Lessons After Dark Read Online Free Page A

it’s been…suggested…certain of the lady’s other skills will be useful, given the end we’re teaching toward.”
    Students, Simon had said when he and Gareth had first discussed the school, and then agents. People to stand against the dark forces of the world when they appeared. Gareth supposed a certain amount of deceit might, under such circumstances, be a necessary evil.
    He wasn’t at all certain about trusting a woman who’d turned to it in order to make an easy shilling.
    â€œI’m willing,” Simon added slowly, “to take quite a few chances in this endeavor. The school, the students, my ability to teach what little I know and find out more…one woman hardly seems like much of an obstacle.”
    â€œAnd I suppose she can’t do a great deal of harm here,” Gareth admitted slowly. The town was small, the housekeeper had relatively sharp eyes, and Simon knew what he was doing.
    â€œYou’ll be able to work with her, then?” Simon smiled hopefully. “We do rather need you here.”
    There were lines at the corners of Simon’s eyes Gareth hadn’t seen before he’d left. No gray in his friend’s hair, not yet, but he moved and spoke more slowly, with more purpose, as if he were climbing some mountain in his mind.
    Gareth wondered if Simon knew how the years had changed him. He wondered what alterations he had yet to notice in himself.
    Better a little bad company in a good cause than a little good company in a bad one.
    â€œCertainly,” he said. “I can be civil to the woman. After all, you want me to mend cuts and inspect sore throats, and she’s to be a teacher. It’s not as though we’ll have much to do with each other.”
    ***
    A clock downstairs chimed the quarter hour, jolting Olivia out of her thoughts and making her realize two things. The first was she had about reached her limit as far as waiting was concerned. The second was she was sitting in a bedroom, even though there was nobody else in it.
    Making herself move briskly, she got to her feet and brushed her skirts into some semblance of order, then checked her reflection quickly in the small mirror on the wall. Acceptable, she decided, if tired. At least she’d kept herself from weeping. If she was to stay, after all, it wouldn’t do for her students to see her so discomposed.
    If she wasn’t—well, with any luck the Grenvilles would pay her train fare, and she could still earn a living back in London. Regardless, she wouldn’t break down when she heard the news. She wouldn’t impose herself on the Grenvilles that way, and she certainly wouldn’t give Dr. St. John the satisfaction.
    Olivia lifted her chin, straightened her back, and stepped out of the room.
    At the other end of the hall, an older woman in a dark dress started as she saw Olivia then hurried toward her. “Mrs. Brightmore? I’ve been looking for you.”
    â€œOh?” Olivia struggled to keep her voice neutral and pleasant. “I’m sorry to be so hard to find. I’d just sat down to catch my breath for a moment.”
    â€œOf course,” said the woman. Tall, noted the part of Olivia that had spent the last few years reading people for a living, and neither thin nor stout. About forty but well preserved, and not badly off. The dress was plain, but the broadcloth was good material.
    The rest of Olivia tried not to beg for information. She smiled politely. “I hope I haven’t been any trouble.”
    â€œNot at all. I’m Mrs. Edgar, the housekeeper.” The woman curtsied. Hers was practiced and stately, very far from Violet’s uncertain bob. “Mr. Grenville sent me to tell you he and his wife are dining by themselves tonight, as he assumed you’d want to do as much after such a tiring day.”
    That sounded almost promising. “It has been a little long,” Olivia ventured.
    â€œI don’t