The Grantville Gazette - Vol 3 Part 14

Dunster pays little attention to anything beyond books and etchings and Gunton will forgive anything that he can use to make a puritan look like a fool. In Magdalene, debate and rhetoric are diversions, not serious."

In his relief at not having blighted hisCambridge career in the first hour, Abell was moved to generosity towards his new acquaintance.

"You know, if you had the desire, mayhap we could try and see what you could learn. I'm no tutor but Ihave the books and..." He stopped, unsure whether what Bess would think of his offer. Perhaps it was condescending; perhaps she would think he made it for other, improper, reasons.

Bess seemed to understand his hesitation for she smiled at him. "Why, thank you, kind sir. I fear there are many demands on my time, but mayhap we can find some spare moments here and there. My father will look askance at me if I continue to dally with you, so be off now. We'll discuss this further anon."

A few days later Abell had become familiar with the routine of life at Magdalene. He had been a.s.signed one of the fellows as a tutor, had his first tutorial and been farmed off to his roommate Healey for day to day tutoring. The weekday started early with a lecture at six in the morning, followed by chapel. Chapel was followed by breakfast at abouteight o'clock . That was followed by a second hour-long lecture. As a fellow-commoner, Abell was free of communal commitments after the end of that lecture until hall in the evening. He was merely required to spend some hours being tutored by Healey.Since it was still summer neither he nor his roommates had trouble getting up before six, as dawn was a good hour earlier.

However, he was warned that this would become considerably harder as the year progressed.

Healey and he had come to the arrangement that they would spend the mornings studying together and thus in the afternoon he was on his own. The first two or three afternoons he had spent with Gunton and Healey, wandering amongst the printers, booksellers and other scholastic suppliers inCambridge . He purchased the items he had not brought with him. On the fourth day, a Sat.u.r.day, he was told in no uncertain terms that he was on his own. Healey reminded him that, despite it being market day, failing to show up to hall would be a bad start to his college career.

Healey and Gunton then left him in their room to consider his books and possessions while they left for some nebulous destination that did not require the presence of juniors. After half an hour the Euclidean task he had been set by Healey had been completed and ten minutes later he was bored. As he contemplated the long beverage-less afternoon of soul-searching that would be his lot if he remained on his own in his room, he also realized he had very few options available for socializing. All his seniors would be occupied with their own tasks and unlikely to wish to converse with a sixteen-year-old.

The two other fellow-commoners were also at least two years older than he and had made it clear they were not interested in befriending a junior whose father was a lowly merchant. The only other juniors he had been introduced to were all sizars and thus would be working. That left the Queen of the Pickerel, though she'd most likely be working harder than the sizars, it being market day after all. On the other hand, he could go to the Pickerel and drink a tankard of ale and then explore the market on his own. It certainly beat sitting alone.

As he was walking past the porter's lodge he heard a cry "Master Abell!Sir!"

He looked around and saw the porter Hobson who had helped with his bags on the first day. He was waving a letter.

"Sir, I was just coming to give this note to you."

Abell took the note, thanked the porter and stepped back into the court to open it. It was clearly a reused sc.r.a.p. His parents, who were sn.o.bby about such things, hadn't written it, then. The letter was short and written in a simple hand with a grasp of spelling that was more eccentric than normal. Sir, If you were series inn yourr ofer mayhap we cold beginne thise afternon, I hav somtim at libertee.

I hop that does not disterbe your studdees Bess

It took him no more than a moment to shove the letter into a pocket and rush out of the gates and across the street to the Pickerel. He opened the door of the tavern and looked around. No sign of Bess. But how could he ask for her? Everyone would think he was looking for her for, ah, other reasons. As he stood just inside the door and pondered what to do, a serving maid came up to him.

"How can I serve you, sir?"

He gulped and blurted out, "I was looking for Mistress Chapman..."

"Right you are, sir. If you are Master Abell then she told us you'd be along. Pray sit in this booth here while I fetch her."

