Lessons After Dark Read Online Free Page B

doubt it. Violet’s been unpacking your belongings, and we’ll have a tray sent up to your room.”
    â€œThat’s very kind of you,” said Olivia but didn’t let herself relax yet. A room could be temporary. “The students?”
    â€œThey’ll eat on their own. God willing,” said Mrs. Edgar with the first real emotion Olivia had heard from her, “there won’t be any more incidents tonight. Mrs. Grenville said she’d introduce you tomorrow and take you ’round the place as well.”
    It was an utterly offhand comment, but it almost made Olivia slump against the wall with relief. “That would be very kind of her,” she said, fumbling for words. “Please thank her for me. And thank you too.”
    â€œOf course, ma’am,” said Mrs. Edgar, neither smiling nor frowning. “Just follow me, and I’ll show you your room.”
    Olivia followed, half-blind with joy. She could stay. She could teach and learn in her spare time; more than that, there’d be a steady wage, ready meals, and a roof over her head she needn’t worry about losing every month.
    She hadn’t let herself realize just how much the position meant to her or how terrified she’d been when she thought the Grenvilles might send her away. Now clarity had arrived all at once. Olivia was surprised to find anger came with it.
    â€œHow long has Dr. St. John been here?” she asked.
    â€œHmm? About two weeks, ma’am. Keeps to himself a fair bit—when the students allow it. Without any other teachers here, it’s fallen to him to keep the children in line when the Grenvilles are occupied.”
    â€œI’ll do my best to relieve his burden,” Olivia said and tried to sound pleasant.
    The vicar of her girlhood and Dr. Gillespie, her old mentor, would have reminded her that forgiveness was divine. Even Olivia’s common sense told her Dr. St. John’s concern was understandable. However much it embarrassed her to admit it, he thought his employers were being practiced upon. Loyalty was a virtue.
    It was all very good in the abstract. It was harder to let go the time, short as it had been, where her hopes for the future had suddenly seemed to slide just out of reach. Harder, too, to overlook the look of disgust on the doctor’s face or how bare his attempt at civility had been.
    He hadn’t even let her try to explain.
    None of that mattered, Olivia told herself sternly. She was a grown woman. She could and would be reasonable and civil and too sensible to let resentment color her behavior toward a man who would be only a remote colleague. And she had plenty of other duties to occupy her mind.
    Dr. St. John, she decided, would be a very minor factor in her life.

Chapter 4
    â€œYou mean she’s going to be our teacher too? Not just for the girls?”
    It was probably Fitzpatrick speaking, Gareth thought. Fairley’s voice hadn’t changed yet, and Waite was more inclined to drawl. He looked up from his papers and sighed. That wasn’t the kind of question that began a short conversation. From the sound of it, the boys would need to learn several lessons in punctuality. “How to knock” would also be a decent subject to cover.
    â€œYou can’t be serious!” That was Fairley. Gareth winced. He didn’t mind that his office had been hastily converted—that it was, essentially, a drawing room divided in two and refurnished. The room was clean, warm, and indoors, and it featured a total absence of scorpions: all a nice contrast to his quarters in Egypt. If the new walls and swinging door occasionally let a voice drift through, he wasn’t going to complain.
    The problem was, Fairley’s voice didn’t drift. It stabbed.
    â€œOh, I most certainly can.” Waite said. “Though I generally try to remain otherwise. If you can’t laugh at life’s little surprises—”
    â€œA