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‘Nancy, come with me.’ He held the carriage door open.
‘Shall I send the cabby away, miss?’ Molly asked anxiously.
Nancy was feeling reckless. She had not taken Freddie seriously when he promised to pick her up that morning, but now he was here she was ridiculously pleased to see him and the brougham would be cramped with three passengers. She opened her reticule and took out a silk purse. She pressed some coins into Molly’s hand. ‘Take the cab and visit Reuben at Highgate, but be back before I have to go to the theatre with Mrs de Marney this evening.’
‘You’ll get us both into trouble doing this,’ Molly whispered. ‘What if she finds out?’
‘Don’t worry. I’ll take the blame, now hurry. Tell the cabby where you want to go and enjoy your time with Reuben.’
Nancy went to join Freddie. ‘I wasn’t sure you’d come,’ she said as he helped her into the carriage.
He climbed in and sat beside her. ‘I always keep my word. I was afraid you might have left already.’
‘You’re not stammering, Freddie.’
He grasped her hand. ‘I know. It’s amazing, but I feel different with you, Nancy. I can’t explain it.’
The carriage moved forward and Nancy began to relax. ‘I’m glad you came, Freddie.’
‘I didn’t want you to think that I was ruled by my mother,’ he said simply. ‘I do respect both my parents, but I am my own man, and I’m over twenty-one.’ He glanced at her anxiously. ‘I hope you don’t think I would take advantage of you, Nancy?’
She smiled and squeezed his fingers. ‘That would be the last thing on my mind. Although I don’t want you to fall out with your family because of me. I am a nobody, as I told you last evening.’
‘You are somebody special in my eyes. I knew that the first moment I saw you.’
‘You are so kind, Freddie. But this is a really mad thing to do. I shouldn’t have agreed to come with you, and I most certainly should not have sent Molly to Highgate to visit her sweetheart.’
Freddie laughed. ‘But you did both those things. I think you are a rebel, Nancy. I’m afraid I’ve always done exactly what was expected of me. I’m quite a boring fellow.’
‘Never. I won’t allow you to say that. Look at us now, we’ve broken all the rules, and if we’re discovered we will be in trouble. I will probably be sent home to Rockwood in disgrace.’
‘I didn’t consider such an outcome when I came to collect you. I just wanted to get to know you better.’
Nancy smiled and moved a little closer. ‘Then let’s forget everything else and enjoy our day out.’
‘Everyone thinks because I stammer and I love the countryside that I am a dunderhead.’
‘I don’t believe that for a moment, but if that’s what they say they are all stupid.’
Freddie turned to look at her and his smile melted her heart. ‘Thank you, Nancy,’ he said simply.
She realised that she was still holding his hand, but it felt right somehow and she raised it briefly to her cheek. ‘We are both outsiders it seems, Freddie. But that’s all right – we can be different together.’
He laughed. ‘I like the sound of that.’
‘But I have to visit the Academy. I need to see my friend Tamara to make sure that she is all right. You don’t mind, do you?’
‘Absolutely not. Of course you must visit her. I expect she misses you.’
Nancy explained Tamara’s situation while the carriage tooled through the London streets, heading for the Outer Circle of Regent’s Park. When it drew up outside the Academy Freddie climbed down first and held out his hand.
‘I can’t ask you in, Freddie,’ Nancy said apologetically. ‘It’s not allowed, even for you.’
‘Being the son of an earl doesn’t open as many doors as people might think. I’m happy to wait for you. Take as long as you like.’
‘Thank you, Freddie.’ Nancy opened the gate and walked up the path.
Watkins opened the door. ‘Yes, miss.’
