Faith glanced about her and saw they were garnering a good deal of interest and that his words were true. If they were ever to succeed in slipping away together, she’d better not allow him to be too singular in his attentions.
“People are looking,” she whispered. “Oh Crispin, we won’t have a moment to ourselves this evening, and I’d so wanted to talk to you.” Her chest tightened, and the knot of worry grew.
“And I to you, my dearest. We must get married before I leave for Germany. You are so right, and I’ve been caught up in this…frenzy, fielding probing questions from father who is hardly delighted, I’m afraid. He threatens to come down to London before I depart for Germany when that had not been the plan.” He glanced about him, his frown creased. The reception hall was a sumptuous location for an event like this, but there were no antechambers where they might be private.
Faith saw Lady Albion turn from her conversation with her husband. She was bearing down on her, when Crispin said in a rushed whisper, “Your chaperone seemed only too happy to give us licence to be alone together, before. Is it possible?”
His words trailed off and Faith tugged his sleeve, urging him to finish his sentence. The suggestion had to come from Crispin. Faith could not be seen to be too desperate.
He raked back his hair, smiled at the advancing dowager and whispered, “There is an inn not far from here that I know can be accessed from a side street so that you might be completely unobserved in entering. The Green Whistle. Could you possibly meet me there when tonight’s proceedings are finished?”
“Do you mean…we’d run away together, tonight, Crispin?” She was fairly certain he didn’t mean this, but he needed to give her some idea of his plans on the timing of their elopement.
“I’m not in a position to do that yet, my darling. One more day, and everything will be organised to my satisfaction.”
“What is so important to organise tomorrow?”
“I have interviews; my photograph will be taken, and there are many wonderful things that will happen to entrench my reputation as an artist that have been planned for tomorrow. Oh Faith, you have no idea.” His voice caught with emotion, and Faith understood the enormity of achieving one’s life’s ambition. Wasn’t she within a hair’s breadth of achieving hers?
Yet…
“I’m sorry, but we can’t do it tonight, Faith.” Concern wiped away his ebullience, and he leaned forw
ard slightly. “It’s too soon, though you surely can’t imagine I’m prevaricating because I’m not sincere.”
She shook her head, though she wasn’t sure what to think. “I shall be at The Green Whistle later tonight. Somehow, I’ll contrive it.”
“Tell the servant who lets you in that you have room bespoken in the name of Mrs Emily Hardwicke.” He glanced at her hands as if he would whisk them up and kiss them with an ardour to match that that was in his voice.
And then Lady Vernon was upon them; her gushing praise of Crispin’s prodigious talent bringing their conversation to an end.
The soiree seemed to last forever, while Faith did her best to conduct herself appropriately. She was a shy debutante with a modicum of intelligence, as far as the rest of the world was concerned, and her efforts to project that image were aided by Lady Vernon, who made an apparent attempt to draw Faith out of her shyness.
“Answer Miss Eaves’s question, Faith dearest,” she said with contrived gentleness on one occasion when Faith was faced with a volley of queries on her impressions of London.
“It can feel overwhelming to a country girl,” Faith said, glancing at Crispin on the other side of the room, in earnest discussion with a group of gentlemen. Her body throbbed at the thought of being alone with him in just a couple of short hours.
“And you have brothers and sisters, I gather. A few of them. What do they think of your success? What a shame they could not be here.” Miss Eaves’s pencil sped across the page.
“Everything happened so fast with the announcement of Mr Westaway winning such a grand prize they did not have time to make the journey.” Faith was careful to avoid mentioning anything that might indicate even the location of her family. They were sunk in rusticity and never heard the London news until the greatest events were at least a month old. They certainly would make no connection between their Faith and the glorious creature she’d become.
The gathering began to disperse towards midnight, and Lady Vernon took Faith’s arm, drawing her towards the door after they’d said their farewells.
“You have arranged a final assignation? The moment to cement what you are to him? To exact the greatest revenge when you are whisked away forever tomorrow?” Her beady eyes roamed over Faith’s expression as if she were looking for guile. She gave Faith’s wrist a squeeze. “Ah, but I’m sorry that it had to end this way though there really was no other, was there? The young man is enjoying his greatest moment of glory, and your secret visit to him will fill his heart with triumphant joy. He thinks he is on the cusp of life, the pinnacle of attainment, but that is how Mrs Gedge planned it. There is no more acute suffering than to have reached such dizzy heights before such a crushing fall.”
Foreboding sliced through Faith. Was this really all Mrs Gedge had planned for Crispin? Was the extent of her loathing for him so great that destroying his happiness was her only plan? Or did she intend Crispin’s descent to be an even greater one?
She forced a smile. “He will be distraught,” she murmured. “For he loves me greatly. I have done everything Mrs Gedge would have me do. He is enslaved.”
She had to believe that.
For if she couldn’t count on the security of his love, she had nothing.
But in the private room at The Green Whistle, Crispin’s ardour and sincerity could not be in doubt. Instead of swooping upon her with words of enthusiasm as to the astonishing reception he’d received that evening, his words were all for her.
“I couldn’t have done it without you, Faith! You were the most glittering star in the firmament, my exquisite girl.” He swept her into his embrace and covered her face and neck in kisses. “Because of you, I’m where I’ve always wanted to be in life. My work…my painting has been more important to me than anything. That is, until I met you.” He cupped her face and stared into her eyes. “You think I’m not sincere about running away with you?” He dropped his voice. “We both have good reason to marry in secret, though I believe mine is greater.” Then a smile tugged at his mouth. “I don’t care about your family hounding me for what I can do for them, financially or otherwise, for I would gladly do it. I would do anything that would please you, Faith. But my father would put everything in my way to prevent me marrying you, Faith, and that’s the truth. He’s always wanted me to marry the daughter of his best friend, our neighbour, and there was a time when I thought I could do it. But my heart was not engaged.”
“And the young lady? Is she in expectation of a marriage proposal?”