Unseemly Ambition (20 page)

It was unfortunate, Concordia thought,
that the other two administrators had intervened. Langdon might not
have taken such strict action if he’d had the solitude to consider
his own penalty. Even a suspension for the rest of the semester
would have been preferable.

She passed the girl her handkerchief.
“Take a moment to compose yourself, then we’ll talk about what we
can do.”

Concordia took a deep breath and
knocked on Langdon’s door.

“
Enter!”

She poked her head in. “May I speak
with you?”

“
Of course.” Langdon stood
and gestured to the chair beside his desk.

Concordia took a deep breath for
courage. She’d known President Langdon since she had started
teaching at Hartford Women’s College, back when he was dean. She’d
always found him to be fair-minded. Although the man harbored many
of the old ideas about women and what their role in society should
be, he was dedicated to the college’s mission to provide the young
ladies with the best education possible.

Concordia got right to the point. “Mr.
Langdon, I want to speak with you about Miss Lovelace and her
friends, who are on the verge of being expelled.”

Langdon’s brow furrowed, and his
usually amiable expression took on a scowl. “Are you here to plead
on their behalf? You’re wasting your time.”

Concordia held up a hand. “What they
did was certainly disruptive and ill-considered, but can you hear
me out?”

President Langdon gave Concordia a
long, silent look. Finally, he sighed in resignation and sat back
in his chair. “If it were anyone but you, Concordia, I would not.
But I do respect your opinion, and I know you’re not easily
influenced by sentimentality. Perhaps you can help me at least
understand why in blazes they decided to do such a
thing.”

She nodded. “That is the very issue.
This wasn’t some high-spirited prank, done in malice or to show off
to their peers. They had an earnest motive behind it.”

Langdon waved a dismissive
hand. “You mean the engineering program? The girls have already
explained their reasons. It makes no sense to me, and I certainly
cannot condone such behavior. If anything, these young ladies have
already acted in a distinctly unwomanly fashion. A course of study
like engineering, suited to
men,
would exacerbate the problem, not solve
it.”

Concordia clenched her teeth. She
needed all of the patience she could muster. It certainly would not
do to fly off the handle when faced with this all-too-common
misconception about a woman’s “nature.”

“
Sir,” Concordia began,
“the act that you call
unwomanly
is merely the attempt on the part of these girls
to prove that they are capable of the mechanical complexity called
for in an engineering program. Granted, the demonstration was
flamboyant, designed to draw attention to the issue, but you said
yourself that not even the local mechanic wants to attempt
dismantling and reassembling the vehicle because of the risk of
damage to it. Doesn’t that speak to extraordinary skill, that these
young ladies were able to do so?”

Langdon regarded her with a skeptical
eye.

“
Do you deny that they have
exceptional ability?” Concordia persisted. She knew Edward Langdon
would not allow bias to interfere with the evidence of his own
eyes.

Langdon’s expression softened. “Just
between us, I was astounded when each girl described her role in
the process; what tools they knew to borrow and use, how they had
taught themselves to do certain things. Yes, Concordia, they
certainly have skill; talent, even. However—”

Concordia jumped in. “God-given
talent?”

Langdon hesitated. “Yes, I suppose it
is.”

“
So, let us suppose, in the
hypothetical,” Concordia went on, “that a different talent bestowed
by Providence was at issue. Suppose one of these girls had an
extraordinary singing voice. What would you do—redirect her into
another area of study for which she was ill-suited, forever muting
her beautiful voice? Would you forbid her to use and develop her
talent because of her sex?”

Langdon was quiet.

“
The President Langdon whom
I have come to know,” Concordia said softly, “would want her to
take singing lessons with the best teacher available, and he would
attend her performances as her most avid supporter. The Edward
Langdon I know believes deeply in the education of young women, and
wants them to reach their full potential.” Concordia let out a deep
breath, and sat back in her chair, gloved hands folded in her
lap.

Langdon rubbed a hand across his
beard, lost in thought. Concordia waited.

“
At least we know where you
belong, my dear,” Langdon said. “Right here, teaching and
supporting these girls. They are lucky to have you.”

Concordia blushed and smoothed her
skirts.

“
Although I cannot refute
your logic, I see two issues,” he went on. “There’s the
disciplinary action for a prank of this kind—although I cannot say
there has ever been a prank
quite
of this kind before—and then, there’s the original
problem that the girls were reacting to: the lack of an engineering
program.”

Concordia’s eyes lit up. “So you’re
not going to expel them?”

Langdon threw up his hands in
surrender. “Why waste such ability? But we need to direct these
young ladies along more productive pursuits. We certainly cannot
have them disassembling and reassembling other school machinery
when they are disgruntled.”

Concordia suppressed a shudder. Heaven
knows what the girls would have resorted to next.

“
You never brought the
certificate program before the board of trustees?” she
asked.

“
No, I did not,” Langdon
said. “Bursar Isley was vehemently opposed to the expense. You know
how, umm...frugal...our bursar can be. Without the support of the
entire administration, it was doomed to fail. Besides, there is a
great deal of skepticism regarding such a program to begin with.
It’s never been done at a women’s college before, you
see.”

Concordia did indeed see. “I have an
idea. Perhaps we can take care of both issues in a single
stroke.”

Langdon propped his elbows on the
desk. “I’m listening.”

“
Obviously, the first step
is to have the young ladies disassemble your buggy, remove it from
Mr. Isley’s office, and restore it, correct?”

Langdon nodded.