A few minutes later two foaming tankards of ale arrived on the table and the red headed person who brought them sat opposite him.

"G.o.d gi' good day, Sir.Did you fly on wings? I did but give Hobson the note mere minutes ago."

Abell blushed and stammered, "No, no, I was, err, 'twas... ahh, I was just about to step out of the college when he saw me. In fact I was thinking of coming over here, I hadn't forgotten. But I had thought you would be working hard on market day."

"And you a merchant's son? Think you a moment: we are not by the market, nor even close. Our regulars are the tradesmen behind us who are all at their market stalls now. This evening we will be busy, but during market hours we are not so full." Bess paused for a moment and then, in a tone of voice that was totally different to her normal self-confident manner, she asked, "Are you really willing to teach me?

I'm not sure I really want to be a physician, you know. I just want to do something more than serve ale all day... I mean I do want to help people but maybe I could do something else. I just don't really know what."

Abell took refuge in a swig of ale while he tried to think what to say, reflecting on his own recently finished school days.

"At the beginning I do not think that signifies. No matter what you wish to do eventually, the first stage is clear. You must learn to read and write better in English. You must learn to read and write Latin and possibly Greek. Beyond that I suspect that theology, divinity and ecclesiastical studies are not of use. On the other hand, you wish to travel. As well as Latin maybe you should learn French and, if you intend to go to Grantville, High Dutch would be of use. Natural philosophy and mathematics are probably also useful, but until you can read Latin you will be limited to the more basic forms of arithmetic."

He paused for a moment, "This could take a long while, you know. How much time can you study eachday? Schoolboys take six or more years to learn little more than Latin, Greek and arithmetic."

It was Bess' turn to think. After a while she replied, "I think you have the heart of the matter. I shall start with Latin and methinks that learning Latin will itself help my reading and writing of English. Once we have overleapt that hurdle, 'twillbe time enough to choose the next.As for time? That is a harder problem.

For the nonce I may be at liberty for an hour or two most afternoons, and if I can convince my father, mayhap he will excuse me from some of my morning ch.o.r.es. If one of the maids leaves or we have more custom in the afternoon I may have to halt my learning for a while."

She stopped for a moment then continued. "What do I need other than time? I can borrow a slate and I can find paper and ink if need be. You said you had books, but I have a few savings. I could buy some of them, if you tell me what to buy. And where can I study? This room can be a very bedlam, my room is too small and you cannot teach me there. It would be improper... I think I must ask my father if we can use his cubby but that means I must say why."

Bess paused again. Clearly much planning and strategizing was taking place in her brain. "If you are to be my instructor you must meet my father and be approved else all is hopeless. However, if he approves, my learning will have his support and that will make it much easier. But we need not rush this, for failure would spell disaster. What else do you recall of Grantville that we may tell my father to whet his interest?

And what about your background, since he will undoubtedly wish to know more about my instructor?"

They fell to a long discussion of what might be interesting to an innkeeper about a place from the future and its revolutionary concepts. Of course, the fact that their knowledge was at best second hand and more often little better than rumor and gossip didn't help. Religious tolerance and the lack of Puritans and their disapproving manner seemed good. As did the female ruler bit, especially the fact that she was not American but apparently a Dutch or maybe English Jewess. The solid tradesman roots seemed to be Abell's best feature.If a humble merchant could educate himself and his sons, why not a tavern keeper's daughter?

The fact that Bess' mother had died in a plague some years back, along with both her brothers and one sister, leaving just herself, one younger sister, and her father seemed useful. Her father had shown no desire to marry again, so perhaps Bess could act "in loco filii" as it were.

"...or should it be 'in loco fratris' since you are acting for your brother? Yet you are acting as his son so filii..."

Abell seemed to be getting sidetracked into forests of grammar and philosophy. His future pupil soon brought him back to the true path, though.

"It doesn't matter whether its filli or fratis or even Philip orFrederick , since I'll never learn the difference unless we convince him! But I think we have the right idea. Convince him that in Grantville a daughter is as good as a son and that in time here will be likewise."

