30th May, evening in camp

Jenny sniffed the aroma that was wafting into the tent from Christian's fire outside. He was cooking something that smelled enticing and she was suddenly ravenous. She was rather looking forward to a quiet dinner with the batman. Woodmarsh would be dining with the captain and she would not have to endure his company until he returned, perhaps intoxicated and ready to drop.

"Will you take a bottle or two for the table?" Jenny asked. "Christian and I went shopping today. I have a talent for finding the best wines and spirits."

Woodmarsh approached her, giving his cravat a final tug.

"Yes, I shall take a bottle. Lord knows what sort of swill Blackwood will have to drink. I would much rather have the wine you have chosen." He smiled and gave her a knowing wink, "You do have a talent for many things, Jenny dear."

He paused for a moment, then added, "And that is why I wish you to accompany me to dinner tonight. I'm sure Captain Blackwood will be delighted to see you."

Not to mention jealous, he added to himself, imagining Blackwood's reaction when he saw what lovely company Woodmarsh was keeping. For the past two days he had been itching to show Jenny off to someone, and now he had the perfect opportunity to do so.

Her glowing smile faded somewhat. "You want me to come with you? To dine with the officers?"

"Yes, of course." The fact that she did not sound pleased escaped Woodmarsh, but he did notice that she was not jumping for joy either. "Don't you want to join the officers for dinner? I would have thought you would be thrilled to do so."

She smiled again. "Well of course. I just wasn't expecting it." She looked down at her blue dress. It was completely plain and inappropriate for anything more genteel than walking in the mud. "But I don't have a thing to wear, darling. Not a thing."

"Hmm." Woodmarsh looked her over. True she was not dressed impeccably, but she was still a vision nonetheless. Well, in his eyes, at any rate. If the other officers had a problem with her, he would be more than willing to take it up with them.

"Don't fret over such a trifle, love. You look wonderful just as you are. I will be proud to escort you no matter what you are wearing."

She let escape a sigh of exasperation. Trust a man like Woodmarsh to know nothing about such things. But she covered it with a smile. "I just don't want to disappoint you." She turned and began searching among her own things. "I have a bonnet with a ribbon I sewed onto it. I could unpick that and dress my hair again..." If there was time. Stupid man! Did he think a woman could get ready for an officer's dinner at the drop of a hat?

"You won't disappoint me." Of course not. He would be the envy of every man there with her at his side. Woodmarsh smiled, mostly at his own good fortune, but also to encourage her. "Do whatever you need to do, Jenny. We have some time." He did not care if they arrived for dinner exactly on time. As long as there was a decent amount of wine left, being fashionably late would make little difference to him.

With grumbling thoughts, she smiled and sat down to her work once she had finally found her tiny scissors. "Will there be other women there? Officers' wives and such?"

"I should imagine so," Woodmarsh replied absently, brushing some errant dust off his coat, not concerned with whether there would be any other women with whom Jenny could socialise. All he cared about was showing her off. "I'm sure you will not lack for company, at any rate."

As if she wanted more female company. Any other women present would be the wives or daughters of officers, and thus would be properly attired for respectable ladies. "Gareth, darling, are you sure it's a good idea? I wouldn't want it to reflect badly on you that I'm dressed so shabbily. Perhaps next time, when I've managed to find myself something new to wear..."

"Nonsense. I know you will outshine any other ladies, regardless of your attire. And I doubt any of the other officers would choose to think ill of me because of you. On the contrary, I think they will be positively green with envy that they do not have such a fine lady to accompany them."

She sighed. It seemed there was nothing for it but to go dressed as she was. "Very well, darling. Just give me a moment and I'll be ready." She positioned herself in front of his little hanging mirror and began addressing her hair. She knew they did not really have the time she would need to pull it apart, brush it out and put it all back together again. As quickly as she could, she wove the ribbon in and out of her golden waves at the sides and wrapped it around the knot at the back, tucking in all the stray locks that had escaped over the long day of riding. For the first time in several years, she suddenly wished she had some earrings.

