?”