School of Ladies: The Debutantes

All rights reserved. Ennie Smith © 2018

I.

1.

On a cold September morning, Emma Derkin is sitting on the train with her parents rumbling their way towards the big city. As is always the case in the fall, the landscape appears dismal. The barren brown land was visible from the train. The whole sky was gray, and it was drizzling a bit as well. In the distance, fog has shrouded all of the more pleasant sights on green fields where cattle are grazing.

Emma is sitting in an eight person compartment in first class. The seats are covered in dark burgundy upholstery. The walls and the door frame are made of dark mahogany, which lend a very elegant feel, and perfectly matches the upholstery of the seats. Emma is seated in the middle, her mother is by the window, and her father is sitting by the door. They are all sitting in a row as none of them wanted to sit facing rearward of the train's direction. As it is, Emma always suffers from nausea when she is nervous. Just like now. She is just sitting stiffly staring at a landscape picture hanging above the seat straight across from her which shows large oak trees on a lush hill with young picnickers gathered around. She looks at the picture enviously, as at the moment, she would rather have been in their place. This reminds her of a nice memory, but she brushes it away, not wanting anything to disrupt her anxiety. That can't happen now, she can't be daydreaming; this is reality and if she wanders, she might mess things up.

They were quiet because they were already quite tired. They had been traveling since that morning. The truth is that it wasn't only Emma that was nervous; her parents were as well, especially since they could see how anxious their daughter was. Though they tried, they were unable to calm her down no matter how they attempted to. They had already tried the calm down!, there's nothing to be afraid of! approach several times. But these were just cliches to Emma, and it was as if they had no meaning to her. The unknown was one of the most frightening things to Emma.

The train's whistle finally broke the quiet tension and the train began to slow down. The train was braking for a long while before it came to a halt at a train stop. This made Emma even more nervous as she wrings her hands. She sighs deeply, finds breathing hard, her corset is tight even though she asked that they tie it more loosely on her.

Emma wore her prettiest dress for the big day. A long ankle-length dress the color of butter with dark blue flower designs, and small modest lace adorning the neck and sleeves. Her fashionable little hat is also dark blue with white ribbon which goes really well with her special coat. The coat has a fur neck collar that is very attractive and produces an extremely good impression. The fur is a rarity; it has always been exclusive to older and wealthier ladies. As an exception, she has completely pinned her hair up in a bun, even though she doesn't like wearing it like this. She prefers wearing it only half pinned up with the rest hanging down in curls on her shoulders. Or she might wear it braiding it in various forms the way other young women her age would in that period. The bun was more typical of older women. She wasn't all that good at pinning up her hair. She never did like messing with it too much, and was always waiting impatiently for the lady-in-waiting to finish with it.

Emma is a natural beauty, not noticeably striking, but truly a pretty girl. Her wavy long brown hair, brown eyes, and slender figure is genuinely feminine. An oval face that is slim and a snub nose that gives her an appearance of a charming young girl. At first glance, she seems like a modest, shy, and quieter type.

They have arrived at a train stop in a small rural town. The small station is built of red bricks and decorated with flowers. There are potted geraniums in every single window which are so pretty and refreshing to see in the gray drizzle.

Well, this is finally Becktown! This is the last stop! It's only another half an hour. Mrs. Derkin said relieved.

But rather than having this assuage Emma, it didn't have a calming effect on her at all! She became yet more tense from this comment and her heart was pounding even harder.

There were so many people getting off the train, and people were swarming all over the platform, but there were some people getting on the train. A thin man laden with baggage in his hands tried to pry open the door to Emma's compartment. Mr. Derkin jumped up right away trying to help by taking one of the man's suitcases from him. Two younger girls were standing behind the man both wearing identical dark green velvet coats and similar colored dresses, and their hats could be described as garish as the brim of each was adorned with a complete bouquet of flowers . The last person behind them was a plump, (putting it mildly), lady who is dressed in a loud and completely purple outfit. Her dress simply forced one to look at her, which was most likely her goal.

