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you want. You re a very lucky man, but I guess you always knew that. Harding.
Jonty s was equally brief. Sorry that our hopes could not coincide. Really did hope that you d be the
one, at least for a while didn t understand the depth of your devotion. He s very, very fortunate. Please
still send a card at Christmas. You ll be a great tree. Break a leg, as they say.
The third was addressed to them both and was technically a telegram, but one of great length. You are
both very sensible and brave boys who know how to do your duty without letting emotions get in the way.
For all that it pained me to hear about Lavinia&
 Dear Lord, Orlando that s who my sister was named after. Extraordinary.
& you were quite right to see justice served. People must face up to what they have done. I can t say
I m not sympathetic towards what she did; family means an awful lot, my dears, so I will see that she is
well supported if that son of hers doesn t come up trumps. I doubt she will hang at such a remove; Richard
is off to see what can be done although it will no doubt be a mess. But it was still the right thing to do. I m
proud of you.
&ð
The opening night of Macbeth proved to be a success beyond everyone s expectations. Jimmy
Harding, nose sufficiently recovered from its encounter with Jonty s fist to allow him to be a handsome and
dashing Banquo, was glowing with pride as his company took the stage and received the absolutely
warranted applause.
Orlando was there not just to support his lover that had always been his intention but to
accompany Mrs. Stewart. The great lady had sent a telegram the day before to say that her husband had
been asked at the last minute to escort the Duke of Connaught and she wasn t prepared to be sitting at home
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Lessons in Temptation
mumchance while the boys had fun. She d arranged for herself and Orlando to have a pair of seats on the
environs of the royal party.
It had become a sort of established fact among certain circles that Mrs. Stewart had a ward who was a
very shy and extremely learned doctor of mathematics, who needed to be taken out and aired on occasions.
If her husband was party to keeping up this slight deception, then he would wink at this slightest of white
lies.
Orlando enjoyed the evening, especially treasuring the rather loud asides from the duke himself in the
direction of Stewart senior. It took the royal personage two whole acts to realise that Lady Macbeth was
being played by a man an enormous shock for him, as he d looked flirtatiously in her direction once or
twice. During the interval he averred that  she reminded him of young Helena Forster in her pomp, which
caused the lady concerned to bristle somewhat, especially when Orlando was naughty enough to suggest
that her son might have had a hand in fostering the likeness.
He knew he would pay for it good and proper when word got back, but he was beyond caring. Jonty
was his, his alone, and he d punched Jimmy on the nose for being persistent. It would have been better if it
had been Orlando s own fist that had done the whacking but one couldn t have everything.
Jonty was a pretty convincing tree and led Birnham Wood down into Dunsinane, or at least round the
corner of Ralph Allen s Sham Castle and across the stage a bit. The duke was impressed with this as well,
muttering to Mr. Stewart at about one hundred decibels that he believed it the most convincing depiction of
the scene he d ever come across, most of the other representations he d been forced to endure looking more
like a party of boys with branches, out to play a trick on their sisters.
Jonty was, in Orlando s opinion, a lovely tree, a marvellous mountain ash or similar lithe and graceful
plant, and he applauded wildly at the first possible juncture, reserving another tranche of appreciation for
when they all took their bows at the end. He even kept back some applause for Jimmy who, he had to
grudgingly admit, couldn t just act but spoke the lines perfectly in an authentic Scottish brogue.
Mrs. Stewart and her young ward joined the cast afterwards for a glass or two of champagne not too
much, as more performances were imminent over the next few days and the lady seemed much impressed
by Jimmy s charm and good looks.
As they made their way back to the hotel, she was both effusive and insistent that the charming man
should come and stay in Sussex, making up the sort of stag party which had been so successful the Easter
just gone. Orlando was noncommittal and diplomatic, leaving it to Jonty to suggest that perhaps that wasn t
the wisest of ideas and if his mother wanted any more information on the subject, she should consult Miss
Peters, who would give her chapter and verse.
&ð
&ð
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