The Gamble Read Online Free PDF

was insufferable.
    The rest of the afternoon stretched out before me emptily, and I decided that rather than kick my heels in a boring hotel room, Maria and I should see some of London. I particularly wanted to see Westminster Cathedral, but Maria was so eager to view Madame Tussaud’s wax collection, which was presently being exhibited in London, that I didn’t have the heart to deny her, and we went there. I, after all, would be returning to the city. Maria would probably never see London again in her life.
    The full-sized wax figures of famous historical characters, displayed in lavish costumes, were utterly amazing. Maria and I had a grand time, oohing and aahing at the astonishingly lifelike representations, until an odiously intrusive man, with an oily, ungentleman-like manner, began to talk to me and would not go away.
    “Is this fellow bothering you, ma’am?” I heard a soft, masculine voice say from behind me.
    I turned to find myself looking into the hazel eyes of a young gentleman dressed in the blue morning coat and buff pantaloons of the upper classes.
    “I ain’t bothering the lady,” the odious man said. “I’m just pointing out some of the best parts of the exhibit to her.”
    “I told you that I did not wish to speak to you, sir, and you would not go away,” I said coldly. “You most certainly are bothering me.”
    “Take yourself off, then, and leave the lady alone,” the newcomer said in a commanding, aristocratic accent.
    After a moment’s hesitation, the odious one slunk off, and the gentlemanly young man turned to me with a very nice smile. “So young and lovely a lady should not be at a public exhibition without a gentleman escort, ma’am. If you have your carriage with you, I will undertake to escort you to it safely.”
    It was very nice to hear oneself called a young and lovely lady, particularly when one had only just been called reasonably presentable by other obnoxious parties.
    “I am afraid I did not come by carriage, sir,” I said regretfully. “My maid and I took a hackney cab.”
    “Then you must allow me to fetch a hackney for you now.” He must have seen the resistance on my face, because he added hastily, “That is, if you have seen the entire exhibition?”
    “Well . . . I believe Maria wished to look at the figures of the Roman emperors,” I said.
    “Then allow me to escort you,” my rescuer said immediately. “My name is Sloan, ma’am. Lord Henry Sloan.”
    I held out my hand. “How do you do, Lord Henry,” I said graciously. “I am Miss Georgiana Newbury.”
    “Miss Newbury,” he returned with a charming smile. “I am honored to make your acquaintance.”
    The rest of the afternoon was extremely agreeable. Lord Henry was a very pleasant young man, and he had many interesting and amusing tales to tell of the historical figures featured by Madame Tussaud in her collection.
    He seemed to be delighted when I told him that I would be making my come out this Season.
    “That means I will be seeing you again,” he said. “I reside at my father’s house during the Season and we shall be forever running into each other at balls and things.”
    I wasn’t quite sure who Lord Henry’s father was, but I didn’t like to betray my ignorance. Fortunately, he clarified the matter for me almost immediately.
    “My father is the Duke of Faircastle, you know.”
    “Oh,” I said faintly. “Of course.”
    “And who will be presenting you, Miss Newbury?” he asked in the nicest possible way.
    We were standing waiting for the hackney Lord Henry had summoned to cross the street to us, and I looked down to smooth an imaginary wrinkle from my skirt.
    “Lady Winterdale,” I mumbled.
    “I beg your pardon?”
    “Lady Winterdale,” I said more clearly.
    “Good God,” he said.
    I looked up. I met his nice, ordinary hazel eyes, and said, “I am Lord Winterdale’s ward, you see, and he has asked Lady Winterdale to present me along with her daughter, Lady