Thank you for your help. Are there four available seats here? asked the man.

Certainly, come in, answered Mrs. Derkin.

The man politely let the women go in first and he followed in last.

Oh, this compartment is so dark! And what is this stench? asked the plump woman arrogantly.

Emma's parents immediately took note of who they were dealing with, so no one took the comment personally. In fact, they were smiling to themselves. One could guess by her lively purple dress that you are not dealing with an ordinary person. She was as conspicuous as a peacock. Quite the contrary to Mrs. Derkin who was very reserved in both her manner of dress, as well as in personality. She is a very kind and sensitive woman who would go to great lengths not to offend anyone.

The ladies made themselves comfortable sitting across from Emma.

Let me sit by the window girls, said the plump woman as she immediately squeezed her way there.

The thin man, like a humble servant, diligently put the ladies' luggage in the baggage holder above the seats.

One of the girls, who was about seventeen years old, around the same age as Emma, resembled her mother a great deal both in her face as well as her physique. The other girl was younger, only about fourteen. She was prettier and more attractive than the other girl.

Sitting across from each other, the two families traveled in silence for a while occasionally stealing glances at one another.

Not much longer Sara before we reach your new school, offered the plump woman.

Are you registering the girls now, too? asked Mrs. Derkin.

Just the older girl; the younger one still has time and she's not as talented as the older one. She takes after me and the younger one takes after her father.

The older girl did indeed look like her, but that is not necessarily an advantage. The girls resembled each other in the face, and their blonde-brown hair was pinned to the side in the same way. Both had greenish blue eyes with a little bit odd-looking chubby faces. She looked very similar, but the younger girl was still more attractive.

Oh, I'm sure she's also a very bright girl but in a different way, said Mrs. Derkin trying to put a better light on it.

And which school will she be attending?

St. Mary. That's the best.... the others have a very low level. And you?

We're at St. Helen.

St. Helen? St. Mary is the best!

Emma was starting to get very embarrassed that they had chosen such a poor school. It's naturally very important that you choose a good school. One judges a lady by the upbringing she had. Every girls' school tries to attain to raise the smartest and most sophisticated young ladies, who will one day be the wives of very influential men. Every girls' school has their own debutante ball, and if a school has a poor reputation and is judged to be inferior, then talented and prestigious young men won't participate in the ball. There were many schools at the time such as this, training young ladies with many debutante balls, so it was imperative to choose wisely.

Emma's parents preferred not to get involved in a pointless argument like this. Mrs. Derkin ended the conversation by once again looking out the window at the dismal autumn landscape.

Emma dreaded this; she didn't want to stay there, and didn't want them to make a sophisticated young lady out of her, especially now after the revelation of what a terrible school this is. She had wanted to stay at home with people she is comfortable with. Besides, she already had a love.

Well before reaching their stop and before seeing the sign for the capital city, everyone started grabbing their things and taking the luggage down from the baggage holders. This caused Emma to have a repeat attack of nerves. She just sat and wished they could keep traveling on, but she knew she had to get off the train, no matter how much she didn't want to. She was barely able to gather enough strength to stand up. Her legs felt very heavy; she picked up the smaller of the suitcases in her hand, and started to walk out after Mr. Derkin.

Everyone got off the train with their bags. There were so many people at the station; Emma had never even seen this many people in one place. It was a huge station, the largest in the country. A lot of people were waiting as not everyone was traveling. There were some who were waiting for relatives or friends. Young women and young men, older people, real aristocratic men and women with their servants, who were carrying their bags after them. Emma was impressed with all the different kinds of people, and started to feel small among them. Everyone was moving around and going about their business so confidently, and yet Emma was dealing with great fear within herself. This was her first time in the capital. Mr. Derkin was in front leading the way because people were pushing and shoving and not paying attention to one another. Mrs. Derkin brought up the rear, and like someone brought up in the old days with a real French governess, was totally shocked by the situation.

