Passion's Song (A Georgian Historical Romance) Read Online Free PDF Page A

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the best to be had, and in spite of Mrs. Morris’s culinary skill,
it tasted like it. And by staying away, she was almost entirely
able to avoid the British soldiers who were frequent guests. Mrs.
Morris would generally set something aside for Isobel to eat when
she got back from her lessons. They would talk companionably while
she ate, though this usually meant she listened to Mrs. Morris tell
her why she should leave the Samuelses. Although Mrs. Morris was
some twenty years older than Isobel, she, like no other, understood
Isobel’s misery when she talked about the Samuelses.
    Mrs. Morris repeatedly said she would help Isobel
find good paying work as a lady’s maid or, with her ability to read
and write, as a governess. “Why stay here and let Samuels have your
work for free? If you got a position, in a year or two you might
save enough to go to England to find your mother’s family!” What
she did not say was how unlikely she thought it was that Isobel
would see even a penny of her father’s money.
    “ But I could never leave America!”
she said.
    “ Why not?” Mrs. Morris
persisted.
    “ When I’m twenty-one I’m going
back to Boston to study music with Mr. Standifer.”
    “ But right now you’re no better
than a slave for Mr. Samuels,” was Mrs. Morris’s invariable
response. “And anyway,” she continued once, “why couldn’t you study
music in England? There’s nothing for you in Boston; you said
yourself the house was sold.”
    “ Boston is my home, Mrs. Morris!”
One day she would be a very wealthy young lady, and when that time
came, there was nothing that could stop her from doing whatever she
wanted.
    On the afternoons when she did not go to Mr.
Archer’s, and when she had spare time after practicing, she
sometimes sought out Philip. Mr. Samuels had engaged a tutor for
him, his son’s education apparently being one of the few things
about which he did not think to economize. Isobel usually found him
in the library drawing swirls on the paper he was supposed to be
using to copy Latin declensions. She was always careful to make
some small noise to alert him that she was coming in so he could
turn the sheets over. She would ask him about his studies, and
though he answered her only because otherwise she wouldn’t go away,
Philip discovered it made him feel important to have her hanging on
his every word. It had the added benefit of making him remember his
lessons, something he attributed to a natural intelligence, since
it never occurred to him that his recitations to his cousin might
be helping him remember the information.
    It amused Philip to have Isobel dote on him. She
sometimes saved him desserts and sneaked them to his room after
dinner. She never asked him to share, which was a fortunate thing,
because he never thought to do so, and if she had, he would have
laughed at her for the presumption. Occasionally, he rewarded her
devotion by allowing her to borrow one of his books. It was thus
that Philip discovered Isobel’s proficiency at mathematics. He had
given her a text on algebra because it was sure to confound her and
lead to his explaining the impossibility of the female mind
grasping the complexities of mathematics, a moment to which he
looked forward. The day she returned the book, he decided it would
be amusing to make her try to solve a problem before starting his
speech. As it turned out, she solved it, as well as all the other
problems he gave her. Initially, he was put out, but it occurred to
him there was a silver lining to this cloud. He took to having her
do his exercises for him, and she regarded him with all the
adoration of a little sister.
    IV
    Isobel was all of seventeen when she realized she
was in love with Philip Samuels. Philip had much to recommend him;
he was young, and he was handsome, with thickly lashed brown eyes
that sometimes looked soulful. His hair was saved from being mousy
because of its reddish tint. He was taller than Isobel by only