Beloved and Unseemly by K. B. Owen

Author:K. B. Owen [Owen, K. B.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: mystery
Goodreads: 32840880
Publisher: Misterio Press
Published: 2016-11-01T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 23

Week 7, Instructor Calendar November 1898

The lighting of rooms by means of lamps and candles is giving hostesses a great annoyance. There is scarcely a dinner-party but the candles set fire to their fringed shades, and a conflagration ensues. ~Mrs. John Sherwood

Ruby was keeping the girls at a distance as the firemen worked, pulling out axes and unwinding the hose of their steam-driven pumper truck.

“Is Charlotte out?” Concordia asked anxiously.

Ruby pointed. Randolph Maynard was gently laying the inert form of Charlotte Crandall on the grass. Miss Jenkins and Miss Pomeroy crouched over her.

Stumbling upon shaking legs, Concordia hurried to them.

Miss Jenkins lifted her head from Charlotte’s chest. ““She’s alive, but she needs more than I can do.”

“Has an ambulance been sent for?” Concordia knelt beside them.

Miss Jenkins nodded.

“Miss Kimble is rousing the other teachers, in case they are needed.” Miss Pomeroy pushed her braid over her shoulder and self-consciously tightened the sash of her robe. She turned back to Miss Jenkins. “Do you want the Willow Cottage girls to head over to the infirmary, so you can check them when you’re finished here?”

Concordia stared. The lady principal could be surprisingly focused when the occasion called for it. Perhaps it took something as extreme as a burning building to rouse her.

A pale-faced Maynard, clad in pajamas and robe, his dark hair tousled, ignored them all. He gently chafed Charlotte’s hands and wrists and murmured to her.

“Does anyone know what happened?” Miss Jenkins asked.

Concordia shook her head. “We awoke to the cottage on fire. It was already well underway.” She looked over at Willow Cottage, her heart a tight ball in her chest. The roof was now ablaze. Smoke billowed from the windows. Everything was gone.

The fire chief approached them. “Who is in charge here?”

Miss Pomeroy pointed to Edward Langdon.

“Keep everyone farther back,” the chief told Langdon. He frowned at the swaying tree line in the distance. “We must evacuate the nearby cottages. I don’t like the look of the wind. We may not be able to keep it from spreading.”

Fear prickled along Concordia’s spine. Langdon ran for the nearest cottage as quickly as his portly frame would allow.

The teachers soon had their charges from the other four cottages swarming out of doors, clutching a few necessities.

“Take them to the gymnasium for now,” Langdon called.

The crowd quickly dispersed, the chill air an excellent motivator. Concordia lingered, glancing down anxiously at Charlotte Crandall. She had not regained consciousness.

“Will she...be all right?” Concordia turned aside in a fit of coughing.

Miss Jenkins bit her lip. “I am sorry to say I do not know. But I want you to go to the infirmary, Concordia. You need tending to.” She gestured to the burns along her forearm. Dazed, Concordia lifted her arm. How had that happened?

“Come, dear.” Miss Pomeroy settled a shawl around Concordia’s shivering form. “There is nothing more you can do. The ambulance will arrive soon, I’m sure.”

Hot tears prickling her eyes, she allowed Miss Pomeroy to draw her away.

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