Free The Duke's Night of Sin by Kathryn Caskie Page B

know.”
    “And, since it is for just a short time, I will let you take the blue satin slippers,” Priscilla said happily.
    “I will be an instructor at a girls’ school, Priscilla. When will I have an opportunity to wear them?”
    Priscilla shrugged. “I am sure you will find an occasion.” With that, her sister hurried from the room to fetch the shoes.
    Siusan looked down at her portmanteau, then sank down onto the pallet beside it. Good God, Lady Siusan Sinclair, the eldest daughter of the Duke of Sinclair, was actually going to have to work for her bread.

Chapter 6
    Efficiency is intelligent laziness.
    David Dunham
Three days later Mrs. Huddleston’s School of Virtues Bath
    H ere are your quarters,” Mrs. Huddleston told Siusan, gesturing through the door at a room not much larger than the cabin of a carriage. “Not much, but it should be comfortable enough.” She turned a key in a small work-table beside a tiny bed and removed a half-spent candle, which she inserted into a dented iron hog-scraper candlestick. “Candles are dear, so takecare to remember to remove the taper from the candlestick and lock it in the drawer during the day. The girls will snatch it if it’s left out.”
    “Why would they do that?” Siusan asked, peering at the stub.
    “To light their way when they are up to no good in the middle of the night, that’s why.” She shook her head. “You haven’t a notion what you are in for, do you, miss? Oh, but you will learn soon enough. These little ladies are sent here for a good reason, I tell you, and it isn’t for a proper education. They are hoydens, every last one of them, and it is our task to stifle their boisterous natures and shape them into virtuous ladies.”
    Siusan entered the room fully, set her portmanteau on the narrow bed, and took a closer look at her new home. The room was lit, with a single narrow window looking out at the street below. Three hooks on the back of the door served as a wardrobe. A white basin and ewer were perched atop a small pine writing table, and one linen towel was folded on the plank chair beside it.
    Hmm. Just like home.
    “Mrs. Wimpole’s letter made it quite clear that you are in hiding and that the length of your stay is undetermined. She did not deem it necessary to share any other details.” Mrs. Huddleston pausedthen, as if waiting for Siusan to explain her circumstances, which she was not about to do. The fewer people who knew of her predicament, the better.
    As if determining herself that Siusan was not going to explain anything, the older woman’s features tightened, and she swallowed hard. “She assured me that you were a woman of breeding and that you are skilled in the social graces. That is the only reason I agreed to allow you into the School of Virtues.”
    That, and you are short one teacher.
Siusan nodded.
    “Nevertheless, while you are here, you will obey the same rules as our students. Candles are to be extinguished by nine of the clock. No exceptions. The doors will be locked at that time as well, and no one will be permitted to leave or enter until morn.” Mrs. Huddleston grimaced suddenly and bent to straighten the towel so that it aligned perfectly with the table’s edge.
    Wait a moment. What did she say? No one may leave or enter? Impossible.
She must have simply misunderstood Mrs. Huddleston. Best to clarify. “Certainly I will have a key so that I may leave once the girls are asleep.”
    “No exceptions!” The skin around her eyes cinched like a reticule drawstring. “Relax therules, and the next thing I know my instructors are out cavorting, getting themselves heavy with child, then running off to marry.”
    “I assure you, that will not be the case for me. I am here to hide, nothing more, though I would enjoy touring Bath while I am here.”
    “Oh, would you? Then you shall have to make do with lecture outings with the students.
No exceptions.”
Mrs. Huddleston lifted her chatelaine. “If you require