“I want to thank you again, Papa.”

Titus leaned back in his chair, taking a long slow drag on his cigar before speaking. Finally, in a plume of purplish smoke, he addressed the young woman who had spoken from the opposite side of his desk. “Now, Stephanie, it is time you ceased calling me Papa. You are no longer my student, nor my concern.”

“Come, come,” Stephanie replied. “You cannot think me a concern, surely?”

Titus smiled inwardly. “Do you forget what you were like when I first took you in? The incessant whining. Oh, Father, don’t leave me with him, let me stay at home. Why do I have to have a tutor? You must hate me. You smell, I hate you.”

“Stop, it is shameful to even think I was once like that.”

“You were like that and worse. You were a spoilt brat, plain and simple.”

Stephanie nodded, at least having the decency to look embarrassed. “I was.”

“But do not be downhearted. You are no longer the little girl who came to me. You are now a mature young woman and you are to be wed. You have come a long way, Miss Dubois, and I am not ashamed to say it is primarily down to your own hard work combined with my expert tuition.”

“Modest as ever.”

“Modesty is for failures. I am a success; you are proof enough of that.”

“I will miss you, Papa.”

“That’s enough,” Titus snapped. “You should get used to calling me Mr. Burlingham and I shall call you Miss Dubois. Or should I call you the future Lady Rochester?”

“It certainly has a ring to it, doesn’t it? Lady Rochester. Who would have thought it?”

“Not me when you had a tantrum and broke three of my windows on your first day here.”

“I am sorry for how I was back then. I was foolish and immature. I am no longer that person.”

“Correct. Now you better be off before I get accused of trying to seduce you for myself.”

“Papa! I mean, Mr. Burlingham. That is downright indecent.”

“Go on, get out of here or I’ll have to charge your parents for another quarter.”

He watched her go, sighing happily at the sight of her as he looked out of his office window. On the street, she looked no different to any of the other women walking back and forth. She held her head high and spoke gracefully to her parents who were waiting by the carriage. He frowned as Mr. Dubois Esq. left his wife and daughter and walked back into the office, rapping politely on Titus’s door.

“Come,” Titus boomed out, taking another puff on his cigar as Mr. Dubois walked in and took a seat opposite him. The chair creaked loudly, not used to such huge bulk descending on it at once. “What can I do for you, Mr. Dubois? If it’s about the bill, I am not open to negotiations.”

“No, no, nothing like that. We are more than happy with the service you have provided us. It is just…”

Titus waited a moment. “It is just that you don’t know how to end sentences?”

“No, not that. Listen, I know you said you were taking a rest between pupils. I just wondered if I might be able to change your mind at all. You see, we have another daughter, and she is exhibiting many of the same symptoms of oncoming womanhood as Stephanie.”

“If you are suggesting I take on another Dubois, I am not sure I can afford the glazier’s bill.”

“I would pay any amount you desire.”

“Money is not the issue here, Mr. Dubois. I have had not a single day to myself in more than two years. In that time, I have turned no less than twelve spoilt little brats into a dozen decent society ladies. Twelve, sir! I am taking a break for a spell.”

“But, Mr. Burlingham, might you reconsider for an old friend?”

“I make a point of never making old friends. They ask too much of me. I am taking a break and that is my final word on the matter. There are many other excellent tutors out there who would leap at the chance to teach a Dubois how to grow up and prepare for marriage.”

“But they are not you. Your reputation, sir, surpasses all. Look at Stephanie out there.” Mr. Dubois waved a hand towards the window. “She is a different person. Just look at her. You have changed her.”

“Indeed I have. You appear to be pointing at a horse.”

“Am I? Oh, drat these spectacles. More trouble than they’re worth. But listen, please take her on, I beg you.”

“I am a polite man, Mr. Dubois but if you do not leave this office and take your daughter home, I will cease to be polite.”

“You will not listen to reason, sir?”

“It has never done me any good before. I say good day to you and there is an end to the matter.”

