Faith shrugged. “He wants to run away with me. I shall disappear. With my money. With the money Mrs Gedge has promised me, and that is my payment for working for her for three years with the end agreement being all or nothing.” Faith shook her hair free and wandered to the window. She stared out at the sun. “Mrs Gedge will have all the evidence she needs. Mr Westaway is a very passionate correspondent.” She sighed. “And I shall have my freedom. At last.”
“You speak as if you’ve been under ball and chain, when most girls in your position could only dream of what you’ve had: a roof over your head, an education, fine clothes, an introduction to society, all so that you might know how to behave.”
“Oh yes, and I’m very grateful. I’ve made the most of all that she has insisted it suits her to bestow upon me…as her slave.”
She took a few steps into the centre of the room and presented her back to Lady Vernon so that she could help unlace her. It was good to treat the old termagant like a servant; the way she looked upon Faith.
“So, you have no gratitude for Mrs Gedge? None for taking you out of poverty and giving you the tools to prosper?”
“I’m grateful that I now have manners and know how to use a knife and fork properly. But not for the years I languished in a brothel where I was surrounded by nothing but misery.” She closed her eyes. “Each night it was like listening to my potential punishment. The moans of the gentlemen; the pretended cries of ecstasy of the girls—my friends—before they’d weep their eyes out and tell me everything the next morning. It was a constant reminder that that was my fate if I should fail at my task. And now I am about to fulfil it; fulfil my destiny. It is a joyous moment.”
Lady Vernon stared at Faith as she moved around to help her remove her gown.
“And you have no regrets?”
Faith raised her eyebrows. “Regrets? For gaining my freedom? Why, I am fashioned in your own image, Lady Vernon. My heart is made of stone.”
Lady Vernon turned her with a light hand on her shoulders and smiled her first real smile. At least, that’s what Faith thought it was until the woman said, “And so tonight I shall help you disappear, Faith, for of course that is the only way to fulfil Mrs Gedge’s decree, which of course is what you’ve just told me you’re in the process of doing.”
Faith managed to smile. With every ounce of willpower, she managed to keep her mouth steady and her voice even as she replied, “You’d really do that? Help me? Though, of course, when I have the money I’m owed, I can get as far away as I want.”
“But he would find you, and that would not be pleasant for you. It would not further Mrs Gedge’s aims. No, have no fear, Mrs Gedge knew you would succeed, and she has everything in hand. You will be spirited away to a safe house, just for a short time because, as you say, you’ve earned your freedom. But it will be necessary; I’m sure you’ll agree. For everyone concerned.”
Faith blinked, smiled, and blinked again. She took a few steps to the bed and sat down with as much grace as she could before Lady Vernon said, “Now, where are those love letters you’ve received from Mr Westaway?” She held out her hand. “Mrs Gedge will naturally want to see evidence though I could vouch for the truth. You don’t think I’ve been as blind as I’ve pretended, do you?”
“I have them in my escritoire. I’ll…fetch them for you in the morning. I’m very tired, you know. It has been an awfully big day.”
“I think we should well get it over and done with, Faith. Give them to me now so that you might sleep in longer without troubling yourself over it in the morning.” Lady Vernon’s bright tone was so false Faith felt like calling her out on it, but she could not afford to unleash even a suggestion of anger; not even a hint that she was feeling suddenly beleaguered and frightened and as far from being in control as she ever had.
She knew when she was beaten, so she forced herself to rise and took a few unsteady steps to the small writing desk in the corner of the room. They were in a bundle, tied up with red ribbon, and the very sight of them made her heart sing before it dropped like a stone to the pit of her stomach.
What did Mrs Gedge intend doing with her? Where would she take her? No, Faith had to be prepared. She wasn’t going to go with anyone, anywhere. Except Crispin. She’d pledged her love to him, and to him she would be faithful until the end.
When she turned, having picked up the bundle with all the reverence that such true and honest sentiment deserved, Lady Vernon was standing right behind her, hand outstretched, a speculative look in her eye.
“Ah, just imagine…” Her own attitude was reverential as she took possession of the only testament to loving feeling Faith had ever been shown. But Faith couldn’t snatch them back. She had to be so very careful to hide her feelings. And she managed, for it’s what she’d been trained to do her entire life.
Lady Vernon scanned the pages. She chuckled. “So, he really did fall hard for you, Faith. You were so sly I wasn’t quite sure what was happening behind my back. And behind closed bedchamber doors. I’m sure you put into practice, admirably, everything you’ve learned from all the harlots you’ve associated with these past years.” She fingered the letters, stroking them as she spoke, and all the time Faith battled the urge to fly at her, whisk them from her and scrape her across the fingers with catlike claws, if only she had them. Instead, she whispered, “That was unnecessary, Lady Vernon. It makes me wonder who, here, is the real lady.”
“You’ve done well, Faith.”
Mrs Gedge smiled at Faith from across the table. Pots overflowing with luxuriant foliage and crystal chandeliers endowed the room with an opulence Faith found slightly overwhelming, in much the same way she’d been overwhelmed the first time Mrs Gedge had brought her to the Dorchester a little more than three years before.
“Not only have you blossomed into the great beauty I suspected you would become, but you also had the intelligence and cunning I saw in you when we made our acquaintance.”
Faith smiled dutifully.
“Furthermore, you have conducted yourself with the grace and sophistication of the most well-brought-up debutante. And yet you’ve not allowed your fancies to get away from you. No, you have shown that you have a will and determination as rigid as mine, and a heart that is just as hard.” She leaned back in her chair and put the tips of her gloved hands together as she contemplated Faith. “So, are you excited to receive your reward?”
A little part of Faith’s heart leaped at the prospect of an independent fortune. Five hundred pounds was beyond imaginable. She could set herself up for life with careful maintenance of such a sum. And then s
he could find Crispin, and this would be her dowry.
But that would not work anymore.
She’d chosen love over independence, and for that, she could afford no delays.
“Men hold the purse strings, and despite modern advances, a woman is still beholden to the males in her life for everything. Yet you, Faith, will call the shots, as they say in my country. I don’t wonder you’re excited. So very ready to break this man’s heart and claim your reward? I wonder how you plan to do that, Faith? Lady Vernon says you’ve been playing your cards very close to your chest. Well, we shall talk about it in the morning. It’s late.” She pushed back her chair, signifying that their tête-à-tête was at an end.