She looked around and, taking a deep breath to calm herself, walked over to the kegs and the man sitting beside them. At first sight he bore little resemblance to his daughter, but a closer glance shaved off about thirty years and considerably more pounds and showed the relations.h.i.+p. Red hair had darkened to brown and a hard life had roughened and thickened the features. But the nose was the same: a bit too large for beauty but not disfiguring.

"Pa, can you come over here? I'd like you to meet Master Abell." "I was wondering whether you would want to let me meet your new lad. Seems a bit young for you, mind."

"Pa, he's a fellow commoner at the college, just arrived this week. He's got a proposal for you."

The two of them returned to Abell.

"So, my daughter says you arrived here this week and already you're proposing to my daughter? I knew fellow-commoners were better than sizars or pensioners, but that's fast work. Might even be a record were I minded to accept. A record for the brevity of your life as a student, that is. You do know that the king and the chancellor do not permit undergraduates to marry and especially not to townsfolk?"

Abell went bright red. But Bess, being more used to her parent's often crude sense of humor, just raised her eyes to the heavens."'Tis nothing of the sort. He is a both a scholar and a gentleman. Sit down and restrain your attempts at wit. Abell, this is my father Mark Chapman; Pa, this is Richard Abell, fellow commoner at Magdalene."

She paused while they shook hands. "His father is a merchant who trades with the Baltic and of course he hears all the news from there. When he first came here on Wednesday, he was telling us all about that new place Grantville and how different it is. Anyway, we got into an argument about women because in Grantville the women are treated no different from the men. The girls can go to school or university just like their brothers can and they can own their own property and one of their rulers is a woman and..."

"So, let me guess. You have somehow trapped this poor boy into promising to make a little Grantville here-a utopianGrantaVillage as it were. And I further guess that you wish to be the first female resident ofGrantaVillage ?A place where you won't have to work all day in a tavern."

Mark Chapman may have looked a stolid dull-witted person.But, as the prosperous tavern itself testified, there was quite a brain tucked behind that dull exterior-a brain that, moreover, had experienced his daughters wheedling ways for some eighteen years. Sometimes his daughter had a tendency to overlook that and try to be too devious. But she recovered quickly, showing that she had also inherited those quick wits.

"That's not quite true. We were arguing about whether women could really learn anything and I said the only way to find out was to try it and Abell said that he'd be happy to try and teach me. Today we were discussing how we should do it and then we thought we'd best beg your permission. But I don't want to stop working in the tavern, or even work less; I just want to rearrange things a bit. If I can swap a couple of ch.o.r.es with Margaret I can find some free time in the mornings on my own and most afternoons are free anyway so I can take an hour or two then to be taught by Abell. Think of it! You'll be getting an educated daughter who can look after you properly in your old age."

"I fear I may be getting a daughter who is never satisfied with her station in life, but then I suppose I have already got that. If I grant permission, at least you'll not be bitter with me. Now then, sir, what do you intend to teach this child of mine and how much do you expect to receive as payment?"

"Latin.Latin and grammar, at first.And probably arithmetic and geometry as well.Ah, but I hadn't thought about payment. I wasn't expecting any except maybe the odd tankard of ale. Ummmm, we do need to have somewhere private as a cla.s.sroom, if that's possible."

"Cheapwork, man, aren't you! We'll have to see if we can't do something better though I'm not sure what would be suitable. As for a schoolroom, I'm sure Bess has thought of the cubby where I keep mypapers and tallies.So long as you don't harm them, that's most likely the best spot. And maybe you should teach my daughter some rhetoric, too. If I didn't have a heart of gold she'd have fluffed her chances!" With that, he got up and left them staring at each other.

"If I get a slate could we try the first lesson now?" asked Bess. "I'll get youanother ale and show you the cubby."

