Keeping Faith (Fair Cyprians of London 3)

“I don’t know what you mean.” Faith clasped her hands in her lap and returned Mrs Gedge’s look with unusual defiance across the table.

Surprise still lurked in the other woman’s expression before Mrs Gedge laughed softly. “My dear Faith, you were magnificent.” She sat back, her bosom heaving. “That young man…you don’t know him surely?”

“I’ve never seen him in my life.”

“Did you think him handsome?”

“Very.”

“Why, pray?”

Faith shrugged. “I like an athletic physique. And he had nice eyes. He looked…kind.”

“Kind?!” The word snapped like a whip across the table, and Faith felt her mouth drop open.

Before another beat had passed, Mrs Gedge had recovered herself. A slow smile curved her lips as she said slowly, “Why, Faith, this is a miracle. I cannot believe how easy this is going to be. You did not even try.” She took another sip of wine, then announced, “Tomorrow night you are going to your first soiree.”

Faith jerked her head up.

“I had not thought you ready, but it’s important to strike while the iron is hot, as they say.” Faith sent her a narrow look and wondered if Mrs Gedge had drunk too much. “I will not accompany you, Faith, of course. No, Lady Vernon will do that. A good thing she’s recovered her health for it’ll be a busy few weeks.” Businesslike, Mrs Gedge went on, “She will accompany you to a great many functions: balls, soirees, picnics – and she will report back to me, you understand?”

Mrs Gedge finished her wine and put her knife and fork together. Faith waited. This was not some reward, she knew. She was expected to perform, though she wasn’t sure, exactly, how. Surprisingly, tingles in the tips of her fingers were echoed by a prickling sensation on the backs of her legs, and her breath was suddenly shallow. Fear? Anticipation? Excitement?

Hope.

In the end, she had to ask. “Is this…to be my purpose, Mrs Gedge?”

A flash of triumph brightened the other woman’s eye. “Yes, Faith. For three years, you’ve been trained to behave like a young lady, and I’ve asked nothing in return.” Mrs Gedge had positioned herself so that she could not be observed by the company currently leaving; however, she could clearly see that the young man had stopped at the double doors for a final look over his shoulder at Faith.

Looking from the handsome young man with the athletic physique and the kind eyes to Faith, she said softly, “I have waited a long time for this but…tomorrow you will begin to repay me.”

Chapter 4

A strong smell of boiled cabbage permeated Lady Vernon’s musty lodgings.

The hackney carriage had dropped her off in the cobbled street in front of the narrow terrace house, and having been ushered into an unused bedchamber, Faith’s earlier excitement was being sorely tested.

She stared with dismay at the simple gown Lady Vernon held up.

She was hardly going to make the grand entrance she’d envisaged in this plain, pale-cream silk ensemble trimmed with pink bows.

“Very virginal, isn’t it, Faith? Not what you’re used to regarding as up to the mark in the household you inhabit.” Lady Vernon’s fingers pinched Faith’s flesh as she turned her around and, without ceremony, began to unbutton the back of her dress. “No, you fancy the tawdry, I daresay, because even if you’ve not yet had the pleasure of a man, you’re still no better than those other girls you live with.”

“Lady Vernon, don’t you look just the thing!” Mrs Gedge, who’d just been admitted by the parlourmaid, interrupted the unwise response Faith was about to deliver. The American woman looked, in contrast to Lady Vernon, quite animated as she took in the gown that clothed the noblewoman’s frail frame. Perhaps it had been up to the mark a decade previously, but it had been obviously refashioned into a poor copy of the day’s fashions. The feathers in Lady Vernon’s headdress looked as tired as the grey-faced old woman who wore them.

“And Fai

th, you know what is expected of you, don’t you?”

Faith nodded as Lady Vernon peeled her blue day dress over her shoulders and down her hips, then began to button up the cream silk once Faith had stepped into it. She was so disappointed she thought she might cry. The previous week, when the dressmaker had fitted her with the calico toile, Faith had been led to believe the figure-hugging ensemble was going to be in bold, eye-catching colours.

“And you, Lady Vernon?” Mrs Gedge began to circle.

“I know exactly what is expected, Madam.” Lady Vernon’s tone was grim. “I will not let Faith out of my sight.”

“And she is to come back here tonight. I don’t want to run the risk of her being followed. In fact…” Mrs Gedge sent them both a considering look. “Faith will stay here for the next few weeks. Lady Vernon, you will arrange for her belongings to be brought around and you, Faith, are to have nothing to do with any of the girls at Madame Chambon’s from now on.” She rubbed her hands as if in anticipation of something very pleasurable while Faith reassessed her idea of success. In the short term, success simply meant extricating herself from the smell of mould and boiled cabbage that pervaded Lady Vernon’s premises. She didn’t think she could bear it a moment longer.

“Whatever you wish, Mrs Gedge.”