She Can Actually Read! Chapter 14

Noticing the fear coming off of Beatrice Miriam decided to throw her a bone.

"Father, I am not trying to boast or lie, I am simply stating the truth. Shouldnt you just test me if you think I'm lying? If I can't read well enough, I'll go become a Nunn and pray for forgiveness from God and father!"

Ms. Hart looked upset but also apprehensive at the same time.

If the child couldn't read and she really went to be a nun, wouldn't that mean shes out of a job?

But also, if by some miracle, this child could already read, couldn't that also mean she was potentially out of a job? A good job!

How hard did she try and get this job, only she and God knew!

Anya definitely wasn't about to lose this job.

Stepping foward abit, she sent a inquisitive glance towards Beatrice before whipping her head in Miriams direction.

"Are you so confident that you already know how to read? If Sir Stuart doesn't mind, I would be delighted to know what you've learned so far." Anya said whilst looking from Miriam to Stephen, and then back to Miriam again.

Miriam could almost imagine Beatrice fainting at this scene.

No matter how you looked at it, Beatrice was probably going to get scolded later today.

'Sorry Beatrice, being a baby is so tiring, I wanna go out into the world as fast as possible.' Thought Miriam to herself.

Stephen glanced at Anya, and then at Miriam, and a smirk appeared on his face before he released Miriams wrist from his strong grasp.

Ah! Finally being released Miriam itmediatly took stock of her wrist, and noticed a giant bruise forming on it.

Her face darkened by a few shades, and Miriam finally made up her mind to pretend to be filial to this father. But in actuality, whenever she got the chance in the future, she would try and undermine and attack him from the shadows.

How dare he cheat on her mother! How dare he doubt her! How dare he let slaves be treated poorly on HIS plantation. How dare he hurt a four year old girl who is HIS biological daughter!?!

Miriam didnt know it, but she was becoming more vengeful the older she got. The old Veronica of the past that just nodded her head and said yes to anything asked of her had slowly started dissappear.

She, Miriam Mavis Maltilda Stuart, shall be the one in charge of herself in this life.

Miriam teared up at the eyes upon glancing at her badly bruised wrist. Looking up at her father, she began to speak to the crowd in the room inbetween each of her sobs. She was letting her bruised wrist go limp, making it look like it was broken.

"Father, daughter didn't mean to disrespect you. Miriam is confident in her reading. I think I can read at least as well as children who have been learning for a few years."

Beatrices face twitched noticably, and Stephen didn't miss this little action of hers.

But his glance didn't escape Miriams notice either.

'Hmmmm, I could use some pocket money, I'll make a bet with dad...'

"Father can show me any word and I'm sure I can read it! I will bet all my worldly items!" Piped out Miriam between a teary eyed hiccup.

Beatrice in response to these words went even whiter.

Stephen smirked, before saying "Since my daughter is so confident, I will give her the chance. If you can read even 10 out of the 30 words I choose I will believe you. But if you can't I'll ship you off to a strict school for troubled children just like your older brother and sister. If you can get every word right I'll even give you 1000$ dollars!"

Smiling on the inside but looking a little frightened on the outside, Miriam nodded her head slightly and said "Okay, it's a deal."

Stephen called for a servant to go fetch his

quill, ink, and a couple pieces of paper.

Coming back rather quickly, the servant humbly presented his master with the articles of item he requested.

Walking to a desk in the corner of the room, Stephen sat down in a wooden chair that didn't quite fit his size.

The music teacher and governess looked on in disapproval and anxiousness.

Beatrice had frozen up much like a popsicle that had stayed in the back of the freezer for a few too many years.

Setting his ink on the desk, he removed the cap and dipped his quill inside before laying one piece of paper smooth on the desks surface and begining to write some words.

When he had finished he blew on the page a few times before setting his quill on the desk and standing up from the desk.

He loftily picked up the piece of paper and waltzed over to Miriam and handed the paper to her.

"Start in order, from the top of the page all the way to the bottom. I'll tell you if their wrong or not." Said Mr. Stuart as he touched his mustache as if in thought.

Receiving the paper, Miriam took a look at the first word.

Brat.

This man really had some nerve. Miriam took a deep breath and said aloud confidently "Brat. Father the first word is brat."

Mr. Stuart's left eyebrow twitched abit and hd glanced to the side where Beatrice was.

Hmmmm...

"If there are no objections I will read on further." Said Miriam while giving her dad a 'innocent' glance with her eyes.

Mr. Stuart just nodded his head.Taking this as a que to keep reading, Miriam decided she would just read them and not wait for a npf of the head everytime. It was kind of patronizing.

The next word that entered Miriams eyesight was "Clamor".

"Clamor."

"Rife."

"Remiss."

"Onerous."

"Wily."

"Duty."

"Rabbit."

"Father."

"Supreme."

When she said the 10th word correctly and proceedes to look back up at her father from the piece of paper, his face had a very complicated emotion on it.

Noticing the silence, Miriam decided to continue.

"Quandary."

"Revolution."

"Banana."

"Cotton."

"Sickle."

"Oxen."

"Virginia."

"London."

"Carriage."

"Hole."

It was at this point that Miriam took a break to re-wet her mouth to keep talking.

Finished spitting inside her mouth, she grimaced abit and continued on.

"Washington."

"Cobra."

"Axel."

"Jesus."

"Trail."

"Preacher."

"Angel."

"Angle."

"Pipe."

"Chimney."

After she said the last word Chimney, her dad walked right infront of her and lowered himself to the ground to look her in the eyes.

Mr.Stuart was slightly shaking in place.

"Child, tell me, how can you know all these words?" Her father looked serious as he asked her this question.

Miriam got kinda nervous from the tense atmosphere and replied abit hesitantly "I don't know what most of these words mean. But I do know how to pronounce them by remembering the letters and the sounds the letters make and what rules go along with what letter combinations."

Once again, Miriam turned towards where Beatrice stood flabberghasted in the corner, and addressed her.

"Beatrice is a good teacher. She explained the letters to me when I asked and taught me some little words, she even let me read over her shoulder when she was reading."

Let's just say Beatrice knew that Miriam was fairly smart, but the little girl never really showed that she was at this caliber or a genius. Beatrice was ultimately the most shocked person in the room.

Of course, this little stunt plunged Miriam into her fathers schemes of raising children to be his pawns.

Mr.Stuart nodded his head slowly, and then more vigorously until he couldn't hold in a delighted chuckle.

Finally! He had found someone of more than average intelligence amoung his children.

He had long awaited a genius grade child, but none of his older children could rise to the occasion.

Even put of the more than a dozen bastard children he had sired, only one or two of the boys had shown enough promise in the past few years to warrant his attention and care to them.

This LEGITIMATE child had truly surpassed his expectations. Of course, her older sister Martha was very book smart and read a little bit ahead of those her same age. Ultimately though, she was only above average for a girl from their social class.

If he wasn't wrong, Stephen suspected that Miriam might have inherited his fathers intelligence.

Miriam wringed her skirt with her hands, and decided to ask her father to talk about something privately.

Leaning foward, she whispered into her fathers ear.

A look of surprise and slight suspicion crossed his face for a moment, but then a small replaced it.

Standing up fromt his crouching position in front of Miriam, he addressed the parties in the room.

"I am terrible sorry but my daughter has something very secretive that she wants to tell me. I ask that you all leave the room and wait to be called on a few doors down in the drawing doom nearest here."