Devil’s Cub (Alastair-Audley #2)

THREE

MRS CHALLONER OCCUPIED ROOMS in a genteel part of the town which might be said to touch the fringe of the more fashionable quarter.

She was a widow with a jointure quite inadequate for a lady of her ambition, but she had an additional source of income in her brother, who was a city merchant of considerable affluence.

From time to time he paid some of Mrs Challoner’s more pressing bills, and though he did it with a bad grace, and was consistently discouraged by his wife and daughters, he could always be relied upon to step into the breach before matters reached too serious a pass.