When the coach arrived at the spot where the distillery was located, Sheldon gave his driver the signal to pause their journey. The huge three storied wooden factory stood fifty yards from the road. From three sides, it was surrounded by a sugarcane plantation. By this time, both Sheldon and his wife changed their language from English to French. The manager of the plant, a middle aged, rugged looking French man, was acquainted to Sheldon. Upon seeing him getting off the coach with his family, he came forward to welcome the visitors. Being surprised by the manners of the distillery manager, Martha couldn’t resist presenting him a beautiful smile. The entrance of the factory building was big enough to allow big carts with sugarcanes and other raw materials to enter the factory. On the first floor of the factory, they could see the laborers washing and cutting the sugarcanes into pieces. A few feet from the spot, the juice from the smaller pieces was being extracted by milling them and then taken to another chamber where yeast was added to it and left for fermentation. The fermentation chamber was as big as the chamber before it.

On the second floor, the visitors observed the making of the rum. The fermented liquid was being boiled in five gigantic pot stills, connected to adjacent condensers by iron pipes that transported the vapor from the stills to the condenser. At the bottom of the condenser which looked like a big metal canister, taps were attached for retrieving the rum. The manager of the plant described the entire process to his dignified visitors, as vividly as possible. He also disclosed to them the volume of the daily production when supplies were plentiful and how long they stored the product for aging. At the end of the tour when the manager offered Sheldon and his wife two pegs of rum from an already aged barrel, he was surprised to find out that both his visitors were members of the temperance movement. His guests were then served fresh sugarcane juice, extracted from the milling machine.

Claire was thinking of going out on a tour, on such a beautiful day. She wouldn’t ask Marcel to accompany her, though her impulse was urging her to do the opposite. She wrapped up her work for the day before getting ready to leave. Pauline, Miss Corinne and Marcel were in their classrooms, checking the tasks which were given to their students. Then Pauline entered her room and informed her that the Sheldon family wanted to see her. As they were shown the way into her office room, Claire gave them a warm welcome, thinking that perhaps they had come to her for getting admissions for their children. She said to them, “It’s nice to have you here with us. I’ll be happy to come to your assistance if that is what has brought you here.”

Madam Sheldon introduced her children to Claire and then began her conversation with a compliment, “It’s a nice set up you have over here.”

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“We try our best to keep it that way, but we can only do so with active participation of people like you.”

“How many students do you have over here?”

“Over seventy and we hope that after this year, it’ll be hundred. Now please, let me know what brings you to our school.”

Madam Sheldon looked at her husband, he gave her a nod and then she began, “Actually we’ve come to you for a private tutor for our children, who could teach them math and other science subjects. We’re also interested in an artist. We would like our ranch to be painted from the mountain top.”

“Why don’t you let us take care of your children’s needs?”

“We thought of it. However, the distance of the town from our ranch does not permit us to do so. We know you will take pretty good care of our children. The problem is, everyday if they have to travel this far, they’ll be exhausted by the time they reach home. Don’t you think so?”

Claire was careful not to reveal her disappointment. Hastily, she agreed to what Madam Sheldon had just said. She said, “Indeed that’s a factor we must take into consideration. However, with only two extra hands with me in this institution, I have my own limitations as well. I and my sister Pauline take care of language related subjects while Mr. Dupont and another lady look after math and science. I know Miss Corinne won’t travel that far for private tuition and as for Mr. Dupont, I’m not sure if he’ll be interested in your offer, unless your offer is simply irresistible. If that is the case, it’ll be helpful if you clarify the remuneration you’re willing to offer.”

“The remuneration will be fifteen pounds per month.”

“Usually, I don’t allow my teachers to provide their valuable service outside the school premises. Of course, that was a provision in the contract when I hired him. In your case I might just ignore that provision. But then again, I’m afraid you’ll have to ask yourself, what’s the benefit of this institution in this?”

With this question, Claire presented a broad smile to her visitors when Monsieur Sheldon responded, “Of course, Mademoiselle, the school fund will be adequately compensated for this small breach.”

“Well then, I’ll talk to Mr. Dupont and let you know when he’ll be ready to provide you the service.”

Madam Sheldon interrupted, “And what about the artist?”

“You’ll have to wait for a while. I’ll try to get someone from Paris. Plenty of good painters are available over there. By the way, you’ll have to give me an idea how much you’re willing to spend for the paintings.”

Madam Sheldon added, “He’ll have to paint a number of portraits, our individual portraits, portrait of our horses as well as the whole ranch as seen from over the mountain.”

“Of course, if you’re going to get somebody from as far as Paris, you might as well make him run for his money.”

Then Monsieur Sheldon smiled at the headmistress and said, “He’ll be awarded total of one hundred crowns for the entire collection.”

“Very lucrative proposition. Alright Monsieur Sheldon, I’ll attend to it as soon as possible. In the meantime, I’ll try to convince Mr. Dupont to take care of your children’s education. Shall we have little bit of refreshment now?”

Both her visitors stood up from their seats as Madam Sheldon said, “Thank you for your kind offer. We have a very tight schedule at the moment, perhaps some other time.”