The cubby was a poky room behind the kegs and next door to the kitchen. There was just enough room for a table and a bench as well as the shelves piled with tallies and miscellaneous junk. Abell sat himself at one end of the bench and thought hard about how he should start-verbs or nouns? verbs-first conjugation verb:amo amas amat -I love, you love, he she or it loves, ah, no, perhaps on second thoughts better start with nouns and check that the grammar book has other example verbs. First declension noun:mensamensa mensam mensae , much safer. Need to explain cases and parts of speech-subject in the nominative object in the accusative-better start with English words today, explain subjects, verbs, nouns... and she has to learn to write better. Ha, I can dictate things and she writes them down!

Just then Bess came in, closed the door behind her and grabbed a slate from a pile of apparently unused ones. She sat at the other end of the bench, arranged her skirts and looked at him. Abell gulped and began.

"I think 'twere best if we begin with English grammar. Since you need to practice your writing, you have to write down everything on the slate. "Start with these two: 'the dog ran' and 'the dog chased the cat'."

theedogge ran the dogge chaysd thee kat

"Sentences in English have a subject, a verb and usually an object. Subjects and objects are nouns-that means things. Verbs are actions. The subject of both sentences is the dog. The first verb isran . The second verb ischased . The second sentence has an object, which iscat ..."

By the time Mr. Chapman poked his head around the door to ask Bess to start work in the tavern they had spent a couple of hours. Bess had written more than three slates worth of sentences and learned about adjectives, adverbs, prepositions, tenses and most of the other parts of speech.

"Shall I come again tomorrow afternoon? Yes? In the meantime I'll give you some homework. Write down and then find as many parts of speech in this: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with G.o.d, and the Word was G.o.d.

"The same was in the beginning with G.o.d.

"All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.

"In him was life; and the life was the light of men.

"And the light s.h.i.+neth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not."There was a man sent from G.o.d, whose name was John.

"The same came for a witness, to bear witness of theLight, that all men through him might believe.

"He was not that Light, but was sent to bear witness of that Light.

"That was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world.

"He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not."

She began writing.

innthe beginyng was the worde and the worde was withe G.o.dde and the...

Neither Healey nor Gunton were back when Abell returned to his room. He found his old grammar book and his copy ofDe Bello Gallico . What about a book to practice reading English?The Bible, of course. He thought frantically about whether he had seen a bible in the tavern. Well, he had his own for tomorrow and no doubt Bess could buy one if they didn't. This was going to be much harder thanEuclid !

He wondered if he could share the ch.o.r.e. Perhaps someone like Saltmarsh would be willing, though he might not have the time.

Then Abell wondered if he should tell anyone. Obviously telling his tutor or any of the fellows was out of the question, but what about his roommates? What about Dunster? And, a.s.suming he made some other friends amongst the new intake of pensioners and sizars, what about them? Would they keep it a secret?

Would they think he was actually doing something else with Bess?

He recalled the jesting reference made by Mr. Chapman to the king and the chancellor. It was no laughing matter. The king had modified the university statutes twice in the last three years to make marriage between students and town girls essentially impossible. The penalty for improper behavior of this sort was to be sent down in disgrace, generally after a flogging. Best to not mention this to anyone unless asked, he decided.

As time went on the routine became fixed. He taught on Sundays, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sat.u.r.days for between two and three hours. And he tried to make sure that Bess had homework to do every day except Sat.u.r.day. They fell into a routine, Latin on Tuesdays and Thursdays, English and arithmetic on Sat.u.r.days, Bible reading (and writing) on Sundays. They started with the Gospels and moved onto Acts after a few weeks. Once that was finished they moved on to the Old Testament, choosing by preference the pa.s.sages with stories in them.

Bess had improved her English literacy sufficiently that she was starting to read other books for pleasure and she managed to get her hands on Lady Wroth's romance,The Countess of Montgomeries Urania .

Abell was a bit unsure of the propriety of this book. It had caused a major scandal when it first appeared some ten years ago and was still notorious despite, or perhaps because of, the attempts to suppress it.

