Page 25 of Henrietta

‘I do not think so.’ Mr Chapman gave Hetty a bow. Arthur nudged Hetty softly with his elbow, and she groped desperately about in her mind for one of her lines and—

‘Do you think so?’ She was so panicked that the words burst out of her far more loudly than she had intended. The effect was rather aggressive.

‘I do not think so,’ Chapman clarified in a slightly louder voice – perhaps the young lady was a little deaf?

‘Are you here for the ascension?’ Arthur stepped smoothly into the breach. ‘Not the first time you’ll have seen one of these before, I imagine?’ He turned to Hetty in explanation. ‘Chapman has a particular interest in aeronautics.’

Chapman looked rather bashful. ‘Yes, indeed, that was my goal – though I’m not sure the conditions are suitable; the weather looks to be on the turn …’

Arthur nudged Hetty again.

‘Such a fine day!’

Chapman, having just made the opposite point, did not seem to know how to answer this.

‘How long are you to stay in London?’ Arthur interceded hastily, and Chapman pulled his gaze back to him with some relief.

‘I leave today. In truth, not for the happiest reasons,’ he said heavily. ‘My grandmother has been declining for a while. I go to her sickbed.’

Arthur reached out to clasp him wordlessly upon the arm. Unbidden, Hetty’s mouth opened. She tried to stop herself, she did, but it was as if, once queued up, the phrases simply had to come out. From a great distance, she heard herself say: ‘How – how marvellous!’

‘Well, we shan’t keep you!’ Arthur said loudly. ‘Safe travels!’

He ushered Hetty away. They walked in silence for a moment, Hetty willing herself into an early grave, and Arthur trying to repress laughter.

‘How – how do you feel that went?’ Arthur wondered after a few minutes, keeping his voice even by sheer force of will.

Hetty shook her head. She could not yet speak.

‘What made you say them in such an order?’ His voice was trembling now.

Hetty pressed her hands against burning cheeks. ‘I did not mean to. I was just … trying to remember the questions and – Don’t laugh! That was a disaster.’

‘It was,’ Arthur agreed, mastering himself with some difficulty. ‘And?’

‘And?’

‘You said the wrong thing. Perhaps the most wrong thing a person can say, now that I consider it.’ He gave a little shrug. ‘Nothing happened. You did not perish.’

Hetty pressed a hand to her racing heart. ‘I almost did.’

‘It will be easier next time,’ Arthur assured her.

‘You don’t mean we have to try again?’

‘Yes, indeed,’ Arthur said promptly. ‘Come along, there is Mr Blanchard.’

To Hetty’s horror, Arthur began propelling her towards another gentlemen. Hetty felt her chest tighten. ‘No, no,’ she protested. ‘I cannot.’

She would, in that moment, have rather dived into the Serpentine. As if in answer to this desire, the heavens chose at that moment to open.

‘Oh blast!’ Arthur looked up to the dark sky, frowning. ‘Only in England. Come, we had best hurry back.’

The day having been so clear when they left, they had not thought to bring umbrellas. Hetty, at least, was partially shielded by her bonnet, but by the time they had neared the enclosure once more, Arthur was looking rather damp – though the effect, in truth, was rather pleasing to the eye, for he looked fresh and alive. She could only hope the rain was affording her the same improvement.

‘Are you cold? You look like a drowned rat.’

Perhaps not. Still, the cold press of her skin, the weight of her clothes: it was all strangely reassuring. She was a person; she had a body. She would not float away.