Have Hope

Epilogue - Part 1

"I was always taught that when you're lucky enough to learn something or have some advantage you should share it." Areva Martin

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Epilogue – Part One

September, 1824

Nine Years Later

It still felt a little odd to Olivia at times when she sat in what was once her grandfather's study. She could still picture him at times smoking his cigars, reading the paper, and being quite oblivious to what was going on around him.

It was her office now. It had been since her grandfather had passed away the winter following her leaving London. Olivia and her aunt grieved for Bernard Murray deeply, but his death set in motion a series of events that Olivia felt so fortunate for.

Upon Bernard's death, Olivia's Uncle Colin, and Bernard's only son, inherited the baronetcy and the estate. Colin, however, was settled with his family in Surrey, and his wife did not want to leave.

There was now the matter of the house. What was to happen to it? Who was to live in it? Would it be sold?

Olivia had not the income to lease it from her uncle, and Lorna's obligations were now elsewhere. It was not until Ruth had arrived at the Murray estate one evening with a lifeline that Olivia would be forever grateful for.

Ruth gifted Olivia a cheque for twenty-five thousand pounds, her dowry, minus the bits and pieces she had taken from it throughout her childhood to fund teachers and schools.

"I now know it is highly unlikely your father and I will ever put this money into the hands of your husband." It was Ruth's backhanded way of accepting that Olivia would not be marrying any time soon.

Olivia had left London to do what she had always intended. To change the world. A lofty ambition at the best of times. All she had managed to do between leaving London and her grandfather passing was stock libraries, pay a few teaching wages, and offer tutoring.

She now had twenty-five thousand pounds to achieve her goal.

And she had achieved it.

Olivia now sat in her own office, the office of the founder of the Women's College of Knowledge and Improvement. Using the money, she had leased the estate from her uncle, and had founded the school.

It was not a finishing school. It was a school where girls could seek the same further education that men could at the most prestigious universities in the country.

Once girls had finished their schooling in their own villages, they could come to Olivia's college to study and further their abilities to give them greater opportunities than merely marrying for security.

She had started off with only a handful of pupils, and one teacher: herself.

Olivia's school was condemned. It was not a woman's place to learn. She needed to marry and procreate. There was a reason only men were permitted to attend university.

It only further fuelled Olivia's desire to succeed.

Olivia brought in like-minded teachers to school the girls on subjects like science and philosophy. It was Olivia's desire to give women education and training, safety essentially from needing to marry, as opposed to wanting to marry.

Olivia's school was in its eighth year of operation. In that time, the school had produced writers, mathematicians, teachers, nurses, midwives, thinkers, people that could contribute more to society than being a mere domestic servant to her family.