Page 56 of A Marquess to Save Her
"Is that so?" Callum asked, raising his eyebrow curiously, "Now, I wish to know what you have planned for me."
Louise shrugged. "I suppose you would not know until you failed."
"Now, I am tempted to fail the sculpting class intentionally so I can know what you have planned," he said.
Louise huffed. "Such a pompous man," she muttered under her breath.
"And what shall be your punishment when I get the sculpting right on the first try?" Callum asked.
"What? This is about you, not me," Louise countered.
"If I am able to sculpt perfectly on the first try, I would do whatever I want to you," he said.
Louise's shivered feverishly at his words.
"What do you mean?" She asked.
"Of course, it would not be anything you would not want. You can be certain of that," he said, his eyes trained on her upper bosom.
"I would appreciate it if you paid attention, my lady," the sculptor said, visibly miffed at their murmurs.
"Certainly," Louise said, embarrassed at being caught whispering.
"Now that I have the armature which is the skeleton of a sculpture, all that is left for me to do is fill it out with a filler. Imagine adding muscles to a skeleton," the sculptor continued, "it is important that the filler be made out of lightweight materials. For today, we would be using paper."
With that, he began to fill out the armature with the paper. It was beginning to form the shape of a cup. "Now that our armature and filler are in place, do you know what is next?" The sculptor asked.
"Sculpting it out with clay," Louise said excitedly.
The sculptor smiled. "You are right, My Lady. It is better to start with larger sections in order to have a solid foundation for the other parts of the sculpture." With his hands, the sculptor began to add clay to the base area of the cup, and then slowly began to spread it out to the other parts of the cup he was sculpting. "What is left to do now is to sculpt out the finer details. For this, you would need a brush," he said.
Louise could see the cup begin to take form.
"This is lovely," she said.
"Now, all I have to do is wait for it to dry out with air," he said, "now, let me see if you can still remember the steps."
Louise got to work, making a skeleton out of sticks, filling it out with paper, and then sculpting it out with clay. When she stole a glance at Callum to see how he was doing, he was bent over his sculpture, working hard at it. This was quite surprising to Louise especially since she never thought that he would take the class seriously.
By the end of it, Louise had a small figurine whose arms kept falling off. Callum, on the other hand, had a little vase that looked quite sturdy. The sculptor had a passive look on his face when he inspected hers and he murmured something about beginners. However, when he inspected Callum's vase, he seemed quite impressed.
"You certainly have talent, my lord," he said, "this is beautiful."
Callum winked at Louise tauntingly and she frowned. She could not help but wonder what she had done wrong during the course of the sculpting.
"The only thing you have to do is wait for the sculpture to dry up and then paint it," the sculptor said, as he touched the cup that he had just sculpted, "this cup right here has dried up quite nice, therefore, I will use it as an example for you."
He mixed the paints and began to paint the cup in an earthy brown color. Soon enough, the cup was gleaming, having taken on a beautiful color. "Now, you both have to beautify your sculptures by painting them," the sculptor said, "you can use…"
Crack!
The sound of thunder rang across the atmosphere and Louise looked up instinctively. The sky was beginning to darken with clouds and Louise could tell that it was only a matter of time before the rain began to fall.
"I suppose you will have to do the painting without me. I have to head back before I get trapped by the rain," the sculptor said, "I am certain you can manage the painting on your own."
Louise nodded. "Certainly, Mr. Leather."
With that, the sculptor carried his bag, preparing to leave. He picked up the cup he had just sculptured up and held it out to Louise. "I suppose you would want to have this," he said.
