3rd October 1814, All the Gaiety of a Ball

"Oh no, I looked behind all of them and never suffered any vapours. We do not have any assassins or mysterious aunts either."

Bella pouted prettily.

"And Papa simply refuses to be villanous and shout and threaten to marry me off to some horrible friend. Probably mostly because all his friends are perfectly nice gentlemen and know me since I was born. You see, we completely rely on visitors for our entertainment. Perhaps you could come and try to murder Torrington over some treasure you found in Spain?"

She suggested it with such a disarming smile that it was indeed quite impossible to take the suggestion seriously.

"Oh, it is such a crush!", the young girl happily exclaimed. "I will have to tell all my friends about it! And I didn't ahve to sit down even once sofar!"

Remembering her little ploy, she added:

"Thank you so much again for rescuing me! It would have been horrid to have been stood up!"

"You need not thank me. It would have been cruel of me and unforgivable.. of course." Willoughby answered as they rejoined hands again. He had not sat down either, though surprisingly two out of three dances he had so far had, were with the Bromwell's. Something he had not expected, when he entered the hall.

He knew one dance would certainly even the score, for he would dance it with Bella. As for the rest. He was not quite sure who else he might share the dance floor with and only hoped that he remembered the dances as they would come.

"Your partner should get a fine scolding for being late." He added lightly then smiled. "But I am glad to hear that others have been as should be."

"Well, we will try to keep the number of spectators to a reasonable level."

Torrington twirled her, then handed her back to her place.

"And despite what you might have heard, I don't think they would have come to blows. Regardless of Lord Alconbury's low opinion, hussars are rather trained to think before they explode into action."

At least he hoped they were - and would have had the sense to take this to another place before it came to a real challenge.

--------

Sylvia beamed at him.

"Oh, I will never dance with him again. And never talk to him!"

Which in this case would be quite easy.

"And you really are not cruel, but a perfect gentleman! That horrid Alconbury should never have said those things!"

"They must be." Though she did hear opinions clash on the matter. "But..what did he say that angered everybody so? I was too far to hear of it and none explained much of it." She followed through the steps again and smiled.

++

It made Willoughby smile. He had liked his words, even if they may have been spoken with just the intent of pleasing him. "Yes, but we needn't fret about it" He said, confidence showing in his movements, his posture and his tone. "We will certainly show that he was wrong, and after that, his words will be meaningless for whoever will have been present, and whoever will have heard of it, will know the truth from his mean spirited words."

"He made some quite disparraging remarks about soldiers in general and the disciplin of hussars in particular, I gather." Torrington shook his head. "Don't concern yourself with it. He has had the rule of the roost such a long time, of course he is dismayed that the other roosters come home. It was neither the first nor the last of these confrontations, but it will blow over eventually."


----------------

"Oh, I'm sure, Mylord, that everybody of intelligence will already disregard them as untrue."

Sylvia batted her carefully curled eyelashes.

"But it will be such fun to see you ride! I shall come and watch you particularily."

"Well, as your brother is one of my particular friends, I should be very reluctant to try to kill him." Vickery clasped Bella's hands as required for the next figure of the dance.

"I daresay we could arrange for some fencing practice, which you could pretend was a duel, though?" he suggested, a merry gleam in his grey eyes.

"It is true. He had been quite pleased that so few men were his competition in the years you were away. Of course, he never did say it, but he enjoyed the attention." Rose smiled and turned again for the figure that followed. "I am glad that you have returned though, safe and sound. We have been worried over you. Though we did not know exactly what was going on but for the letters received and those were not as frequent. I believe that some must have been lost as well. Lady Jane said she had gotten a letter that referred to several others, but she had received none of those."

++

Willoughby smiled, he did feel flattered by Miss Sylvia though he felt quite awkward at her proclamation.

"It will hopefully be a wonderful performance. Though I would say for the finest performer you will perhaps need to look at some other man of our group. I would not wish to steal the enjoyment of a much better show that you would miss instead!"

"Oh, that would be fun! Would you? I have never seen men fence properly - only my brothers when they were little and weaved sticks around."

Bella twirled through the last figure and ended a little breathless, but in high spirits in a curtsy.

