Page 11 of Disturbing the Dead
I’d heard of the Edinburgh Seven before I crossed to this time. To discover I’d arrived in the very year they were making history? Kind of awesome, even if I’d only had the vaguest understanding of exactly what they did.
I know the full story now.
In March of 1869, two months before I arrived, Sophia Jex-Blake applied to study medicine. The academic board admitted her, only for the university court to reject her with the excuse that they couldn’t make accommodations for just one female student. So she found six more. They became the Edinburgh Seven. They requested and received permission to write the admission exams. Over a hundred and fifty people wrote that exam, including five of the Seven. Four of the women scored in the top seven overall.
A few weeks ago, they signed the matriculation roll, and the University of Edinburgh became the first British university to admit women.
One part of the story I do remember involves a point still in their future, when during their final exams, male students will do everything in their power to help and support them. No, that’s the story my happily-ever-after-loving soul wants, where the young men rise up against their narrow-minded elders to help their fellow students. That is not what happens.
Those male classmates will try to keep the women from finishing their exams by making as much of a ruckus as possible outside, including throwing a sheep—yes, a live sheep—into the room. It won’t stop the Edinburgh Seven, so it’s still a happy ending, but I’d prefer one where the male students don’t go down in history as frat-boy assholes.
Isla is upset and unsettled by Miss King’s accusation, and the best person to handle that isn’t the brother who will commiserate or the female friend who will rage alongside her. It’s McCreadie, the guy who might not fully understand why she is upset but will want to understand because she is upset, and sometimes, that is the best friend of all.
Once we are inside, McCreadie murmurs something about needing a drink and steers Isla off. Then Annis sees someone she needs to speak to. That leaves me at my first Victorian soiree with Gray to myself, and that is not the worst place to be, not the worst place at all.
We wander through the main rooms. The house is lovely—with decor that is downright tasteful for Victorian Britain. Yet the main scenery tonight is the guests in their party clothes. I am at a Victorian soiree, and it is… crowded? I guess I picture massive ballrooms, and this is a very different thing. I catch glimpses of bright fabrics and gorgeous jewels and luxurious whiskers, but mostly we are navigating through very tightly packed rooms.
“Would you like to see the artifacts?” he asks, leaning in to whisper as we head down the hall.
“The…?”
“Sir Alastair’s artifacts from Egypt. I have heard he has organized a private display of them here, before they go to a museum.”
Am I aware that museums in this time are filled with plunder from other nations? Yes, I am, and that does not stop me from going to them any more than the same problem does in my own day. I fully support all efforts to return them, and if asked to boycott an exhibit, I would, but I also know how much museums have contributed to my understanding of the world beyond my narrow borders.
Mark this particular relationship complicated, but I’m still in it, and I won’t deny the spark of excitement that comes at Gray’s words.
“Yes, please,” I say with a smile.
He gives an exaggerated exhale. “Excellent. I feared you might wish to mingle instead.”
I take hold of his arm as he navigates through the crowd. “Then you know me not at all, Dr. Gray.”
“Oh, I suspect that if I offered you someone interesting to meet, it would be quite a different story, but the only interesting person I know here is Sir Alastair. And I fear that introduction will not be coming from me. In fact, I rather hope we do not encounter the man, as the last time I saw him, he said he had best never lay eyes on me again.”
“Uh…”
“Yes, perhaps it seems I should have told Annis that, but if I did, it would only make her determined to perform the introduction herself. My sister does adore fireworks.”
We’re rounding another corner, and I realize Gray is moving swiftly through the house, as if he knows the layout.
“Dare I ask what you did?” I say.
“Me? Why must you presume it was me, dear Mallory?”
“Was it?”
“Not entirely. Sir Alastair led the charge taking umbrage at my unearthing of the body.”
“Ah, the grave-digging incident. Sir Alastair was responsible for making sure you couldn’t be licensed because of it? Then perhaps we had best not meet him, or I might be compelled to challenge him to a duel.”
Gray looks over with a faint smile. “If I thought you actually would, I might be tempted, just to see him sputter indignantly. Yes, he led the charge, but he had plenty of support. The last time I saw him, he said he had best never see my face in the university again.”
“But you go there all the time.”
He shrugs. “Sir Alastair travels often. He said he had best not see me, not that I had best not go there.”
“The devil is in the details.”