How rude these people are! Just amazing!"

Emma just waved it off; this indecency didn't surprise her in the least since she had heard this and that about the capital from her young friends. What was most surprising was that girls here weren't required to have an escort when in men's company, and could even go to horse races.

Slowly they made their way through the crowd, and finally were able to leave the station through the huge entrance. Mr. Derkin tried to get a carriage right next to the train station, but this wasn't too easy, either. Many other people had also come from different rural towns to register in the well-known girls' schools.

This story took place during the end of an era when rank and a name meant something, and those who had this were deeply respected. Emma's story began around the end of the nineteenth century.

They finally managed to find a beat-up black horse-drawn carriage that people weren't milling around, but only had a young man trying to negotiate with the driver. They started walking towards the carriage, and although Emma found this to be suspicious, her father couldn't be convinced otherwise. When they were almost there, the young man waved angrily, and left the driver.

Good day! Could you take us to St. Helen's girls' dormitory? asked Mr. Derkin of the driver.

The driver looked at him surprised. He seemed to be a very old man, and based on his torn and patched clothes, he must have been a very poor man.

I can take you, he answered with certainty.

Emma didn't understand what the driver was so surprised by. She always noticed these details as the small details always caught her interest.

Mr. Derkin, however, wasn't occupied with that; he was very happy and busily packed all the luggage in the rear of the carriage. The driver never got off his perch, patiently waiting until Mr. Derkin finished with the packing. Though this was now something that Mrs. Derkin didn't like, since she was a very polite lady in these sorts of matters, and paid close attention to propriety.

Don't you dare give him a tip! What kind of thing is this that he isn't helping? she whispered to her husband.

This is how they started on their way to the school being pulled by a not-too-great and a quite worthless looking grey horse. Emma was angry and upset at the thought that she would arrive at her new school in such a rickety and tasteless carriage. She was hoping that no one would see her when she got out of the carriage. All the while, she was trying to survey the town, looking around, but couldn't really pay attention. Pretty and colorful Victorian buildings, old cobblestone streets where the hooves of the horses pulling carriages are clipclopping in rhythm. But Emma was paying closer attention to passersby and was looking at many young ladies. There were some she could tell were very wealthy wearing very expensive dresses that were the newest fashion from Paris, and that clung to their bodies accentuating their figures, but hung below their knees with a train that fanned out. Emma had never even seen dresses like that; she found this new fashion a little bit embarrassing. But the young lady looked very attractive in it and confident. Emma also very much wanted to be self-confident. Someone who always knows what to do, and most importantly, what to say. Although she was relaxed around people that she already knew well, she still wasn't too talkative. If she was faced with talking to someone where she wanted them to like her, especially if she met a nice gentleman, that simply rendered her speechless.

They arrived in no time at all, and Emma was surprised at how close the school was to the train station. The driver dropped them off right in front of the school's gate. It was in front of a pretty but tarnished gray multi-story building that had a big brown two-winged door.

Emma and her parents alighted from the carriage. Mr. Derkin once again handled all the baggage taking them down from the back. After he put all the luggage on the sidewalk, he paid the driver.

How much will that be, sir?

Five penny.

How much? That's very expensive! Mr. Derkin was annoyed.

Emma and Mrs. Derkin were also very disappointed that they found themselves in such an exasperating situation and that they had run into the kind of person that took advantage of their ignorance making them look like fools. Emma was imagining that the driver was hoping for a big tip thinking he could get even more money out of some naive and well-intentioned small town people.

Mr. Derkin just waved it off. He was always able to move on from awkward situations like this. But not Emma. She believed this was a bad omen. How could she learn good manners here? In a town like this? Why is everyone coming here? The questions were swirling around in her head. And her aversion grew. It was apparent that Mrs.