3rd October 1814, All the Gaiety of a Ball

"She should maybe consider herself lucky to have escaped a marriage to such a fellow. That is most ungentlemanlike behaviour - I believe Emma wrote me of it, but I did not recollect the name, having no acquaintance with the family before this morning. Have you known the family for long?"

"Lemonade, punch, or some Champagne? Or something completely different?", he inquired with a slight smile, listing those things he had seen before.
"I think as I have become enlisted in this riding venture, I would rather not slay any members of the cavalry before Friday next."
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"Good evening again, Mylord."

Fanny curtsied, but with a coolness that made her mother glare at her. She had not forgotten the little plot at the beginning of the evening, and had prefered not to meet Lord Gwydyr again so soon afterwards. As always, mortification made her haugthy and rather too willing to sneer or lash out.

"My congratulations on your handling of Lord Alconbury."

"Lemonade, please." She said softly and smiled. "Or whichever is easiest to acquire with least need to wait in the line for it." She did not want to be the cause of Torrington's standing in line and would have quite easily forgone any drink if needed.

She chuckled:" After friday then? " She said teasingly.

++

"Thank you...I should not have hoped that it would go unnoticed by others." Willoughby answered with a friendlier yet rather formal tone. "What did you make of it?" It was a bold question, after which he fully intended to make a polite excuse of himself and head off to find Bella.

"Their papa did. But it did not help her much."

Fanny had not exactly reacted in a manner that secured her sympathies when she had come back to town, electing to hide her hurt and motification behind a rather waspish tongue.

"There she is - talking to Lord Gwydyr."

Under her breath she added:

"Probably another of her mama's little attempts."

"Shall we rescue Lord Gwydyr? Or are we likely to become entangled ourselves at the attempt?" He was quite prepared to walk Lady Isabella round the room while they waited, if she wanted him to - there could be no impropriety in that, not when it was in full view of everyone there.

"I will immediately inquire of your cousin a suitable candidate!", he promised, than turned all the commanding presence he had learned in the Peninsula to good use to catch the attention of the footman serving out lemonade. He came back shortly with a glass glistening with condensation on the outside and handed it to her.

"I feel I should perhaps wave it like some dragon's head nevertheless, but I fear it would spoil the contents. I was especially informed that it was made with fruits from mylady's own greenhouse."

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Being actually asked of her opinion - she had made the comment rather as a surprised platitude - brought Fanny up short for a moment, then she answered rather derisively:

"Lord Alconbury got off lighter than he could expect. He is said to be not a bad rider, and some of his friends are as well. They had time to prepare, too. So they have a fair chance, and should they loose, they can still claim that they as gentlemen do not need a trade, even if it is horse-riding."

"Most grateful to you." Catherine said as she accepted the glass. She drank from it, having felt quite thirsty before and only managed to keep her manners and decency and not just down the glass as men would their preferred spirit.

"I will ask my cousin who should be a good candidate though I doubt he would be willing to send any of his men to confront you. He thinks too fondly of you." She smiled and drank a little more. " He had said that he owes you a great deal.. though he did not explain what it was."

++

"They have equal amount of time..as we." Willoughby was aware that Alconbury could find many excuses as to why the competition in the end did not matter, but if others would see it, they perhaps would not take him seriously at all. "We will not loose." He added simply.

"I stand in little danger myself, Sir, so it becomes rather a question of whether there is any dignified manner of retreat you can plan", Isabella replied gaily.

"I shall beg a prior engagement, should it become necessary. Or wax poetic about the joys of Fallbrooke in winter, and the pleasure of the hunt." Vickery grinned down at Bella, the expression making him look quite boyish all of a sudden.

"Mostly a great deal of laughter. Ask him at times to tell you the story about his first day as an officer of the 15th and the little celebration we held. Or rather about the following morning. I still secure my ink well double tight for the night."

He huffed good-naturedly.

"He might think fondly of me, but apparently not too highly, if he thinks I will be that easily vanquished in my quest to slay Mylady a dragon."

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"I should hope so. But I guess unless you perform abominably, you will win by default. After all, there are more military inclined men here than others, and they cannot vote differently without attaching some stigma to themselves. And we ladies are supposed to swoon over uniforms anyway", Fanny rather cuttingly replied.

"Ink? His first day?" Catherine repeated. It was clear she hoped to learn more. "Please give me at least a few crumbs of information before I go to pester my cousin in hopes that he might be willing to disclose more!" She seemed ready to go to the dance floor when Torrington was as well.

She chuckled again at his huff and shook her head. "Oh no, he would not have wanted to loose a dragon, because he especially feels so highly of you and knows that it is a definite possibility!"

++

"You are neither supposed, nor required." Willoughby answered simply. Fanny's behavour easily gave him an excuse not to ask for a dance with her and he could choose to add salt to injury, if he would point that he has had a lovely time with Charlotte, then perhaps Sylvia as well. One of those would be partially lying, the other certainly telling the truth.

"Nor even expected, should your admiration lie instead in a different type of dress and livery." He smiled pleasantly, though the expression failed to reach his eyes. "We will hope for a fair trial. As failing to be such will have proved nothing."

"Wine, whiskers, woe ... or rather headache", Torrington supplied gleefully. "He also nearly lost his pelisse and got mistaken for a common soldier, was mistreated by my batman and discovered a treasure map."

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"I believe if you tell Lord Alconbury that I, or any other lady for that matter, might have taken your side, that is exactly what you will get to hear nevertheless", Fanny replied, not in the least put to blushes.

