Evelyn Richardson by The Education of Lady Frances Read Free Book Online Page A

one and only Season must have been badly mismanaged. Surveying the scene further as Frances directed Cassie and Frederick to make their bows to their guests and pushed Wellington from a perch on the sofa—illegally snatched in all the confusion—she reflected on what a great pity it was that someone who commanded love and respect as naturally as Frances did should so quickly resign herself to spinsterhood. No sooner had she decided this than she began to plan a strategy to avert such a tragedy. I shall force Mainwaring to help me, she resolved. To lend Kitty countenance, he will just have to overcome his dislike of the place and escort us to Almack's and to several balls as well. He detests partnering the young girls and their rapacious mamas so much that he should be only too glad to dance with someone as sensible as Frances. He'll get intelligent conversation and protection from matchmaking females at the same time. At this point she remembered hearing Kitty repeat Frances' account of the rather disastrous first encounter between the two. Never daunted, she set out to remedy this immediately by asking if one of the Cresswells' footmen could deliver a note to Lord Mainwaring requesting that his lordship call for Kitty at the Cresswells' on his way to his grandmother's. “For it's much more convenient and will give us more time together. How did we not think of it before?” she wondered aloud. Once Mainwaring was at Brook Street, she felt fully confident of her powers to cajole him into meeting Frances and renewing their acquaintance on a better footing.
    Her schemes were interrupted by a distinct tug at her skirts. She looked down to discover Wellington and Frederick looking at her hopefully. “Excuse me, Lady Streatham,” broke in Freddie, “but Kitty says you have a boy about my age. Is he here in London with you? I should like ever so much to meet him if he is.” He lowered his voice confidentially. “The thing is that I want someone to play with my soldiers with me. I have the dandiest collection! Cassie's a great gun. She can run and climb trees as well as I can, but she hasn't the knack for playing at soldiers. Frances knows ever so much about battles and history and such, but I don't really think she likes the thought of bloodshed. So if your son were here . . .”He trailed off rather wistfully.
    Lady Streatham's infinite experience with small boys prompted her to respond with just the right note. “How delightful! I should think Nigel would like to above all things. He has a set of his own, so you two could have a whole campaign instead of one paltry battle. I'll discuss it with him when I return home this evening.” Her eyes twinkled in a conspiratorial way that had won the hearts of countless children through the years.
    “Oh, famous!” breathed Freddie, hardly daring to hope for such luck.
    “Woof!” agreed Wellington with enthusiasm. The two dashed over to Frances, breaking into Kitty's excited recital of all the advantages to be found in London.
    “You must come to Hatchard's with me straightaway,” she was saying when Freddie burst in.
    “Fanny, I say, Fanny. Lady Streatham has a son who is about my age and he has his own soldiers and she thinks he might like to visit and play with me and she's going to speak to him about it directly!”
    “That sounds like great good fun,” approved his sister. Catching sight of Cassie's forlorn face out of the corner of her eye, she added, “While you and Nigel are together it would be an excellent time for Kitty and me to take Cassie and Ned with us for ices at Gunter's.”
    The woebegone look vanished instantly from Cassie's, to descend on her twin's. “But, Fanny ...” he wailed.
    “Now, Freddie, you can't do two things at once, you know, so you must choose.” With only the briefest of hesitation he selected the more bellicose amusement, as she had known he would.
    “Besides,” she teased him, “I couldn't bear the strain of taking both you and