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The Rakehell Regency(266)

By:Sorcha MacMurrough




"Rakehells?" she asked, frowning.



"Our sobriquet from our school days," Jonathan explained with a blush. "Young Radicals with more opinions than commonsense at times. We soon learned to formulate our arguments more coherently after six of the best from one of our rather perturbed teachers."



"Aye, you were always getting the worst of it. But then you always stood out as the most flamboyant and Devil-may-care of all of us," Clifford said with a fond smile.



"Well, can I help it if I was born dashing and debonair?" Jonathan said with an affected drawl.



"Not at all," Sarah laughed. "But you could be slightly less rambunctious, dear brother."



Jonathan assumed an air of wounded dignity. "And here I thought I was the very model of a respectable clergyman," he said in an accent which would have cut glass.



"Indeed?" Clifford chortled. "Is that why you put on plays and insist upon the best comic parts? You've never seen a better Tony Lumpkin in your life, Miss Ashton."



"So long as you are referring to him in the role from She Stoops to Conquer, rather than his actual deportment," Pamela rejoined with a smile. "I've certainly never witnessed any of the raucous behavior which you are twitting him over."



Clifford looked surprised and pleased. "Good, then, he is a reformed character thanks to you. Some of his practical jokes were really most naughty."



"Oh do tell," Pamela said enthusiastically, ignoring the uneasy look which had settled on Jonathan's face.



Clifford smiled. "My favorite was when he crept around behind the dais at High Table in the college and tied the Master's wig to the back of the chair. He stood to say the Blessing and displayed his bald head to everyone in the college."



They all laughed merrily.



"That wasn't so very naughty."



"No, the Master actually saw the humor in it himself," Jonathan said. "That's not to say I didn't get punished for it, though. I had to serve as his personal secretary every spare moment I wasn't at my studies for a whole month, and wasn't invited to dine at High Table again for the rest of the year.



"But I did learn an awful lot about how to construct a careful sermon from copying out his work, though I thought I would go blind at the time. His penmanship was even worse than mine."



Sarah looked horrified. "Is such a thing possible?" she asked in mocking tones.



Jonathan gave a wry grin. "Indeed. It is a weakness of mine I'm trying to overcome."



"Not soon enough for me, since I am now your copyist."



"In that case he can take lessons from me," Pamela said merrily. "My hand is said to be most fine. I actually won several prizes for it at school."



Jonathan smiled at her. "Then if you are equally good at reading, you may act as my secretary. You will certainly learn a great deal, as you have asked, and will spend your time most productively for the good of the whole parish."



"Oh, I don't know," Pamela said, blushing modestly.



Sarah was staring at her brother.



He realized he had overstepped the bounds of propriety. "I was teasing, Miss Ashton. Of course a young lady like yourself has far better things to do with her time than pore over the spidery writing of a dull clergyman like myself."



"No, it's not that," she began to protest. "I just want to do well. Once we're in Bath we'll be together a great deal. Since you're giving up your duties for my sake, I should be most pleased to return the favor, if you really think I can."



"Er, yes, well, we shall see."



"Bath?" Clifford asked pointedly.



"Yes, Miss Ashton and her aunt Mistress Susan Bledsoe will be staying with the Elthams. Sarah and I shall be going as well for a fortnight. I assume Thomas has included you in the invitation?"



"Oh yes, it's a standing one. I hadn't realized you would be staying. You usually travel back and forth."



"Er, yes, I'll be staying this time," Jonathan replied, tugging at his pristine white neck cloth as though it were strangling him.



Vanessa stood suddenly. "The butler is telling us it's time to come in to dinner. Shall we?"



Clifford Stone took Pamela's arm and Jonathan took Vanessa's and his sister's. Henry and his wife trailed along behind.



Over a fine dinner of venison, pigeon pie, and saddle of lamb, with soup to start and a sumptuous array of tarts afterwards, the Stones gave many practical suggestions for the school, which Jonathan noted down in a small pocket notebook. They also donated some of their schoolbooks from when the Stone boys themselves had been small, and gave a generous financial donation.