"So as judges, we are disqualified anyway."

"Oh you are so cruel, lord Torrington. You've spiked my curiosity and leave me  ignorant of the details!" She said playfully, as if scolding him for such insensitivity. "I will ask him, but may come to you, should he refuse to share more detail on this...confusing endevour. Why would he be mistaken for a common soldier at all? Did he dress up as one?" She shook her head.

"Why would I tell lord Alconbury whether you have taken my or his side? I gain nothing by it, and should it be that you have taken his, I would certainly loose face for being accused of lying." He countered. He glanced towards the ball room briefly and the people that were conversing but slowly moving again towards the centre.

"If you find fancy in him, you might speak ill of us and he will most certainly delight to confide more in you."

"It was a rather peculiar set of circumstances. You will probably find that of the three, no five people concerned, each has a different approach to this particular story."

Hearing the musicians making the usual noises in preparation of striking up a new tune, and the hostess call out for the next dance, he led Catherine onto the dance floor proper.

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"You need not tell him anything for this to be his opinion", Fanny replied sharply, frustration getting the better of her. Reigning in her temper with an effort, she tried for civility, forcefully reminding herself that for the sake of her sisters and herself, she needed a good match, as more hopeless as this was becoming each season, and that it would not do to antagonize the heir to the earl of Parham. Under the horrified gaze of her mother, she suggested with as calm and friendly a voice as she could muster:

"Forgive me, Mylord. I fear the heat in the room does not quite agree with me. I shall excuse myself to the withdrawing room. I believe the musicians are getting ready again, too."

Her mother all but gasped at Fanny. Her daughter was practically telling a Viscout to hurry off and find another partner!

"I will have to inquire further?" She knew that perhaps a good other source of information about the event would be captain Burlingame. He was a fellow officer in the Hussars and would most certainly have been present if not at the exact moment of the event taking place, then soon after. She reckoned that then there was Torrington who she could ask again, Willoughby and.." May I last, and I promise it will be so, inquire...who else had been there when this happened? Your serv...military ...what are they....batman? I think you've said."

++

"Should you feel of better disposition and health later, that is, after supper, and should you have a dance free..." He would not go for waltz, but another she might even get, and he could barely believe he was saying this, or thinking it. "I will ask whether you would dance it with me." It was not exactly the turn of events he had expected, but never the less it had been offered. If she was not going to answer now, her brother could serve as the messenger too, as he - Willoughby - could no longer wait there or else he might risk missing the next dance and he had to find the partner still too!

Fanny jerked out of her curtsy, startled.

"Yes ... certainly ... if you wish, Mylord."

Somewhat dazzedly, she held out her dancing card. Her mother, behind Willoughby's back, made frantic gestures not to show it and mouthed "walz", but Fanny did not see her, thoroughly confused by this rather unexpected development.

Bella grinned back, quite pleased with her current partner.

"Do not wax to poetical, or you will have make me want to see it on the spot! How far is it? Do you hunt there, or do you have a seperate hunting box?"

Willoughby took her dancing card carefully and studied the dances that were still free. There was the waltz and there was the minuette and one or two others. He should have gone from her when he had a chance and yet somehow he felt as if his kindness might better her chances in society. It would cost him nothing but crushed feet if she would prove herself a bad dancer, on the other hand she needed a lot of help, what with that feisty nature!

He was about to pick the minuette when he spotted another dance that was quite enjoyable and held the card for her to see: "Would this be acceptable to you?" His finger placed next to the dance called Sir Roger De Coverley.

While she was not unskilled, dancing was not Fanny's best accomplisment, and her tall and somewhat angular frame, rather unlike what men usually prefered, together with her somewhat stiff carriage made it difficult to appear to advantage in all but the stately old fashioned dances. She was therefore rather surprised at Willoughby's choice, but, giving up on trying to understand his motives, she nodded. Pulling up a last reserve of grace from somewhere, she replied:

"Certainly, Mylord. I will look forward to it."

"Very well. Sir Roger it is then." Willoughby signed his name next to the dance and held the card to her. "I will come find you." He promised then bowed his head lightly in a sort of farewell.

The next dance was near ready to begin and he did not want to have Bella experience a similar fate than Sylvia did, when she ended up then dancing with him. Of course he doubted that she was quite so distraught for having the luck change in that fashion, but he had no reason or want to miss Bella's dance himself.

With that and a polite adieu he turned and looked around at the crowd. Where could she be? He recalled which dance it was and knew that Bella had promised it to Vickery.

Now in search of a green clad man he scanned the crowd again. Where was he? Where were day?

"It seems your partner is looking for you, my lady," Vickery said, noticing the Hussar bow to the ladies and move away to scan the crowd.

Isabella smiled brightly and raised her hand to catch Willoughby's eye.

"So it seems, Major. Thank you for your escort and the enjoyable dance!"

Fanny meanwhile fled towards the withdrawing room - she needed to think this through, and her mother with her comments and her suggestions would be rather in the way for that.

Willoughby was about to make the wrong turn when he saw Bella wave towards him. His smile widened. There she was, and he was not late yet! He began towards them, his pace controlled not to appear ungentlemanly, but far from slow.

"There he is. I shall hand you over to Lord Gwdyr and wish you an enjoyable evening. Thank you for the dance," Vickery said. "My lord," he added, with a brief bow to Gwdyr.

((OOC - I shall bow out of this thread until Emma's dance with Torry comes up.))