As for Latin, she had managed to move beyond the flagrant guessing that is the hallmark of most beginners. While her sentences lacked grace and complicated constructions, they were generallygrammatically correct. Although they still read Caesar, Abell had decided to introduce her to Cicero and hisDe Oratore as a way to kill two birds with one stone.

Abell was unsure whether her success was due to his instruction or her innate ability but he was very impressed with her progress. There was no doubt in his mind that Bess was as able a scholar as the average student. While she did not exhibit the genius that someone like Dunster displayed, there was no doubt she also did not act as stupidly as some of his other companions. Had she somehow managed to disguise her femininity, he had no doubt she could have held her place in any of the cla.s.ses that he himself was attending.

Healey and Gunton had never asked him what he was doing during those afternoons when he was teaching Bess. Since they, and others such as Dunster and Saltmarsh, were regularly in the Pickerel, they could surely tell that Abell was well known there. They may also have noticed that he never seemed to have to pay for his beer there and seemed to know everyone serving there better than might be expected.

However no one asked and he did not volunteer the information.

Early December 1632

Abell had begun to make friends with the other sizars and pensioners who had come up at the same time. He had more in common with them than with the other fellow-commoners who were older and far less interested in studying. Abell, possibly partly inspired by the diligence of his own pupil, had been studying hard. His Latin, originally good, had become excellent and he reveled in the Aristotelian logic, textual a.n.a.lysis and geometry. Theology was of less interest to him but he picked up enough of it to keep his seniors happy. With the winter break approaching, he was looking forward to seeing his family again, as were most of his fellow students.

One afternoon a little more than week before the end of term, the original five, as well as a couple of pensioners called Gale and Markham were gathered in the Pickerel. As usual with such student groups, the conversation had s.h.i.+fted into the endless debate about Puritanism and Sacramentalism. Dunster, as always, was leading the a.s.sault on Laud and his vision of "a church as scarlet and debased as that ofRome with none of the excuses of precedent that might excuse the Romans." Healey, on the other hand, was giving as good as he got, complaining of the disorganization of the Puritan fringe "who cannot agree on anything save the evil of Rome and the dreadful possibility that people might wish to have fun."

While the rest looked on and made occasional points, Dunster and Healey proceeded to pick apart each other's arguments without bothering to answer the criticisms of their own. Since the debate was clearly not going to be resolved that afternoon-past experience indicated that it would never be resolved any afternoon-Gale decided to try and widen the debate by appealing to Bess to adjudicate in her role as Queen of the Pickerel.

"Your Majesty, good queen Bess, I do beg your indulgence that you may pa.s.s judgment upon these two and thus restore peace to your realm."

"I cannot pa.s.s judgment but I declare that it is indeed time for a truce. I would have thought you wouldhave learned by now:'de gustibus non disputandumest ' or better'de persuasionibus non disputandum est .'"

The table was shocked into silence. Abell, of course, was torn between the pleasure of seeing his work pay off and terror that he would be unmasked, but the rest of them were amazed. Not at the Latin tag itself-their own conversation was littered with such-but the fact that a tavern girl could not just quote a tag but amend the tag to make it more appropriate. True, a scholar might have chosen another word in place ofpersuas...o...b..t that was quibbling. It was almost as if an animal had spoken.

"Well, that was easy," Bess said. "Is there anything else you lack?"

"Whu... Where, ah how, did you learn that?" stammered Saltmarsh.

"I read it in a book lent to me by Master Abell, if that signifies."

All eyes on the table turned on Abell who went bright red. But a few months of college had given him a lot more self confidence.

"Do you remember that first day when we argued about Grantville and women? I thought I'd lend her my Latin Grammar and Primer and a couple of books so she could see what she could do." All true, but not mentioning that he'd also spent a large amount of time teaching her. "It seems Bess has packed quite a bit in the last few months. Mayhap you recall your logic of that day, Saltmarsh? 'Tis like Grantville itself, not so easy to subdue as one might a.s.sume.First Tilly, then Wallenstein. Life has not been good to Catholic generals inGermany ."