An Ode to Magnificence

That said, Cressida needed to be confident, so until she knew of his circumstances, Cressida would be polite but not overly so. She didn’t want to set his hopes up, and neither did she want to set her hopes up in case the attractive Oliver Barcroft wasn’t who Cressida supposed him to be.

“Expectation?” Oliver prompted, keen to spend a few more moments in her company. Moments that would allow him to study her divine features.

“Dances. The theatre. Taking the water. The concerts,” and pausing, Cressida gestured to the room they stood in. That evening, the Raven party were attending a concert, and the venue was the Lower Assembly Rooms. In four days, the party would return to the very spot to attend a fancy ball, but tonight the order of play was attending a recital of Handel.