I was surprised she hadn’t added from me, but she paused and thought again, and then she suddenly smiled.
“Daddy looked so pleased, didn’t he? He was so down, so defeated when he came to breakfast this morning, but he left with some bounce in his step, didn’t he?”
Bounce in his step? When she had said good-bye to him the way Mother used to, he looked terrible. What bounce?
“Didn’t he?” she repeated, her eyes wide.
“Yes, Cassie.”
She smiled.“I knew this would all work out. We’ll be fine. We’ll never stop being the Heavenstones.”
With that, she left to get dressed to do her tasks, and I, still quite stunned by the lightning-quick changes about to occur in our lives, moved like a snail to begin the chores Cassie had dictated. I didn’t resent it. Having something to do, so much to do, kept me from crying all day.
I lost track of time and even forgot to eat lunch. Hours later, I was in the dining room polishing the furniture when I heard Cassie call to me. I stepped out and saw her standing in the entryway with a very tall, thin woman. Her hair, the color of pewter, was sharply cut at a length just under her ears. She wore no makeup, not even a touch of lipstick, and the one-piece dark-blue dress she wore was ankle-length. It had a high collar with prominent pearl buttons down the middle. As I drew closer, I saw that she had a pretty face despite her thinness. I thought she had an interesting color of blue in her eyes, too. In the brighter light, they looked silvery.
“Mrs. Underwood,” Cassie said, “this is my sister, Semantha. Semantha, I wanted you to meet Mrs. Underwood today. She will begin with you tomorrow, but I wanted her to become familiar with our home and you. I thought it would be best if you worked in our den, Mrs. Underwood. Semantha will show you to it, and you two can get acquainted.”
Cassie turned back to me.“Mrs. Underwood will consult directly with me about your progress, Semantha. Please remember that your father and I are making these arrangements to give you an opportunity to improve your work and avoid all the unpleasantness at the public school. Don’t disappoint us.”
I stared at her. Between the time she had left the house and when she had returned, Cassie seemed to have undergone a complete change. I didn’t notice that she had put on one of Mother’s dresses. Now she had her hair even more like Mother’s, and if I was not mistaken, she was carrying one of Mother’s purses. Was it because of all this that she tried to sound more like my mother than my sister?
“Okay,” I said. Mrs. Underwood smiled at me, and I smiled back. “I’ll show you around the house,” I told her.
“Yes, you two get acquainted,” Cassie said. “I’ll be down in a while, Semantha, and we’ll start preparing dinner for Daddy. I called him twice today, by the way. He’s doing all right.” She turned to Mrs. Underwood. “My father comes from a family in which all of the men had grit, strong backbones. We’re very proud of who and what we are. That’s why we’re hoping Semantha makes some significant improvements working with you. In fact, we expect it.”
“I’ll do my best for her,” Mrs. Underwood said, but I sensed a discordant note, a slight darkening in her eyes as, if she thought she had just been threatened.
“Sometimes,” Cassie said, now looking directly at me, “we have to do better than our best. See you both soon.” She went to the stairway.
“This is quite a house,” Mrs. Underwood said.
“My triple great-grandfather built it.”
“Triple great? How quaint. It is a bit much to say great-great-great-grandfather, I suppose.”
“Cassie made that up.”
Mrs. Underwood nodded and continued to look around. I gave her a tour, pointing out the ancestral portraits and identifying some of them for her. She was very good at identifying our style of furniture and really appreciated many of the artifacts, figurines, and such that Mother had collected over the years and those that had been collected by our grand-and great-grandmothers. I could see Mrs. Underwood was quite impressed, and without fully realizing it, I began to behave more like Cassie. I had to correct myself when I thought I sounded too arrogant.
“The den is perfect for us,” Mrs. Underwood said. “Well, I don’t need to take up any more time today. I’ll arrive at eight A.M. Monday through Friday and work with you until two. To begin, I will bring you these good tests I’ve been using with other students.”
“Tests? Already?”
“Not that kind of test,” she said, smiling. “These are analytical. They’ll give me a good idea of where you are in your educational progress. I don’t like to waste time teaching and reinforcing things my students have already mastered. I will expect that whatever homework you’re given, you do on time. I’ve had students who were lazy or procrastinators, and they were not only wasting their parents’ money having me but wasting time I could have spent elsewhere with other young people who needed me. Understood?”
“Yes.”
“I do appreciate how difficult it is for your sister and you to get back to a normal life after … after such a tragedy in your family. I just don’t want you to use that as an excuse for poor study habits.”
“Exactly,” we heard, and turned to see Cassie standing in the den doorway. “I’ll make sure that doesn’t occur as well, Mrs. Underwood.”
“Very good. Then you do want me to start tomorrow? You are sure it’s not too soon?
”
“It’s never too soon for any of us to improve, right, Semantha?”
“Yes,” I said.