“
Well, then, why not make
an event out of it?” Concordia continued. “The incident has already
been made public, anyway. Call in that newspaper reporter—” Langdon
winced “—and the engineering students from the local colleges, and
have the girls show everyone how they worked the process. It would
have to be after we’re back from spring recess, of course, so you’d
have to wait a bit longer for use of your vehicle. But the
publicity may make others more aware of what talent we have here,
and sow the seeds for the engineering program, which you can
present to the board next year.”

“
But that doesn’t seem
sufficient punishment for the young ladies involved,” Langdon
objected. “They cannot just seize upon valuable property that
doesn’t belong to them, and use it for their own
purposes.”

“
Ah, but that isn’t all,”
Concordia said. “And I think the next part will please Mr. Isley in
particular.”
Bless his penny-pinching
heart,
she added silently. “You can place
the girls on restriction for the rest of the semester, where in
their free time they are put to work fixing various mechanical
problems that have arisen at the school. Door latches, sticking
windows, broken pulleys on window-blinds, things like that. We
never want for those sorts of annoyances. Of course, you’ll want
someone knowledgeable in such things to supervise them and help if
there are any difficulties. Perhaps the custodian?”

Langdon’s smile was growing wider by
the minute. “I’m beginning to see the appeal of your plan.” He
tapped his chin thoughtfully. “And by putting these girls to work
on such projects, we can see if they are truly dedicated and suited
for such tasks.”

“
No doubt they will learn a
great deal, too,” Concordia pointed out. “It’s certainly not the
certificate program that they wanted, but they’ll be getting a lot
of hands-on practice.”

“
It may even prove to be
useful if we go to the board next year about the program,” Langdon
mused.

“
So you’ll do it?”
Concordia asked.

He nodded. “I suppose I can wait
another week to have my buggy back. At least Isley won’t be in need
of his office during the recess.” He stood, as did Concordia. “Tell
the young ladies to be prepared for a great deal of work when they
return.”

Concordia grinned, and hurried back to
share the good news with the girls.

By the end of the following day, the
campus was nearly deserted. The students and most of the teachers
had gone. Even Miss Hamilton was nowhere to be found. Concordia
wondered if she had learned anything at the train station
yesterday.

The cottage was strangely quiet as she
finished grading examinations. She knew she would have no time to
work once she visited her mother tomorrow. The rest of the week was
sure to be a whirlwind of outings, shopping, and social calls. But
the visit would be as good a time as any to share the news of her
engagement.

Concordia puckered her brow, wondering
how to tell her mother that the engagement was to be kept secret
for now. Would Mother accede to that request? Or would she haul
Concordia around town, shopping for a trousseau?

That would not do. She would have to
be very firm.

A knock at the door roused
her.

“
This is a surprise!”
Concordia exclaimed, opening the door to Lieutenant
Capshaw.

“
Hello, miss.” Although the
shadows of sleepless nights smudged his eyes—worry about Eli’s long
absence was surely taking its toll—Capshaw greeted her with a
half-smile.

She led him to the parlor. “Please,
sit down. You have news?”

Capshaw crouched gingerly upon a low
rocking chair, his long legs bent nearly double. “Indeed, yes. I
just received a telegram from Miss Hamilton. She was writing in
haste, and asked me to inform you as well. Her interview with the
conductor has given her the lead she needed. She’s picked up Eli’s
trail.”

“
Wonderful!” Concordia
exclaimed.

“
But you’re not going to
like the rest of it,” Capshaw said, in his usual melancholy tone.
“Eli spent time in the Cranston town jail for sneaking aboard the
train bound for Hartford.”

Concordia clenched her
hands together. “They put a
child
in jail?”

“
It was the day after
Florence’s murder,” Capshaw explained, his jaw rigid. “He was
released three days later, into the care of a reformatory school
matron, but he slipped away from her. Miss Hamilton is trying to
trace his whereabouts since then.”

“
Wait,” Concordia said.
“How did Eli come to be boarding a train
to
Hartford? From where? And why
Cranston, Rhode Island?”

“
The train originated in
Providence. The boy was caught between there and
Cranston.”

“
And Miss Hamilton thinks
he’s been following Florence Willoughby’s killer,” Concordia said.
Her stomach twisted in worry. Where was Eli now? It would have been
several weeks since the boy’s release from jail. Why hadn’t he
returned?

Capshaw ran a hand through his hair.
“I am sorely tempted to join Miss Hamilton in the hunt, and risk
losing my position,” he said. “Why didn’t Eli send
word?”

The pained look on Capshaw’s face
spoke volumes about the agony of a parent who cannot do anything
but sit back and wait.

“
I assume Miss Hamilton is
checking with the doctors in the town, in case the boy was
injured?” Concordia asked.

Capshaw nodded. “I have to say, my
respect for Miss Hamilton has grown considerably. She’s a very
thorough investigator.”

Indeed she was. Concordia
smiled.

“
But that’s not the only
reason for my visit,” Capshaw said. “I need to speak to
Ruby.”

Concordia raised an eyebrow. “You
haven’t talked with her yet?” It had been weeks since Capshaw had
begun his investigation of the mysterious man on campus.

Capshaw frowned. “I’ve rescheduled our
meeting twice, after she sent me messages with some excuse or other
as to why it was inconvenient. It seemed prudent to simply show up
to talk with her.”

Concordia shook her head. Something
was wrong here. Why was Ruby acting so strangely? “Ruby left for
vacation yesterday. She won’t be back until the end of the
week.”

Capshaw’s frown deepened into a scowl.
“She’s deliberately avoiding me.”

Concordia nodded. “Reluctantly, I’d
have to agree. But why?”