“You have been most diligent in your studies, Mrs. Chalker.”
“I am glad you approve, sir. I warrant it is a comfort to me to know I receive your approbation. Yet …”
“Yet?”
Sarah hesitated. The role she played required the finest calculation, was far subtler than any she had ever ventured in the playhouse. And she had overreached before in the week they had been at it, too eager to please him. Then Lord Garnthorpe’s forehead would furrow, he would lean forward and slap her—once upon her face, twice upon her thighs—and bellow, “Do you take me for a fool?” and she would have need of all her playing skills and womanly skills to coax him back to calm. If she did not so soothe him, if he left the house in a fury, Maggs would continue the punishment, deny her food and water, lock her for hours
