Read Online Rake's Progress by MC Beaton - Free Book Online Page A

sternly not to move, marched back to Madame and slapped her with such force that the actress went flying. Madame Chartreuse rose to her feet, her eyes blazing with hate.
    â€˜A mill! A mill!’ cheered the audience wildly. ‘A hundred to one on the Amazon!’ cried one buck, delirious with joy as he stared as Esther. ‘Look at those shoulders!’ he called.
    Lord Guy ran onto the stage just as the two women were about to close again. He seized both their hands in a powerful grip and dragged them round to face the audience.
    â€˜Bow!’ he said savagely. ‘Bow, damn the pair of you.’
    In a dazed way, Esther bowed. Madame Chartreuse, quickly grasping the advantages of the situation, bowed as well.
    What a roar of applause went up! Money and jewels were thrown in the ring.
    Everyone in the audience thought the whole scene had been deliberately staged.
    Esther began to shiver and feel sick. What had she done? Amy and Peter were dancing up and down on the front benches, cheering themselves hoarse.
    â€˜Get the children,’ said Lord Guy in Esther’s ear. ‘It is time to go.’
    With a graceful wave to the crowd, he released Madame Chartreuse’s hand, but kept a firm grip on Esther’s. Weakly, she let herself be led up the centre aisle while Peter and Amy held on to Lord Guy’s coat-tails. It was like walking through a tunnel of sound, a thin lane through a forest of clapping hands.
    At one point, Mr Roger thrust his way forward and looked about to join them, but Lord Guy shook his head.
    Outside in the street, Esther stood trembling with her head bowed. ‘Where is your carriage?’ demanded Lord Guy.
    â€˜I came in a hack.’
    â€˜Manuel,’ called Lord Guy. His servant appeared at his elbow. ‘My carriage, immediately,’ said Lord Guy.
    Peter and Amy had fallen silent. They looked anxiously up at their big sister. Something had gone badly wrong. But they still thought that in some clever and amazing way Esther had planned the whole thing.
    â€˜Please leave me, my lord,’ said Esther quietly.
    â€˜Think of the children,’ he said. ‘The evening air is cold. I have a closed carriage.’
    She said nothing more but continued to stand with her head bowed, her heavy red hair concealing her face.
    Lord Guy was grateful he had hired a closed carriage for the Season. His racing curricle was all very well for fine weather, but unsuitable for an evening outing in this wintry spring.
    He handed her in, then the children, and told the coachman to drive them to Berkeley Square.
    Esther felt ready to sink with shame. She had behaved like a washerwoman in front of a good section of London, and now she was allowing herself and the dear children to be escorted home by a rake and libertine.
    â€˜Did you enjoy your evening, children?’ she heard Lord Guy ask.
    â€˜It was the most wonderful evening of my life,’ said Peter solemnly. ‘How clever of you, Esther, to arrange such a treat.’
    Esther raised her eyes and opened her mouth to explain, but by the light of the carriage candle lamp in its clockwork holder, she saw Lord Guy gently shake his head.
    â€˜As long as you enjoyed it,’ she said stiffly.
    Amy hugged her big sister. ‘I love you, Esther,’ she said. ‘I’ve never been so happy.’
    Esther turned her head away and blinked back a sudden rush of tears. She led a lonely life and didas much for the children as she possibly could. She had always wanted them to show some demonstration of love. One monumental piece of disgraceful behaviour had elicited all the protestations of affection of which she had dreamt.
    â€˜Me, too,’ said Peter, pressing her hand. ‘I was so proud of you, Esther, I thought my heart would burst. And you trusted me. I felt like a man when she picked me up on that horse. And that stage fight you had with her was so real . It was monstrous clever the way she fell