“Indeed,” Lady Barrington said. “We are very close acquaintances of the Hewitts. Neighbors, you realize.”
“Young Mr. Hewitt is an exemplary gentleman,” Mrs. Northrop said. “You must be pleased he is so fond of your daughter.”
Calling upon every ounce of willpower he possessed, Jack managed not to turn around and insist Mrs. Northrop stop. She was taking an enormous risk.
“They are old friends,” Lady Barrington said. “Well,youngfriends, but friends of long standing.”
“How wonderful for both of them.”
“I suppose it is.” Lady Barrington made the observation as if it was the first time she’d ever given any thought to the benefits of his and Odette’s association.
“What if this doesn’t work?” Real worry had entered Odette’s whisper.
“We will go to Scotland if need be.”
She turned worried eyes on him once more. “Even if we were willing to destroy our own lives, sacrificing our standing, our reputations, our futures, we cannot do that to our children, or theirs. The scandal of an elopement would haunt us for generations.”
He knew it well enough. He’d meant his suggestion of Scotland as an attempt to lighten her heart. She was too worried to be teased into any degree of relief.
“We will find a way,” he vowed. “And we have Mrs. Northrop on our side.”
He heard her next breath shake from her. “Do you think anyone would notice if you held my hand?”
“Unfortunately, yes.”
On the stage below, the opera began. Their conversation ended. He remained at her side the rest of the evening, but they spoke very little. He did not know how much longer he could bear this.
If Mrs. Northrop couldn’t manage the seemingly impossible, they might grow desperate indeed.
***
A quick conversation with Mrs. Summerfield, one involving the casual mention of many of the very fine families with whom Adelaide associated, had secured her an afternoon spent with Tabitha. The Summerfields didn’t lack standing, but Mrs. Summerfield was certainly impressed by social cachet.
“Thank you for this outing,” Tabitha said in her usual soft and sincere way. “I’ve not yet been to Somerset House.”
“I suspected you might enjoy an afternoon surrounded by works of art.”
Amazement filled Tabitha’s expression as she looked out over the Great Room, its walls covered nearly to the ceiling with paintings. “A person could spend all day in here and not see everything, not if one wished to truly savor each painting.”
“We can spend hours here if you’d like,” Adelaide said. “We can even return another day if you’d like.”
“Perhaps Odette would join us?” Tabitha asked, a little shyly, a little uncertain.
“I think she would like that.”
Tabitha took a short few steps forward, placing herself in front of a particularly detailed landscape. Hers was such a sincere and heartfelt enjoyment. She simply lost herself in her quiet study of the painting.
Adelaide had found that making a study of people while they were making a study of something else was particularly enlightening. Pretense was difficult to keep up when a person was distracted.
In the midst of Tabitha’s distraction, the second half of Adelaide’s plan for the day arrived with his usual joviality.
“Mr. Lexington,” she greeted with a quickly dipped curtsy.
He responded with a friendly bow. “Mrs. Northrop. You will likely not be surprised when I tell you that I am fair dying of curiosity at your invitation to pass the afternoon taking in the Royal Academy Exhibition.”
“How astute of you to realize the wisdom of accepting that invitation.”
His delighted grin took on a hint of laughter. “What I am is wise enough to know that any attempt to thwart you in whatever plan you have concocted would be utterly futile.” He turned his curious gaze on the room. “Any particular painting I ought to make a study of?”
