David was standing at the bottom of the stairs looking up towards the first floor of the house. Of course Chloë had had to sneak out whilst he was away and get home late. A smile was curled up in the corner of his mouth, though he knew that he should have told her something. That would have been the appropriate thing to do - to teach her. However, seeing the smile on her lips as she walked in, rather soaked from the rain that had caught Bea's clothes as well, he could do nothing but to love her. Oh yes, she was so very eccentric, like him, and how could he possibly do or say anything to make her change that? He sighed at the thought of Christopher. How could his brother want to change the girl into something she wasn't and never would be?

David looked at his pocket watch, examining the time. The guests were not due for another fifteen minutes, so really, he ought to calm down. And when thinking about it, why was he getting all stirred up to begin with? It wasn't as if it was the heavy end of the Ton he was introducing Chloë to this very night.

He shook his head, standing there in the entrance hall at the bottom of the stairs listening to the sounds coming from the rooms on the upper floor. She was scurrying about, he could tell. Why the haste?

As the first knock on the door was heard, however, his thoughts turned completely off for just a second. He quickly got them back on though, as the surprise of the door knock had settled. The maid came scurrying as well, but he told her off with the gentle wave of a hand, asking her to instead tend to the kitchen, stating with a smile that he did in fact know how to open the door. .... Which he did.

[ooc: du-du-du-duuuh!]

It wasn't long after expected that Anne Bromley was climbing the steps to Yorkshire House. She had set off to be at the party on time, not wanting to cause any fuss with her arrival. If she was already there when other guests arrive then she was free from the usual hubbub of being presented.

She was dressed in a dark navy cloak over an ice blue silken gown. It clung to her figure perfectly and was square cut along her bosom. She wore pearls at her neck and white elbow length gloves. In short, she looked an absolute picture and in quite stark contrast from her usual suits and clay covered aprons.

The Viscountess paused at the top of the stairs and looked up at the large door. He'd had a fine knocker installed since she'd last been by and it made the whole townhouse look completely regal, she decided. A smile found her lips and her lady's maid swooped around her and knocked on the door.

Anne wasn't at all surprised to see David answering his own door. It was one of the man's idiosyncrasies and one she admired. Just because they were all born with silver spoons in their mouthes did not mean they hadn't the muscle in their arms to pull a door open.

"Good evening, my Lord" Anne beamed and cast opulent blue eyes upon her dear friend.

"Good evening, Viscountess," David said and opened the door open wide so they could enter. He was dressed in quite the suit, one might even say he was looking more handsome and tidy than usual. Of course, the black clothes had not been chosen by him, but in fact by the new young lady of the house, so naturally she had brought some style to his appearance as well. However, knowing that young Chloë loved it made him feel more at ease. Also, the odor from the kitchen, which was that of a dinner wellprepared and just about done, convinced him that his clothes would not be the most interesting subject of the evening, "how lovely you could make it on such short notice. Please come in."

On his words, as Anne Bromley entered the house, a maid emerged from the kitchen offering to take whatever Anne might need to be freed from.

"And must I add that you do look wonderful tonight, dear Viscountess. No Beatrice, though?" he continued with a small laugh, clearly amused by this, "well, I am sure she will make a wonderful entrance later on."

His eyes beamed as they met Anne's. Surely she knew how very fond of Beatrice's peculiarities he was.

From the upper level, the sound of Chloë scurrying about in her room was audible every now and then.

"My dear David. I should be more concerned if Beatrice had arrived before the other guests. I don' t think I've ever known her to be on time." The Viscountess smiled and unlinked the clasp at her throat, letting the cloak slid from her shoulders and in to the hands of the servant. Lucy, having seen her mistress safely in to the house, left for the carriage.

Anne touched a hand to her blond curls and patted the back ones gently. David did indeed look wonderfully handsome in his suit and she could tell it would have taken a lady's eye to get just right.

Anne's eyes swiveled around the entrance way and not having spotted the guest she smiled "I wonder if before I meet your darling charge, if I could possibly see your latest works. You've had me very interested in your past letters."

"Ah, the painting," said David and seemed to have almost forgotten he ever mentioned it in the latter letters he had exchanged with Anne, "yes. I would be most delighted to have your opinion on this matter, to be quite honest. This way, please."

He started off into the living room where the dinner table had been set to perfection, decorated with Spring flowers and otherwise the red roses Beatrice had requested. Candles were lit here and there, adding to the peaceful and somewhat almost romantic atmosphere of the room. Chloë had had her say in this as well and he must admit, he was quite surprised as to how charming a room that huge could become. In his mind, the smaller the warmer. Today, however, he had been proven wrong.

He led her past two paintings of his own, which decorated the wall on one side. The other had this very day received a new decoration, a painting with a bleak, wistful touch to it - a present.

