CHAPTER NINETEEN

Marie
1810

AFTER THE SUCCESS of the night spent at Welbeck and the mutual signing of documents agreeing to the conditions of the commission, Marie turned her thoughts to the task ahead; that of informing Druce that they would be vacating immediately and stuffing her hand with a bag full of coins. A satisfying prospect indeed. Druce’s mouth opened and shut like that of a codfish while her head tipped back so that Marie could see up her mottled nostrils.

‘But you need to be here, close to the theatre,’ she spluttered.

‘And the rooms are big, and I haven’t bothered you and —’

‘We have found lodgings more suitable to our tastes,’ bit back Marie, just waiting for the woman to ask where.

‘Where?’

‘Welbeck,’ Marie said levelly, and watched the woman’s face go from animated to still.

‘Ooooh, you don’t say? And how did you manage that?’ She leant in confidentially, and Marie felt a thrill of something akin to power.

‘We have connections,’ she said.

‘And your husband?’

‘What of him?’

‘Will he be leaving as well?’

‘Didn’t you just hear what I said?’

‘But what about my … my arrangement with him?’

‘What arrangement?’

Druce plucked at the neckline of her dress.

‘Your services, if that is what they were, are no longer needed,’ said Marie.

‘Oh, I won’t let him get away without paying for it – like another one I know who doesn’t pay on time and left me with a brat to raise.’

‘I care nothing for your vulgar implications, and you will not be paid anything. I very much doubt we will see you again. Goodbye.’

Marie shut the door behind her and smiled. Philidor! Depravity indeed to be seeking the services of Druce. But now to her next appointment. It wouldn’t do to keep Regington waiting at Gunter’s, as patient as he was.

He was sitting in their usual spot and had already ordered her coffee and a pastry.

‘Thank you,’ she said, and took the first sip. Always to be savoured.

‘My pleasure,’ he said, and drank from his own. ‘You are moving, and this may be our final meeting here.’

‘But this needn’t be the end of …’

A woman sat down at the table next to them. Her purple silk dress and well-coiffed light hair set off her amethyst necklace. Marie glanced away.

‘Us,’ Regington finished, and was so bold as to lean across the table and enfold her hand. ‘It would grieve me terribly if you were to say it was.’

The woman beside them shifted in her seat and stared without pretence at Regington. Marie turned back to smile into his brown eyes as she caught the scent of him again. It aroused something in her that had long remained dormant; she pushed it back down.

‘I’m afraid I can’t receive visitors at Welbeck,’ she said, as she closed her hand over his a little tighter. ‘His Grace is very particular about privacy, and until the commission is complete we are to have no contact with anyone, aside from letters.’

‘I see.’ He pulled his hand back an inch, but she held on, noting again the smooth white skin with small indentations across the base of each finger.

The woman next to them coughed.

‘Please don’t take offence,’ Marie said, lowering her voice, ‘it’s not my doing but his. We have to abide by his rules, at least for the moment.’

‘I do not like this “we” you talk of. You and this Philidor. He treats you badly, and yet you stay with him. I believe you are fond of him.’

‘The whole notion is absurd. He is nothing to me but a business partner.’

‘Are you quite sure?’

‘Please listen, I must finish this commission and get the show ready to perform. Then the duke has agreed that once he is advised of the details, I am free to receive visitors. Then you can come, and we —’

‘But that could be months.’ He looked down and slipped his hand cleanly out of hers. Was he really upset? Was he going to leave? A strategic move of his, indeed.

‘Please lower your voice, monsieur. We have a listener who cannot take her eyes from you.’

‘I care not for what others think,’ said Regington, not bothering to acknowledge the woman, whose face paled. ‘I care only for you and our separation.’

‘And I for you. I have already ordered what I need, and Philidor also. I will work night and day on this commission and the show, and then you can call upon me.’

‘I am busy,’ he said perfunctorily, and her jaw locked with trepidation. ‘I need to visit a few places in order to collect some paintings, deceased estates and the like. France. Italy. I shall not have time anyway.’

The woman in the necklace stood up hastily; with a tsk and a push of the chair, she left. Still, Regington did not acknowledge her existence.

Marie allowed herself a show of vulnerability by wetting her lips with her tongue. It was important he note it. He was withdrawing. She had disappointed him, and he wanted her to believe it was over. ‘Forgive me,’ she said, tentatively reaching for his hand. ‘I was wrong to put another man’s wishes ahead of my own, of yours even. I will find a way for you to visit, as I cannot leave the grounds myself. I will send you a letter. Say you’ll visit me there?’

He gave a faint smile and extended his fingers across the table to touch hers. ‘I would be delighted to.’

‘Only it may be at night, when we have less chance of being seen.’

‘Perfect.’ He gave her a full smile that surprisingly caught at the back of her throat. Only then did he glance behind to see the light- haired woman retreating from Gunter’s. He turned back to Marie. ‘I do so adore darkness.’