"I was never in much danger. Unfortunately, even with his Grace's talent for oganization, the postal service in the Peninsula was rather bad compared to what we are used to here. Though the mail packet from Lisbon seems to have run fairly steadily despite the French ships in the area."

The last chord sounded and Torrington bowed to his partner.

"A deligtful dance, Lady Rose. Thank you."

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"Oh, if you say so, I will look at all riders, of course, but I am sure nobody will compare! There are some who aren't even cavalry officers, aren't they?"

Sylvia chattered on, trying to prolong their conversation a bit more. She was also quite interested to hear about the other competitors - nobody had really told her who was going to ride, and she suspected the knowledge might be valuable gossip material.

"And to you, Lord...Major Torrington. I have enjoyed it immensely." Rose curtsied. She was happy with the dance which she had certainly enjoyed and the company that she had been with during it. "Some post is better than none." She smiled but did not continue, because the ball was not a place to speak of somber reasons why the post could not arrive.

++

"No, not all are in the cavalry." Willoughby answered as the dance was over bowing lightly to miss Sylvia. "We have representatives from different branches of the military and some from different branches of the cavalry too." He offered her elbow to Sylvia to take her from the dance floor.

"Do you wish me to take you to your family, friends or your next dance partner?" He offered, though he hoped it would not be long as he was near certain he knew which dance was next.

"Agreed."

Torrington led her back to where they had stood before, since the nearby terrace windows provided a bit of breath for the stiffling air in the ballroom.

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"To my mother, please!", Sylvia begged, all too willing to show off her dance partner and hoping that he would stay a bit longer with them to converse. As she was not completely unkind, he even hoped that he would ask Fanny for the next dance - or any dance really. If he didn't, Fanny would be terrible to live with for a week at last.

Mrs. Bromwell was already broadly beaming, seated on a chair conveniently near the door the footmen were appearing through with their trays of refreshments.

Rose would have liked to stay with the Lord for longer, but decided that it was sensible not to overstay her welcome and rather than disappointment think positively of the dance she had shared. Taking some fresh air herself though, she knew she would soon take the hand of another for the next dance.

++

Willoughby dutifully took Sylvia to his family choosing a rather exact path to it. He smiled politely to Slyvia's mother and presented her daughter back into her keeping. He knew he had condemned himself to dance with all the Bromwell's. For it would be most unkind should he not inquire, when seeing the eldest of the Bromwell's. He did mildly scold himself. He should have acted as some of the other men, who pretended ignorance of the situation only so that they could escape it. Many had been quite arogant in their endevours, some had done solely what was for their entertainment and if it did not please him, they would find a way not to do it.

"Good evening." He said pleasantly.

As he had already promised this dance to Lady Cathrine, Torrington excused himself to find her in the crowd. Politely greeting his aquintances, he wound his way through various groups towards the stairs, hoping to either meet her or see her from there.

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"Oh, good evening, Mylord! I'm so glad to see you to thank you for your rescue of my son!"

Mrs. Bromwell beamed enough to heat the whole room.

Catherine had after her last dance returned to the table with refreshments seeking out something to drink for she had become quite thirsty. She caught some of her breath there as well, and hoped that it would be as good a place to be found as any and better than standing in the crowds that were stationed elsewhere.

++

"No need to thank me, Mrs. Bromwell. I have hardly done much." He smiled politely again. He had to find Bella soon. He would excuse himself promptly. "I am glad to hear that he is well." He did not add about the horse however, respecting Mrs Bromwell but as well not wishing to cast a bad light on her son in their conversation.

"We shall have to see what can be done for you, my lady," Vickery said, offering Isabella his arm as the floor began to clear. "Shall you like me to take you back to your chaperone, or do you have a partner for the next dance to whom I may escort you?"

"Lord Gwydyr, if you please, Major."

Then she recollected with whom she had seen her next partner dance and tried not to pull a grimace. It would be really ill done to lead Vickery into what might become a somewhat sticky conversation without giving him an out.

"That is, if your own next partner is not too far away from where Mrs. Bromwell is seated - other wise I believe my mother is rather at the other end of the room."

And not quite by chance.

It took a bit of searching until Torrington spotted the blue flowers Catherine had braided into her hair. As quickly as dignity and the crowd allowed, he made his way to her side.

