Just Jane Read Online Free PDF

Jane about her going to Simon’s school. “Why must you do that?” he demanded one day. “Didn’t you get enough education in England?”
    She looked up from the book she had been reading. “No, Brandon, I didn’t. I attended a village school run by a doddering old gentleman who couldn’t remember my name, let alone anything else. Mr. Cordwyn is the only competent schoolmaster I’ve ever had, and an excellent one he is.”
    â€œHe’s also suspected of being tainted with rebel sympathies.”
    â€œSuspected? By whom?”
    â€œBy me, for one. And Uncle Robert, for another. I warn you, Jane. When Uncle Robert hears about this, he’ll be very upset.”
    â€œOh, I hope not, Brandon. Because I’m not doing anything wrong. But I thank you for your concern. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have a reading assignment for tomorrow.” She gave him a smile and returned to her book.
    Â 
    Often when alone, Jane found herself thinking of the gentle schoolmaster—and realizing that it was not solely for education that she valued their time together so highly.
What else, then?
she wondered. In pondering this mystery, she remembered something he had said to her the day they met.
    We have something important in common, you and I. We’re both aliens in a foreign land, trying to find our way
.
    Never mind being called pretty, or addressed as
my dear
. It was in
that
statement, coming back to her again and again, that Jane found real meaning. In a few words it seemed to identify the two of them as kindred spirits.
    There was no doubt in her mind: A strong bond was growing between them.

Chapter 6
    So the summer days passed tranquilly. Then one sultry morning in late June, the tranquillity was shattered. Jane sensed an undercurrent of anxiety flowing through the house. Arthur and Harriet spoke in low, worried tones. The servants whispered to each other. Grim-faced men came to see Arthur, and Jane, hovering near his closed study door, caught fragments of their ominous conversation.
    â€œ . . . an enormous fleet . . . hundred guns . . . gallant fools on the island . . . people evacuating the city . . . a tragic sight . . .”
    Looking down from an upper-floor veranda later, Jane saw the “tragic sight”—families, their possessions piled high on carts, hurrying up the street, as if fleeing an unseen menace.
    Suddenly Brandon was standing beside her. “Don’t waste your sympathy on them, Jane. Last year they forced our English governor to run for his life. Now he’s coming back, and they’ll pay for their insolence.”
    â€œAnd you take pleasure in their wretchedness?” Jane asked coldly.
    â€œNot pleasure, of course not. But neither do I sympathize with them, as I fear my foolish father does. And I should think that as a loyal British subject, Jane, you certainly should not.”
    â€œNevertheless, I do.” Tugging at the locket around her neck—a sure sign she was upset—she turned away and went to her room.
    A while later, Mrs. Morley joined her there, her face clouded with worry. “Something’s wrong, Jane. I can feel it in the air.”
    Jane was just about to reassure her when a deep boom in the distance shook the room. Hurrying out onto the third-floor veranda, she looked toward the harbor. Far away, visible over the rooftops and church spires of the city, a puff of black smoke curled toward the sky. Three more booms came in quick succession.
    Mrs. Morley peered fearfully out. “What is it, Jane?”
    â€œI’m not sure,” Jane replied quietly. “It must be cannon fire.”
    â€œOh, Lord, have mercy! Come back inside, quickly!”
    But Jane had caught sight of the schoolmaster rushing toward the front gate. “Mr. Cordwyn!” she called down to him. “What’s happening?”
    He glanced up at her without slowing down.