Woodmarsh stood by as she adjusted her hair, making sure he himself looked impeccable. It was alright for Jenny to be dressed conservatively, but it would be downright abominable if he looked anything less than perfect. He was not about to let any of those high-ranking fools show him up when it came to attire.

From where he sat at the fire outside the tent, Christian could catch snatches of the conversation. Enough to know that Woodmarsh was dragging Jenny to some officer's dinner. He couldn't help feeling a surge of resentment towards his officer on her behalf. He had seen what officer's ladies could be like. Woodmarsh would be throwing Jenny to the wolves.

Struck by a sudden idea, Christian pulled off his coat and began picking apart one of the seams with his bayonet point. A small hole was all that was needed and the items in question slid out of their hiding place. Sheathing his bayonet and shrugging on his coat, he checked the pot one last time and approached the tent flap, "Excuse me, sir. May I enter?"

"Yes, yes. Fine."

Woodmarsh was much too engrossed in his own primping to pay much attention to his batman.

"Ah, Je--Miss Ross," he stammered, feeling suddenly awkward, "I found these outside the tent. I think you may have dropped them?" He held out his hand, revealing a pair of earings.

His face felt hot. This was stupid. As if she would care about a silly trinket, an illegal one at that. Not to mention, the mess this could turn into if Woodmarsh figured out that his batman was giving gifts to his mistress.

Jenny's wide blue eyes grew enormous, and her mouth gaped in a smile of surprise. Then she rushed to snatch them from his hand, laughing with delight. "Earrings!" It was as if the batman had been reading her thoughts. She beamed at him and spontaneously kissed him on the cheek. Then, not to let the master be outdone by the servant, she moved to Gareth's side and kissed him too. "Look, darling, he found my earrings. I thought they were lost!"

Heaven knew where the man had found or stolen such things. They were simple little baubles, pinchbeck hoops fronted with wheat sheaves, and she was dazzled by them. She moved to the mirror and held them up to her ears. They suited her golden hair perfectly. But only then did her smile waver. She had never worn earrings before. Her ears had not been pierced.

"Oh Gareth, your cravat is crooked. I think you'd better do it again. I'm just stepping outside, just for a moment. Will you show me where you found them, Christian?" And she grabbed the batman by the arm to pull him outside the tent.

"Jenny, what's wrong?" he asked, once they were outside. They had moved away from the tent, but he still kept his voice low.

"Thank you, darling, darling Mike!" she said hurriedly, looking over her shoulder to make sure Woodmarsh was not watching. "These are the dearest earrings ever, and you're an angel, but now you must help me put them on because I've never done it before." She gave him a look of anxious hope mixed with trepidation.

Oh. Was that all? Christian wasn't sure why the idea upset Jenny so much — in his limited experience with female accessories, he had always understood earings to be fairly straightforward adornments — but he tried to smile encouragingly, "Of course."

Taking one of the earings from her, he leaned forward; however it took a moment of bewildered squinting before he realized what the problem truly was. Oh. If there had been a suitably large rock nearby, he would have crawled under it. "Jenny, I'm sorry! I didn't -- I should've--" What? Not assumed that women came naturally equipped for such things? Yes, that might have helped. "I thought -- Sorry," he finished lamely.

She laughed. "Don't be sorry. I've always wanted to have earrings. You have no idea! Just - stick them in!" She tilted an ear toward him, closing her eyes in anticipation.

"Stick them -- "Christian broke off; in his surprise he had forgotten to moderate his volume. "Stick them in?" he hissed, "They're your ears, for Christ's sake, not bloody pin cushions!"

"Well they're about to become bloody pin cushions, so stick them in!" But she paused and took one of the earrings from him, testing the point of its wire against her finger. "It's not very sharp. Maybe you'd better use a needle first. Make a hole and then stick them in. Or a pin - here's a pin."

“But....” He looked at her pleadingly, but she was, it seemed, determined. “Ah, hell,” he grumbled, taking the pin from her. He had begun to wish he’d never picked up the damned things in the first place. This was completely mad.

He peered at the pin. It was finer than any of his needles, at any rate. Not by much, but he supposed every little bit counted in such cases. He curled his hand around it. “Best sit down.”