"Lady Catherine. May I be bold enough to hope that you still wish to dance with me? Or would you prefer that I slay a minor dragon first and procure you something to drink?"

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"Oh, my mustard plaster has done wonders for him! Barely a cough! He has such spirits! Wouldn't hear of staying at home and resting tonight! He said it would not be fair to his sisters, and quite right he is! He has such friends! And of course I feel much easier if he is here to keep an eye on Fanny and Sylvia; they have so many admirers. But of course some are not quite as they ought to be, and even if a girl has as much sense in her head as my Fanny, it is better to have a brother nearby to fend off some of the pennieless no-goods. If only all the people who want her attention were such gentlemen as you are, Mylord!"

Unfortunately Fanny had been drawn into a conversation a few feet away, and missed her cue, but Mrs. Bromwell compensated by smiling cloyingly and (after reassuring her that Fanny was talking to nobody of importance) pulling her daughter quite firmly by the ellbow until she turned.

"Mrs Bromwell? Heaven preserve us - she had me rather by the tail a while ago and I could not get away without dancing with Miss Sylvia. Still, if that is where your next partner is to be found, let it not be said I abandoned a lady." He smiled at her and led her across the room to where Willoughby was.

Lady Catherine turned and smiled curtsying to Torrington upon his approach. "You would slay a Light Dragoon for me, perhaps a Hussar instead of a Heavy one?" She asked playfully then with a chuckle shook her head. "No need to slay any dragons. Though, if it would not be an inconvenience at all for you, I would  quite like a small glass before we take to the dance floor." She smiled again. "My mind had not changed, Lord Torrington, of course."

++

"As does miss Charlotte." Willoughby found himself saying. He had noticed that the mother had omitted mentioning her at all and felt as if there was a small slight towards the poor girl that he had actually quite enjoyed the company off. He chose to speak in her name, to show that she too was being an interest to the men and quite worthy of it too.

He had half a mind to excuse himself and look for Bella just then. He understood the concern of the mother that her daughters would not find a suitor that could fend for them well, but he quite doubted that either Fanny or Sylvia would settle for the sort that the mother so feared.

"Good evening." He said having his hopes for a quick departure dashed by the tug and turn of the last of the Bromwell's. Society's politeness sometimes quite hindered a man! At that moment his back was still turned to the dancefloor and he had not yet noticed the approach of Major Vickery and Lady Isabella.

"She can be a bit ... direct", Bella agreed. "But she does not mean any harm. Not any real harm anyway. And Sylvia is not so bad either, if you get to know her better. Have you met Charlotte yet? She's quite the nicest girl and a particular friend of mine."

She smiled up at Vickery and whispered:

"If Mrs. Bromwell becomes a bit too much, you can always do what my brother does and start to talk about the beauties of the country and how you long to be there and such. She hates the country with a passion, since she was stuck in Crosswell for their mourning."

"I have met Miss Charlotte, and would have asked her to dance, except her mother sent her on an errand across a crowded ballroom which meant I had to ask Miss Sylvia instead." He returned her smile.

"I suppose Miss Sylvia is influenced by her mother, then? That is not always a good thing - although I never told you anything so shocking." He dared not actually wink at her - that would be far too vulgar, of course - but there was definitely a teasing look in his eyes.

Bella wrinkled her nose and allowed a rather impish grin to steal over her features.

"I will not tell anybody."

She considered Vickery's words a moment longer, then shrugged, tilting her head.

"She is a bit, I suppose ... But I guess also by what happend to Fanny."

She looked up to Vickery uncertainly.

"I don't know whether you have heard the story? It was some four years back."

"No, I hadn't. What was the occurrence?" He asked the question with a slightly arched eyebrow, inviting her to share her gossip - even if it was four-year-old gossip by now.

"Oh, it was Fanny ... she was all but betrothed to Lord Spencer, but it wasn't official yet. And then her papa died so suddenly, and of course they had to go into mourning, and there could be no betrothal then. And while she was away, Lord Spencer went and married his cousin - of course the daughter of a duke is a much better prospect, but ... he should at least have told poor Fanny in person."

Bella all but stomped her slippered feet, obviously quite angry at this behaviour, even if it concerned a girl she would not immediately count among her friends.

"So I guess they learned not to let things slack, but rather press forward."