Rake's Progress by MC Beaton Page B

Miss Jones does not go anywhere socially. I thought it a pity that such a fine-looking lady should lead such an isolated life. I suggested Miss Jones might consider the future of the children. Should she wish good marriages for them, it might be in their interest if Miss Jones were to gain an entrée to the ton .’
    â€˜And what did she say to that?’
    â€˜Miss Jones said the children were still young, but she appeared to be considering the matter. Moreover, she appeared intrigued with my suggestion that there was no reason why education should not be fun. Perhaps Miss Jones may venture to take the children to some London amusement.’
    â€˜Miss Jones has taken me in dislike, Rainbird.’
    â€˜Indeed, my lord.’
    â€˜I cannot call on her formally. I would like to meet her by accident. You and your “family”, as you call them, may take all the free time you want if you can contrive to find out where she plans to go – if there is some public place where I can accidentally come across her.’
    â€˜Certainly, my lord. Very good, my lord.’
    â€˜Does not my request strike you as strange?’
    â€˜It is not my place to say so, my lord.’
    â€˜You have my permission to forget your place.’
    â€˜In that case, my lord, I would like to take leaveto tell you, I consider you are behaving in a most sensible manner. Miss Jones is a trifle strict, but she is a good lady.’
    â€˜Which makes my task all the more difficult.’
    â€˜I think, my lord, Miss Jones would not find it at all odd were I to call again to present her with a few suitable books.’
    â€˜Go to it,’ said Lord Guy, ‘and report to me as soon as you have any news.’
    The servants were intrigued and delighted at this odd turn of events. Miss Jones had been heavensent, they said.
    â€˜But,’ cautioned Jenny, resting her sharp chin on her red hands, ‘you’d better start off and do your best, Mr Rainbird, ’fore he gets disappointed and starts kicking up his heels again.’
    Rainbird was received in Berkeley Square the following day by a Miss Jones who was rather red about the nose and eyes, since she was still suffering from the cold.
    She accepted the books Rainbird had brought with delight. ‘Your idea is already most successful,’ she said warmly. ‘The female servants are begging for more romances. I read one myself,’ said Miss Jones, ‘and was amazed to find it most entertaining. I also feel I have been over-strict with the children. Too many lessons can be as bad as too few. I am taking them to Astley’s Amphitheatre tomorrow evening.’
    Astley’s was a popular combination of circus and drama and spectacle on the Surrey side of the river.
    Light-hearted with such early success, Rainbird returned to Lord Guy with the news. Lord Guy sent him out again to purchase two of the best seats at Astley’s. It never dawned on him that Miss Jones might sit anywhere else.
    But Esther had given in to Peter’s pleadings to get ‘as near as possible’ and had booked three places in one of the front benches.
    When Esther arrived at Astley’s and was alarmed to find herself the only woman on the front benches and surrounded by noisy bucks, she soon quelled any advances with an icy stare. Clutching her umbrella in case she should need to use it as a weapon, she settled down to enjoy the show.
    It was a mixture of the vulgar and sentimental. The first piece was about a wicked landlord throwing a pretty maiden and her widowed mother out into the snow. Tinsel snow drifted down on the stage. The heroine looked very fragile and pretty and wept most becomingly. ‘What a lot of nonsense,’ Esther told herself, irritated to feel a lump rising in her throat. The hero entered, magnificent in gold braid and top-boots. How the children cheered!
    Far behind Esther in a side box, Lord Guy put down his opera glasses and said to