Storing Up Trouble, стр. 21
“I wouldn’t say Theo and I are friends. We’re colleagues who share an interest in science.”
“And because I have no desire to spend the morning arguing with you about whether or not you’re friends with a woman you spend an inordinate amount of time with, let us move on to why I’m visiting Mother today.” Constance nodded to Oscar. “Gemma and Oscar have been pestering me for over two weeks to bring them here, which is why I’ve stopped in for the past seven days once I heard you’d returned from New York, but you’ve not been here until today.” She caught Norman’s eye. “Where have you been?”
Because he wasn’t comfortable telling his incredibly nosy sister that he’d been taking the train the short distance to Hyde Park every day, and then had spent hours running through the streets, doubling back time and time again to run past Hyde Hall, Norman ignored the question. Instead, he returned to his eggs and bacon in the hopes that his sister would grow tired of waiting for an answer and move on to a different subject.
It was disruptive, this preoccupation he had with Beatrix. Every time he tried to settle into a relaxing bout of mathematical equations or attempt to draw a diagram of an improved electrical motor, thoughts of Beatrix interrupted his work.
He’d never had thoughts of a lady disrupt his work before, which was why he’d decided that to cure those disruptive thoughts once and for all he needed to travel to Hyde Park to make sure she was not suffering mistreatment at the hands of an aunt who was certainly odd and who could also be slightly mad.
The problem with that decision, though, had been that after he’d run past Hyde Hall three times on the first day, approaching the house from different vantage points and then peering through the slats of the iron fence that encompassed it, he’d not gotten a single glimpse of Beatrix. That had left him more concerned than ever, which was why he’d traveled to Hyde Park for the next five consecutive days, choosing different times each day to improve his chances, but even with being so diligent, he’d never caught sight of her.
Unfortunately, while he’d been running past her aunt’s house yesterday, he’d almost run over Edgar, who’d stepped directly into Norman’s path right as Norman had been craning his neck as he ran, hoping to see Beatrix roaming around her aunt’s extensive grounds.
It soon became clear that Edgar had taken note of how often Norman had been running past the house. And even though Norman had tried to convince Edgar that he’d been running the streets of Hyde Park for a change of scenery, the amusement in Edgar’s eyes had suggested he didn’t believe Norman’s story.
Edgar had then proclaimed in a voice that held a trace of laughter that Miss Beatrix was currently not at home, having taken up a position at Marshall Field & Company.
Instead of alleviating Norman’s concerns, learning Beatrix had evidently been forced to seek out employment had left him reeling.
Everyone in Chicago knew that Miss Gladys Huttleston was a woman of means. The notion that she’d insisted her niece, who was obviously a woman of limited means, take up a position suggested that Miss Huttleston was a stingy woman, unwilling to extend even a small bit of her fortune to the niece who’d come to stay with her.
It was disturbing, Beatrix’s unfortunate situation, but what he could actually do about rectifying her situation was a puzzle he’d yet to figure out.
“I hope you realize that the longer you take to answer what I originally thought was a fairly easy question is only going to increase my curiosity about the matter.”
Norman polished off the last of his eggs, took a swig of coffee, and elected to continue ignoring his sister. He turned to Oscar instead. “Do forgive me, Oscar,” he began, earning a blink from Oscar in return, “I’ve neglected you most dreadfully. To rectify that, tell me why you’re spending your time sitting across from me when you could be doing something vastly more amusing. Where’s Gemma?”
Oscar shifted in his chair. “She’s off seeing a new doll her grandmother purchased for her.”
Norman smiled. “Ah well, I can see why you chose to sit at the table with me instead of accompanying Gemma to retrieve a new doll. I was never one to care for dolls even though Alice, my oldest sister, used to try to get me to play with hers.”
“Gemma doesn’t like dolls,” Oscar muttered.
“Gemma doesn’t like dolls?” Norman repeated, glancing to Constance, who was taking a seat beside Oscar.
“Not really. She prefers her chemistry set,” Constance said.
“Gemma has a chemistry set?”
“I bought it for her on her last birthday.”
“You bought your daughter a chemistry set?”
Constance shrugged. “I always enjoyed playing with chemistry sets when I was her age, so when she asked for one, I saw no harm in getting it for her.”
“You never had a chemistry set when you were young.”
“Well, I didn’t have my own set, but I freely admit that I took liberties with yours whenever you were away from the house.”
“No wonder my supplies were always dwindling more rapidly than they should have.” Norman frowned. “I distinctly remember you telling Mother that I was careless with my supplies when I complained to her about the situation.”
“I couldn’t admit that I was the culprit, not with how adamant Mother always was about how unacceptable it was for girls to be interested in science.” Constance shook her head. “She became suspicious of me after I invented this soap that I tried out in the washing machine. I obviously used too much sulfate because, before I knew it, the washroom was filled with bubbles. Mother found me standing in the midst of those bubbles, and while she never outright accused me of anything, she did begin buying me doll