Chapter 2: School

Vincent came to stay with Prue for the weekend.

Vincent’s arrival lifted her spirits. Her eleven-year-old cousin tended to be bookish, but he could be a lot of fun as well. He had a quick brain and enjoyed problem solving games the most. Vincent had been sent to the Academe when he was eight because Albert couldn’t be bothered getting him a new tutor after the nanny left.

Albert didn’t have a lot of time for his son. Albert was a very physical robust man that preferred riding, hunting and whoring. He was a renowned fencer and had even been a pugilist of some note in his youth. Cousin Ty’s father, Henry, had been ten years older and their sister Annemarie, her mother, had been between the two brothers.

“Prue, have you thought of going to school?” Vincent asked her the first night of his stay.

“School? Why would I want to go to school? I’m supposed to find a husband. Not that I think I want one. I don’t really think I’m ready for marriage.”

“Well then, go to school. I think some girls are as smart as some of the boys are. Even King Harold says so,” Vincent told her. “You can beat me at Kings, after all, so you have to be smart too,” He reasoned to Prue’s amusement.

After Vincent had left, Prue took his suggestion to heart. She was close enough here to commute back home each weekend. It was better than sitting around sewing, dancing and entertaining busy-body old ladies she didn’t even like. Their commiserations were getting on her nerves.

Taking her courage in both hands, she sent a letter to the headmaster of the Academe. She included a list of the subjects she had covered with her tutors and told him she was interested in studying chemical and electrical processes.

For example, she had become fascinated by why, when you mixed the seemingly different ingredients of bread, to form dough and when it was baked, it changed again into bread. She wanted to know why and how these processes took place.

The King was trying to encourage more women to gain higher education and had told the headmaster to consider any viable request. When the headmaster received Prue’s letter, he thought, ‘Why not.’ It would get the King off his back if he signed up at least one female student of some notable rank.

It was a little late in the semester, but they could find some easy subjects for her to do. She was from an important family as well. The other masters might not like it, but it may help him get the grant money he wanted from the King.

If it at least looked like he was complying with his wishes, The King would reward him he was sure. He sent back to Prue that she would need to sit a set of entrance exams. They would determine the grading of her knowledge so they could cater to her needs.

Prue turned up two days later for her exams. There was still four weeks until the season started. The scholars had her complete a series of written tests. They asked her to wait while they marked them. One of the scholars, a Master Rothberg came back and asked if she wouldn’t mind sitting a second set of tests in the morning. She shrugged and agreed.

They had installed a house mistress in one of the small wings they didn’t use anymore for the boys as they eventually planned to pull it down. The small wing was big enough to house ten students and two mistresses. It had its own kitchen, dining room, a study room and a sitting room.

A widow of one of the old Masters was looking for a job. So she was chosen as the House Mistress. Edna Bower was glad for the job and a home. She ensured a room was ready for Prue. She was only forty-five and not ready to give up on life just yet.

Her ten years older husband had simply not woken up one morning. The medical wing asked if they could have his body for science to study. Edna thought he would like that, so agreed. One of the doctors told her later that her husband had a massive growth that had burst in his head.

The small amount of suspicion that Edna had smothered him disappeared. He had been known for his strange mood swings and bursts of anger that had seemed to get worse in the year before he died. His strange lump now gave the doctors more to think of.

Edna was to escort Prue if she needed to change buildings, as they didn’t want her walking around so many young men unescorted. She told Prue they should just sign her up for the classes as well and they both giggled.

They both decided they would rub along just fine. Having both recently lost loved ones, they felt like kindred spirits. Harriot had stayed at the house to supervise the renovations as Ty had told Prue, she could get them done, hoping it would help keep her occupied.

Prue turned up to do the second lot of exams. She felt that the ones she had done the day before, had been ridiculous. ‘Goodness,’ she had thought at the time. ‘Even Vincent would have scoffed at those tests.’

Her parents had provided her with good tutors. She had often studied with Ty, as well. She smiled at some of the interesting topics they had explored. Ty had always enjoyed learning and he had encouraged her to learn with him.

She had found that she loved learning about how things worked.

The new exams started with easy enough questions.

They then got harder on the last page. These questions were to see what she really knew, and she happily stepped up to the challenge. She had completed all but the last question on the maths’ exam. The formula didn’t seem to suit the question. So she left it and put the exam to the side. Then she tried the physics exam.

Master Rothberg came to take the completed exam, but she put her hand on it. “I haven’t finished the last question. Is it okay if I think about it, while I work on the other exams?” she asked.

The master agreed and left her to it. She had six exams to do, and they told her to do them in whichever order she pleased. She would be limited to five hours with a small supervised break in the middle.

She completed the physics exam, and again the last question stumped her, so she tried the chemistry exam. She again got to the last question. She opened each of the other two exams and realised the questions were all related to the same problem.

She still didn’t understand how it could be solved in the maths question but when she looked at the question now as a whole, she decided the maths equation wouldn’t answer the problem to her satisfaction. She went for her break and worried the questions around in her mind.

When she returned, she reread the problems and then grabbed a blank page and wrote her solutions. Happy with her answers, she moved on to the other three papers. She did a moderately good job of the English and history exams and an excellent job on the geography one and finished up.

She called Master Rothberg over and handed him the last three exams first. She then explained what she had done with the other exams.

“The last question on these three had me stumped until I looked at them all together and realised they were related to the same problem. So the solutions for all three questions are on this page, is that okay?”