Mr. Dubois stood up, pushing his spectacles up his nose as he did so. “I do wish you would reconsider.”

“Good day, Mr. Dubois.”

“A good day indeed when an honest man gets nowhere with his hired help.”

If he were trying to get a rise out of Titus, it did not work. The tutor did not look up from his papers until he heard the office door open and then close. Glancing out of the window, he caught a glimpse of what looked like a short but fiery argument between husband and wife whilst Stephanie sat glumly in the carriage, looking out at them. The argument ended with Mr. Dubois being clapped across the head by his wife, causing his hat to fall into the gutter. Titus smiled, turning back to his cigar.

That’s marriage in a nutshell, he thought as he reached across the desk for the pile of correspondence that awaited his attention. A hat in a gutter. Never see me ending up like that, sullying a decent bonce warmer.

Yet they were so desperate to get Stephanie married off, they’d paid twice his usual rate for his expertise. Strange what people thought important. He couldn’t deny that the money was handy though. It was the reason he could afford to take a break. The excess income should cover his bills nicely for a month or two, allowing him a chance to catch his breath after the toughest assignment he’d ever had.

It was no exaggeration to say that Stephanie had been a nightmare when she arrived. It had been like sharing a home with a particularly obnoxious nine-year-old girl, though one with enough strength to lift a unique second century Roman bust from its plinth and reduce it to little more than dust by throwing it out of the window. It had survived the collapse of the Ancient and robust Empire but a drop from the window of the third floor of Titus’s house to the stone steps below was too much. Her first attempt to overthrow the dictatorship of Titus, as she called it at the time.

It had also been her last attempt. A few spankings later, she was an entirely different girl. In just over two months, he had used his unique mixture of punishment and reward to turn a spoilt brat into the future wife of the fifteenth in line to the throne. Or fourteenth in line, it was touch and go if that doddery old sot in Scotland would see out the season.

She had been hard work but the end result was worth it. Deal with the post and then head off on holiday, time for a rest. Leaving the end of his cigar in the ashtray, he opened the first letter and read the contents. Another request. Apparently, news hadn’t yet filtered through high society that he was not currently for hire. They all seemed to know he was done with Stephanie and were eager for him to take on their daughter.

Reading through one letter after another, Titus marvelled that there were so many spoilt children in the country. Was no one capable of raising a respectable woman? But then, if they did, he would be out of a job and then where would he be? Dependent on his brother for hand-outs once more. No, he was not going back there again. Thaddeus could keep the estate, Titus preferred his independence.

His mind wandered to the previous evening. It had been his independence that allowed him to walk out late at night whenever he wished. It had been Stephanie’s last night and he had felt safe enough leaving her at home to walk out and take the night air. He had been surprised to find the park open when he reached it. He had been even more surprised to find a woman in there, laid on her back, being assaulted by that most infamous of cads, Jonathan Carlisle.

He returned to the pile on his desk, trying not to get distracted, working his way through slowly. There was not a single interesting missive amongst them. Not one. When all were done, he rang the bell on his desk and seconds later, the office door opened and Mrs. Cartwright appeared. “Yes, sir?”

“Standard reply to all these. I’m heading off once I find my coat.”

“Back of your chair, sir. There is one more before you go, came just a few minutes ago. Shall I tell them you are unavailable?”

Titus looked at the envelope in her hand. It was pink. Why was it pink? “I better have a look at it first,” he said.

He took the envelope from her and tore it open, pulling out a piece of folded paper which exuded perfume that assaulted his nostrils. As his eyes scanned down the contents of the letter, he smiled. Rereading it made his smile broader still.

“Standard reply, sir?” Mrs. Cartwright asked.

“No, I think I’ll handle this one personally.”

“Very good, sir.”

Not even sure I wanted a holiday, he thought as he took a fresh sheet of paper and began to compose a response. Who needs time off when there’s a Winter in need of help, not only that but a Winter willing to pay four times his usual rate?