F rom the age of five, Miranda wanted to be in a ractive. In her early 
teens, after Mother had taken her away from Father and Father's money, she'd 
worked as a maid-of-all-work, chopping onions and polishing people's 
sterling-silver salvers, cake combs, fish trowels, and grape shears.
As soon as she got good enough with hair and makeup to pass 
for an eighteen-year-old, she worked as a governess for five years, 
which paid a little better. With her looks she probably could have 
gotten a job as a lady's maid or parlormaid and become an Upper 
Servant, but she preferred the governess job. Whatever bad things her 
parents had done to her along the way, they had at least put her 
through some nice schools, where she'd learned to read Greek, 
conjugate Latin verbs, speak a couple of Romance languages, draw, 
paint, integrate a few simple functions, and play the piano. 
Working as a governess, she could put it all to use. Besides, she 
preferred even bratty children to adults.