“How dare you contradict their opinions! You are only a common servant.â€
“Yes, miss,†he said wearily.
“You should be dismissed for being insolent to your betters.â€
There was a long pause, and then Baine said, “All the diary entries and dismissals in the world cannot change the truth. Galileo recanted under threat of torture, but that did not make the sun revolve round the earth. If you dismiss me, the vase will still be vulgar, I will still be right, and your taste will still be plebeian, no matter what you write in your diary.â€
“Plebeian?†Tossie said, bright pink. “How dare you speak like that to your mistress? You are dismissed.†She pointed imperiously at the house. “Pack your things immediately.â€
“Yes, miss,†Baine said.
“What?†Tossie said, bright red with rage. “What did you say?â€
“I said, now that finally have dismissed me, I am no longer a member of the servant class and am therefore in a position to speak freely,†he said calmly.
“You are not in a position to speak to me at all,†Tossie said, raising her diary like a weapon. “Leave at once.â€
“I dared to speak the truth to you because I felt you were deserving of it,†Baine said seriously. “I had only your best interests at heart, as I have always had. You have been blessed with great riches; not only with the riches of wealth, position, and beauty, but with a bright mind and a keen sensibility, as well as with a fine spirit. And yet you squander those riches on croquet and organdies and trumpery works of art. You have at your disposal a library of the great minds of the past, and yet you read the foolish novels of Charlotte Yonge and Edward Bulwer-Lytton. Given the opportunity to study science, you converse with conjurors wearing cheesecloth and phosphorescent paint. Confronted by the glories of Gothic architecture, you admire instead a cheap imitation of it, and confronted by the truth, you stamp your foot like a spoilt child and demand to be told fairy stories.â€
Connie Willis
