“Father does not really listen to women, Mrs. Blessingham.”
Mrs. Blessingham, a commoner who had chosen her lifestyle, her work, and her friends, had grown unaccustomed to including herself in the category “women,” and this label made her blink.
“Well, still we must keep Papa happy, since that is what we do. I asked to see you so we can arrange with Dorothea to do your hair and with Gertrude to select your gown and be sure it is fitted properly. You have grown since last year. Most girls do not grow in height at your age, so we must be sure your stockings and small-linens still fit you well.”
“Yes, ma’am,” she said, as she always said. Then, however, she went on, betraying her own confusion. “Father has not said anything at all about a betrothal.”
“I was merely guessing, my dear. He did not say who he was bringing with him, merely that he wished you to make a good appearance. And Genevieve, please. It might be better if you did not spout. You were seen talking at a great rate at the last soiree, and it is never a good idea to go on so volubly. If it was only chatter, it can be excused as mere nervousness or even playfulness, but do avoid speaking about politics. Few women find comments on political matters well received, and those who do tend to be elderly, with years of exposure to the talk of a husband and his colleagues. At the age of fifty or sixty, if a woman is not contentious, she can sometimes offer an opinion without being silenced.”
“That seems foolish,” Genevieve said, surprising herself. “It seems self-defeating not to let us use our minds.”
Mrs. Blessingham smiled rather ruefully. “Genevieve, it would be self-defeating among the commons. The poor are like foxes: they need intelligence in order to survive. The rich, however, have power, they don’t need good sense. Also remember that traditional things are sacred, and here on Haven, vapid noblewomen are traditional.”
Genevieve dropped a curtsey and left, her face flaming.
“It was Barbara, that cat. She told,” said Carlotta.
“No,” Genevieve said, trying to be fair. “I think it was one of the guests who heard me talking to the Colonel, and his questions were political, sort of.”
“I can’t understand why you’re so interested in politics. Where do you even learn about it?”
“I’m not all that interested,” murmured Genevieve, by now quite aware that any such interests should not be shared with her schoolmates, for they would tell their families, and their families would tell others. Besides, it was true that she wasn’t interested in politics exactly. She just wanted to know-how things worked and what roles people played, and what the rules of the game were. The only real way to find such things out was to watch them or read about them.
To this end, she had haunted the library since soon after coming to Blessingham’s. It reminded her of the library at Langmarsh House: it was quiet, and if she daydreamed over an open book, no one thought she was strange. The librarian was a crickety little man with a funny beard who never bothered to learn their names and called each one of them “young lady.” He had a small office where he sat for hours at a time, reading periodicals, some from off-world, some from the provinces, most of them printed on paper particularly for non-technological markets. Nothing of the kind was included in the reading material available to students, and Genevieve’s curiosity was piqued, particularly when she saw that the librarian stacked the older periodicals outside his door for the maids to take away.
After several days of anticipatory guilt, she filched one from the pile and carried it off to her room. There, for the first time, she read of other worlds as described by the people on them. She read of planets that had been settled with high hopes, only to fail, while others, settled in like fashion, succeeded. Here was Dephesia, fertile and flourishing, there was Chamis, no less fertile, but perishing nonetheless. Here was Barlet’s World, healthy amid its forests and seas. There was Ares, on which a mysterious thing had happened, on which a mysterious plague was even now infecting the population. Genevieve found this information totally fascinating.