As they reached the doors that led into his atelier, he smiled at her. He then opened the door and invited her to enter first. David then followed and once he had placed her at the exact spot fit for the viewing of the painting, he grasped the down-worn, obviously ageing and overused, cloth covering the painting, whilst turning his attention to Anne,

"I tell you, they thought me mentally challenged as I asked for a canvas this size," he said with a smile and a spark in his eyes, clearly loving the scene that took place once he asked for it. He then pulled off the cloth, revealing the painting underneath.

It was without a doubt Hyde Park, he had painted in the background. The colours were that of a summer's day, green and lively and the sun glistening in the Serpentine in the background. Still, the old woman on the bench was of another mood. She was dressed in black, obviously older than the both of them together, and had a genuine touch of deep sorrow written across her face. The lines of the painting were laid with an almost too perfect brush.

He stood back, watching. His eyes had a slight eager to them, clearly he was interested in knowing what she thought, but it was overruled by the professionalism that knew these things took time.

To say Anne was taken aback was an understatement. The Viscountess brought her smooth gloved finger tips to her mouth where they acted as a stitch to hold a gasp in her mouth. Hyde Park took on an eerie likeness with the creative spark that David usually gave to his art. But this piece was by far one of David's finest masterpieces.

Anne stepped forward and extended one delicate hand to the immortalized woman's face. She had such a look of sadness in her eyes and David had captured a mourning lost soul perfectly. From the lines caressing her skin and the wisps of great hair... it was beautiful.

Anne's silken hand did not touch the canvas but instead it hovered, almost tracing the curve of the woman's cheek.

"David... this is the most beautiful piece I think I have ever seen in all of my years."

A slight blush turns up on both of David's cheeks. He never were good with compliments, and especially not on a subject such as this and coming from Anne. He admired her for her sense of art, which meant that had this come from someone else, he might have let the remark pass as one of those things said because the viewer has to say something. Still, the viscountess looked sincere - he knew she was - which made all the difference in the world.

"Oh, Anne," he said with in a slightly joking manner as if to relieve the room of both their reactions, hoping the small blush in his face would fade away with them, "surely someone as artistically enlightened as you must have seen something more worthy of an opinion such as that."

He turns slightly on the spot, ultimately ending up next to her, from where he looks at the painting himself - sometimes he lets his eyes recede from the painting, though, eyeing out Anne's expressions.

"I must admit that I think it one of my better pieces, though" he said with the all too familiar humbleness of David Boyd, "from your expression, I imagine you do too."

A small smile found its way to the corner of his mouth as he led a hand through his hair, before he let it settle in the back of his head, which he scratched with a thoughtful look in his eyes.

"I am in quite the imposition seeing as I do not know what to do with it," he continued and surveyed it almost as if he hoped the answer would spring out of the painting itself, "seeing as I haven't the place for it at the given moment. I was suggested to let the Royal Academy of Arts have a look at it, but truth be told, I am not much for it to hang there. You know I prefer the halls of my own house. But, Anne. You think it acceptable then? Have I received the grace of the Viscountess?"

He smiled once again at the last remark. With his warm, humourous voice he made it sound as if only her opinion could determine whether or not he would throw it to the garbage.

Anne beamed and clasped her hands tightly together making a small clapping noise between the hushed fabric of her gloves.

"Oh yes David! I shall see the Academy about this at once. You must have it presented formally at the show this season. It really is one of the most remarkable pieces and I can guarantee you will have admirers fighting to display it above their mantles." Anne smiled sheepishly. "And I shall make sure I am most suited in my fighting attire that day."

Anne's eyes moved back to the painting once more before turning upon David.

"I do hope I have not arrived early. Or is it that I have arrived completely on time and everyone else is merely looking to make their entrance?"

David smiled once again.

"I am most certain you will, Anne," he answered, referring to her fighting attire and looked at the painting one last time before she asked her question, at which he once again clothed the piece before turning his attention towards her.

"I have stated that the dinner is due at half past six, though people are more than welcome to arrive earlier, if the need for socializing is pressing. Hopefully, however, they will arrive soon, seeing as their postponed arrival threatens the remarkableness of Beatrice's entrance. And - seeing as guests most likely will be arriving soon, we'd better leave this room. It is far from everybody who is allowed here, after all."

He laughed and pointed a hand towards the living room, silently asking if she would like to join him there.

"But do tell me, Anne, what your takes up your creativity and time these days. Surely, there must be a project of some sort?"

Anne was lead easily back to David's sitting room, the hems of her gown dragging just slightly behind her along the floor. She waited until David motioned for her to sit before sinking eloquently into one of the single chairs.

"I am actually very excited about my latest project. But as you will know I have aimed to keep it quite a secret until it is either announced or rumored. But I can you it is to be featured at the Royal Academy with my exhibition and it will be on the most beautiful piece of marble that anyone in the Ton has most likely ever set eyes on." Anne was beaming. Her lips spread to allow the white ivory of her teeth to show behind.