Once the two elder girls were in school, Frances started to please herself and go to town when she wanted. Her family income gave her independence, and at only twenty-eight she was even more attractive than as a young bride—more self-assured, more conversationally amusing, and more open for adventure. She wanted a taste of swinging London, and there were plenty of prospects. She had arrived at the sexual heyday of all the other aristocratic Desperate Housewives, alert for long lunches at the Causerie in Claridge’s and the offer of a diverting afternoon. It was inevitable perhaps that she fell
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