At least it’s only one set.
They filed into the large ballroom to meet their fate.
With this many people in attendance, their hosts had arranged for several groups of eight to dance the quadrille in separate parts of the floor. Mr. Corbyn escorted Hannah to their place as one of the side couples in Mrs. Brandon’s circle. The ballroom was full tonight. Hannah had danced the First Set so many times by now that she could probably do it in her sleep, albeit without much enthusiasm, but Mr. Corbyn had never done this before. She didn’t think he’d take it well if he fell on his face in front of a crowd. Why should he want to risk it, when they might easily have escaped?
The first notes of “La Coquette” rang out, and the dancers all greeted each other with little curtsies and bows. It was only then that Hannah realized who stood across from her. The other side couple consisted of Sir Richard and a young lady she didn’t recognize.
Oh goodness, how unlucky.He’d seen her, judging by the thin set of his mouth, but said nothing.
The head couples advanced to the center of the circle and withdrew again, beginning the dance. There was nothing for Hannah to do for the next twenty-four bars but stand awkwardly across from Sir Richard and watch the head couples chassé and set. Mr. Corbyn didn’t seem to have noticed the source of her discomfort. His eyes were riveted to the head couple’s movements, plainly trying to remind himself of all the steps before it was their turn.
Please don’t let us stumble in front of Sir Richard.Hannah cast a silent prayer skyward until it was time to step forward.
Miraculously, Mr. Corbyn managed to execute the next few steps without error. Though his footwork was occasionally a bit shoddy or slower than his neighbors, he kept himself in the right position as they moved about the floor. When the dance had ended with a successful chassé croisé from all the couples, he shot Hannah an exuberant glance. She smiled encouragingly, afraid to offer any congratulations while they still had four more dances to get through.
But to her increasing astonishment, Mr. Corbyn performed the next two in the set, La Sybille and Jacintha, with the same methodical determination. He looked frequently to the other gentlemen to remind himself of the steps, and occasionally he hesitated, but he never faltered. Hannah could hardly believe her eyes.
By the time they reached Nannette, Mr. Corbyn had grown confident enough to tear his attention from the other dancers and make eye contact with her during the brief introduction to the song.
“How did you learn all this since yesterday?” she whispered.
“I told you, I practiced after with Marian.”
Though he said no more than this, it was evident that Mr. Corbyn was pleased with himself. There was an energy in his gaze that she’d never seen before. Instead of nerves or frustration, it looked like triumph. There was something rather touching in the sight.
He must have done nothing else since our last meeting.Hannah could hardly comprehend the sheer scale of the effort involved.Shehad only taken dancing lessons because she’d been forced into it, but Mr. Corbyn had thrown himself into the task entirely of his own choosing, all to make this night a success.
For me.
Hannah wasn’t sure when anyone had shown her suchconsideration. Certainly none of the gentleman callers that Mama had dredged up from the rubbish piles of the season.
It made her feel a little sad that she would have to say goodbye to him soon. She was never going to meet someone who would show this much concern for her happiness again.
Because you promised him two hundred pounds, she reminded herself firmly.For that price, of course he would take it seriously.
But the explanation didn’t seem as persuasive as it once had. Somewhere along the way, she and Mr. Corbyn had begun to blur the tidy lines they’d tried to draw around this arrangement, and now she wasn’t sure how to put them back again.
Fourteen
He was actually doing it.
Silas’s heart was hammering in his chest through the first four dances in the set as he waited for the moment he would trip and stumble. Though he nearly turned the wrong direction when it came time for all the gentlemen to step forward and pass around their partners to the right, he caught himself in the nick of time.
He was nearly there.
More gratifying than his success was the look Miss Williams had given him in between songs. (During the songs, he was too busy counting steps to look her way.) Her initial surprise had gradually been replaced by a joy that grew surer with every step. They had already reached the finale now. Just a few more minutes.
Silas stepped forward to cross the set, giving his right hand to the blond lady opposite as he took her former place beside her partner, a gentleman thrice her age, then crossed back, this time giving his left hand. There. Now he had nothing left to do except watch the other couples complete their turns and repeat the same steps a few times in between each pair. He’d done it.
When it came time for Hannah to step forward to meet her opposite, Silas was startled to realize the gentleman looked familiar. He hadn’t had the luxury of studying the other dancers’ faces while he’d been busy studying their feet, but now that his part was nearly finished, he could watch them at his leisure. Didn’t he know this old fellow with the yellowing handlebar mustache? Silas didn’t think he was imagining it. The fellow looked at Miss Williams as if he knew her, extending his hand with a reluctance that bordered on insult. She made no obvious reaction, but her face said everything. How had Silas failed to notice sooner?
Once Miss Williams was back at his side, he whispered, “Is that the same gentleman I saw leaving your house the other day?”
“Yes,” she hissed back quickly. “Sir Richard.” Then she linked her hand into his as they completed the set with a grand rond.
As all the dancers formed a circle for the last few bars, Silas made eye contact with Sir Richard. He hadn’t gotten a good look at him the other time, but a closer inspection confirmed his first impression. The man was more fit to be a grandfather than a groom. How could Mrs. Williams have imagined that her vibrant, lively daughter belonged withthis? It was disgusting!
When Silas had wondered what would push Hannah Williams to do something so drastic as hire a fiancé, he hadn’t truly understood what she was facing. Or perhaps he had, and it was only that her hardship hadn’t looked so serious compared to his. At least not when she’d still been a stranger to him, and one with enough food to eat and a roof over her head and fine clothes to wear.
