The Bad Seed Read Online Free PDF Page A

with some expression, as well. We teach arithmetic in the way arithmetic should be taught—from a book and from a blackboard, not on a sandpile in the garden with shells and flower petals for counters.”
    “Yes, I know,” said Christine. “My husband and I talked with one of our neighbors at the Florabelle Apartments, a Mrs. Breedlove,and from what she’s told us, we feel your school is ideal for a child of Rhoda’s temperament.” Miss Claudia Fern entered at that moment, and went to one of the filing-cabinets, as Mrs. Penmark continued in an uncertain voice, “You know Mrs. Breedlove, of course?”
    The sisters looked quickly at each other, as though surprised anyone could ask such a question. “
Monica
Breedlove?” asked Miss Burgess Fern in astonishment. “Why, everybody in town knows Monica. She’s one of our most active citizens. She won the Civic Association award a couple of winters ago as the most valuable citizen of the year.”
    Miss Octavia Fern came in and sat at her desk. She said, smiling gently, “I’m afraid I’m not familiar with the name Penmark. It’s an unusual name, and I’m sure I’d remember it. Have you been here long?”
    “No, not long at all. My husband is with the Callendar Steamship people, and we were transferred here from Baltimore only a week or so ago. We hardly know anyone so far.” Miss Fern sighed, as though approaching an unwelcome task, and Christine, seeing the direction her mind was taking, said in a propitiating voice, “My husband’s people are from New England. The name Penmark is better known there, I’m told.”
    “Ours is not an inexpensive school,” said Miss Burgess Fern. “Our tuition is high, which is to accord with the standards we use in choosing our pupils. We reject far more than we select.”
    Miss Octavia said, “You will find neither false pride nor snobbery here. We are sympathetic with the problems of children, and we operate on a basis of complete nonprejudice; but we do not consider the best interests of a child are served through minimizing the standards of excellence his ancestors have established, a course of action fashionable in some quarters during the reign of the Roosevelts; and we do not believe it wise to play down what his forebears have accomplished, or to belittle what they havecollected in the way of prestige, fame, or worldly possessions.” She waited, and then said, “In other words, while we advocate the democratic ideal, we are convinced that such an ideal is possible only where all members of a particular group come from the same level of society, preferably a high one.”
    Mrs. Penmark turned these remarkable statements over in her mind, and said, “I think you’ll find our family background acceptable.” In a more careful voice she added that she herself had been born in the Midwest, and as a child had lived pretty much all over the country; she had taken a degree at the University of Minnesota, graduating the summer before Pearl Harbor. Her scholastic record had not been distinguished; she had got by reasonably well and that was about all. She hesitated, looked down at her hands, and then said, “My father, to whom I was devoted, was killed in a plane crash during the second world war. His name was Richard Bravo, and he was quite well known at one time as a columnist and war correspondent.”
    “Of course, of course!” said Miss Octavia. “I’m familiar with his work. He had imagination and a beautiful prose style.” She turned to her sisters, they nodded in agreement, and she went on. “He was a man of depth and understanding. His death was a great loss.”
    “There’s a book of his collected pieces in the library,” said Miss Burgess; but Miss Octavia raised her hand, as though the matter were settled, as though Mrs. Penmark had now established beyond question the eligibility of her daughter, and said, “Our enrollment is limited, as you probably know; and already we have our quota for next term; but