Amanda didn’t dare open her mouth for fear of what would come out. Now Taylor was making her feel stupid. Did all men, at some point, turn into patronizing, overbearing know-it-alls? Every man seemed to think he knew exactly what was right for her. Her father took her out of school and kept her at home with a tutor. Her tutor took her away from her mother and put her on a schedule. Then along comes Dr. Montgomery and he makes her stop studying and start eating.
“Yes, I’m going to bed,” Amanda said and turned away quickly before she said something awful, such as asking Taylor if he meant to grade her paper with kisses: You miss four questions on Edward I’s Scottish campaign and no kisses for you, Amanda.
Once in her room, she burst into tears. She wrenched the engagement ring from her finger, tossed it onto the bedside table, then flung herself onto the bed and cried desperately. Everything in her life was so confused. A month ago she’d known everything she wanted out of life. She’d wanted Taylor and nothing else. But now she’d met Dr. Montgomery and nothing seemed to be the same. She was discontent about everything. Instead of feeling as if she were educating herself with her studies, Dr. Montgomery had made her feel like an aging schoolgirl.
Toward midnight, she got up, put on her nightgown and went to bed, but she didn’t sleep much. If only she had any idea what to do. If there were only some way she could get rid of the confusion in her mind.
Morning came and Mrs. Gunston gave Amanda Taylor’s latest schedule, but Amanda hardly looked at it. And she realized that she didn’t like Mrs. Gunston’s attitude either. After all, who was the employer and who the employee?
Amanda felt very discontent with the meager breakfast she shared with Taylor and the equally meager lunch. He sent her back to her room after lunch to get her engagement ring which she’d forgotten to wear. At two o’clock she’d barely passed her history test and Taylor had said nothing at all. His cold silence was worse than his berating her. “I guess this means no more kisses,” she murmured under her breath as he returned her paper with its low grade.
She went back to her room and glanced at the rest of her schedule, and a great, heavy sinking feeling overtook her. If she wasn’t a prisoner, she certainly felt like one.
At 3:30 she walked to the window and saw her mother sitting in the shade of two almond trees, reading the newspaper. Amanda didn’t even think about what she was doing but left her room, right in the middle of when her schedule said she was supposed to be studying Vermeer’s paintings, and went downstairs and outside to her mother.
“Hello,” Amanda said softly.
Grace looked up from her paper and saw immediately that her daughter had been crying, and crying quite a lot from the look of her swollen face. She wondered what that bastard Taylor Driscoll had done to her now.
“Have a seat,” Grace said, “and the lemonade’s cold.”
Amanda poure
d herself a cool glass of lemonade, sat down and sipped it. There was a pile of cookies also and she ate two of them before she spoke. “Have you ever been so confused that you had no idea what to do?”
“Daily, but why don’t you tell me what’s confusing you? That is, unless it’s Latin verbs. I’m no good at schoolwork.”
“It’s men,” Amanda said, blinking back tears.
“I might be able to help you there.”
Amanda didn’t know where to start. “I’m afraid that dreadful Dr. Montgomery has ruined my life.”
Grace’s eyes bugged and she envisioned her first grandchild being born out of wedlock. She’d take Amanda to Switzerland. She’d—
“He seems to have made me—well, restless,” Amanda was saying. “I love Taylor, I always have, and I know I want to marry him. He gave me an engagement ring last night. Oh drat! I’ve left it upstairs again. Anyway, I know I love Taylor, but ever since Dr. Montgomery came I can’t seem to enjoy anything. My studies are harder for me now. My mind keeps wandering.”
“That sounds normal,” Grace said.
“Normal? Normal for an engaged woman to think about another man?”
“Yes, of course. You know what you really need is to get Dr. Montgomery out of your system. You see, he’s a novelty to you, that’s all. It’s like when a child first eats ice cream. The child should be allowed to eat until he makes himself sick, then the next time he’ll use some judgment and not gorge himself.”
“You think I should get more of Dr. Montgomery? I thought it would be the best thing for me when he left.”
“Just the opposite,” Grace said. “You saw him just enough to be fascinated with him. After all, you have led a rather sheltered life, and this kind of man is different enough to intrigue you. If you were to spend more time with him you’d soon see that he really isn’t half the man Taylor is. After a few days of parties and dances and whatever else young people do today, you’d be back here hungry for Taylor and the way of life you’ve always loved.”
All Amanda wanted was the confusion to stop. She didn’t want to look at an empty chair and wish Dr. Montgomery were in it. She didn’t want to compare Taylor with another man and have Taylor lose.
“Dr. Montgomery is a frivolous man,” Amanda said. “He goes to motion pictures instead of lectures and he’d rather go on a picnic than to a museum.”
“He sounds awful,” Grace said, her eyes sparkling. Now she knew for sure that she’d lost her chance to get into heaven.
“But how do I see him again? Should I invite him to dinner? I don’t think Taylor will like that.”
And Taylor must always be appeased, Grace thought, rather like an ancient hungry god. She folded the newspaper back. “I just happen to have noticed an ad in today’s paper.” She handed the paper to Amanda and pointed.
Translator Wanted. Needs to speak and/or write as many languages as possible. Needed to help with incoming hop pickers. Five dollars a day. Apply Kingman Arms. Dr. Henry R. Montgomery.