Miss Hartwell's Dilemma Read Online Free PDF Page A

enough. Only that he is, as I surmise, the son of Lord Bellingham and that he means to send his daughter to the Castle Hedingham Academy.”
    “He is a rake, Miss Hartwell. I have known him by reputation for many years though I have never met him before today. I have heard tales of him that I cannot repeat to a young lady of gentle birth.”
    “I thank you for your warning, Mr. Raeburn, but do pray be easy. It is my intention to teach his daughter, not to flirt with him. Besides, I did not like him above half. I am surprised to hear that he has the least success with females of any sort, since his manners are far from ingratiating. He was, in fact, abominably rude.”
    So, she thought as she watched him trudge down the muddy lane in his galoshes, Lord Daniel is a rake. She had best keep an eye on the older girls when he came to visit Miss Isabel.
     

Chapter 3
     
    With two weeks to go before the beginning of term, Mrs. Vaux set in motion her last-minute preparations.
    Several women were hired from the village, in addition to the two regulars, to clean the house from top to bottom. Sheets were counted, darned, ‘sides-to-middled,’ replaced, hemmed, and re-counted. Vast quantities of coal and candles were ordered and delivered and arrangements made with a local farmer to supply almost equally vast quantities of milk, butter, and eggs. Two housemaids and a kitchen maid returned from spending the summer with their families and set to with a will polishing silver and furniture.
    One fine day, Miss Hartwell and Miss Tisdale escaped from the excessive domesticity by hiring a gig and driving into Colchester. Amaryllis enjoyed her rare opportunities to take the ribbons, even though the Bell’s plodding nag could not have been more different from the matched greys she used to drive in Hyde Park. She did not miss them near as much as she did her favourite riding mare, but she had not ridden in six years. She sometimes wondered if she ever would again.
    Miss Tisdale visited every bookshop in Colchester and returned to the gig, stabled at the Red Lion, followed by two boys laden with weighty packages. Miss Hartwell went straight to her banker and, after a half hour’s consultation, emerged smiling. She proceeded to the best dressmaker in town, spending there considerably more time than she had with her banker and again smiling when she left. She was followed to the gig by a single boy—not that she had any fewer packages than Tizzy, but they did not weigh so heavy.
    The ladies treated themselves to a late luncheon at the Red Lion. Miss Hartwell ordered cold chicken and bread and butter. Miss Tisdale, as usual, insisted on having half a dozen oysters because they were a local specialty, although she did not care for them in the least. She was swallowing the last of these, with a wry face, when Amaryllis made an announcement in a portentous voice.
    “Tizzy dear, I have been extravagant.”
    Miss Tisdale choked. Red-faced, tears in her eyes, she coughed and spluttered, then reached for her cup of tea and recovered her breath.
    “Oh dear,” she said guiltily, “so have I.”
    Amaryllis was skeptical. The governess’s ideas of extravagance were unlikely to break the bank. “What have you bought?” she asked.
    “Five novels! And then I saw a copy of Tom Jones, and I fear I simply could not resist it. It is a classic in its way, you know, though quite unsuitable for the girls.”
    “How wicked you are! I hope you mean to let me read it? I am no longer your pupil, after all.”
    “‘Strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age.’ Hebrews 5, verse 14. If you promise not to tell Mr. Raeburn I have purchased it, I will lend it to you.”
    “I promise. He would be excessively shocked, I wager. Oh, don’t look so troubled, Tizzy. I am roasting you. I daresay he would not care a rush, for he is not at all sanctimonious. I have bought...But no, I believe my revelation shall wait until we are at home.”
    “Tell me at once,