3rd October 1814, All the Gaiety of a Ball

"The air is quite warm, but I think we've made it so with all the dancing and the number of people inside this room, just as the next." Willoughby answered almost exactly what he was asked, then relented. "It is a lovely, interesting really, .. a little overwhelming ...since the war. Quite different from Spain,..and a much greater abundance of ladies at a ball than in Spain.. some of them anyway. When the novelty of this will be lost, fresh air and open land will be direly needed."

He smiled faintly. "Of course, the novelty dwindling is not in any relation to the enjoyment of the company of your family, and of other friends...the want for the country will be caused by others."

"Edward says the same. If he wouldn't need new boots and coats and other things you just can't get anywhere else, and his friends were her at the moment, he would already be at Walham. I think he misses it!"

They broke apart for another figure.

"You know the Spanish ladies who are visiting, don't you?"

"He would be quite wise to do so. Well.. wise for one's personal comfort of course, not for the gladness of our parents, nor the ladies here during the Season." He smiled and then hesitated a moment at the question, concentrating more on the steps.

"Yes, I know two of them well enough, partially because one shall marry a good fellow officer of the 15th." He answered. "The other has done..oh..you would not believe, if I told you."

"Oh, will you tell me at supper?"

Bella danced around him, her skirts swishing against his legs.

"And would you introduce me? Who is marrying whom? The lovely brunette with the red fan the Captain she has been dancing the first dance with?"

"I certainly will. Well... I think they might be Portuguese.. Not too sure now.." He suddenly realised he might have made a mistake. He was not quite certain but Estefania who they had first seen in Portugal and thus it made more sense that she must have been from there. He had not asked about the other and found that he had allowed himself to make the assumption all himself.

"The one that is to marry is..." He nearly missed a step trying to remember her name. " Lady María Inés Manrique de Lara... I believe. She will marry Captain Burlingame of the 15th." He made another turn in synch with her then smiled. "And the other is Lady Andréa Estefania Lopes da Almeida. Please do not ask me to repeat this more times." He said, his eyes playful. "Or to introduce one of the Spaniards.. I've heard one has a particularly long name."

Bella tried to suppres a giggle.

"It is rather a mouthful, isn't it? But it rolls so beautifully. I hope she does not feel ... uncomfortable when she is only Mrs. Burlingame. Although at least it still has three syllables. I wonder what poor Mrs. Smith felt!"

"Quite the mouthful, I wonder what she will do. She might yet find a way in which to introduce herself to her people, even if ours will be more... strict in those matters." He smiled. "I do wonder if she picked him for having a longer one and not something short, as perhaps..hmm.. Brown. .or Gunn or. .yes Smith too, for example." He grinned." It would feel quite strange after her old name." He had come around, careful not to step or by accident tug at her dress. "..Also wonder if she will host any Spanish or Portuguese dances, once she is settled."

Bella returned his smile.

"That would be splendid! Although ... I don't know any Spanish dances, and I don't think Mr. Galliarti does, either. Are they very complicated?"

"I am sure they would teach us before we need to dance them or during it." Willoughby turned again. "They are different from what we dance here, but not completely so I would think. They do add a bit of their flare in many. And, you might have heard of castanetes earlier today? Those are used mostly by the Spanish and make a rather nice sound. They have quite the skill in wielding them. It's almost an instrument and I can assure you it is harder to make the right sound than it looks."

He paused for a moment and finally added. "But there are so many different dances.It depends already from which part of Spain you are and you will have your own local variation or a completely different dance!"

"So it is something like our country dances, and the Scottish reels?"

Bella waited until the couple currently dancing had passed between them, then continued:

"Do you know how to play these castanetes?"

"You could say that." Willoughby agreed. "I have tried, but ...I'd rather say I sounded quite slow. They make the fingers flow across the instrument to make it nearly like..." He curled his tongue and tried his best to mimic the sound. "While.. when I had attempted it.. .it did sound much more like .." He made several rather quiet clicks, his cheeks growing just a bit redder.

He knew he should not have done this all during a dance but Bella had asked! "You can try asking one of the Spanish ladies. Perhaps they have brought them with them and perhaps they know to play them too. Would you like a pair?" He added, his eyes alight with amusement.

Bella tried not quite successfully to supress a giggle.

"Oh that sounded very well."

She twirled around him again.

"Of course I would love to have a pair. Or at least to see and hear some. I love new things."

"Thank you." He was not perhaps particularly impressive, yet one could hardly be in clicking their tongue, but he enjoyed the little compliment never the less. He grinned, his face more radiant than before.

"Do you love all new things? The scientific advances as well, or are you more particular on the new things that come from abroad, distant lands and distant cultures?" He inquired curiously. The dance was slowly nearing the end, yet there was supper still to enjoy after.

Bella gnawed on her lower lip.

"All new things that I understand", she qualified. "I can hardly like something if I do not really know what it is, can't I? And perhaps not the new illnesses and other gruesome things they discover all the time."

She worried her lip some more, then added quickly:

"Although they are of course quite important as well! But I would not want to see the newest vaccacin. Unless I needed it, of course."

"Let us hope that none of those sort of things are needed or experienced, let us leave it at that, eh?" Willoughby smiled warmly and rather charmingly. "Just the good new things, like new instruments, new inventions that help us, even new drinks and new fabrics or horses. New horses are always a treat!" He chuckled sheepishly.

"Imagine having a zebra to ride or to drive a carriage with! Now that would be something!" He grinned mischievously.

"A zebra?"

Bella grinned and wrinkled her nose a bit.

"Wouldn't it be a bit small? But it would be very funny if you had two and people would try to watch them in front of your carriage."

"Well Ponies are small, and I think zebras are a little bigger? And they have stripes. I do think they would be quite popular on the street." Willoughby grinned. "Odd, unusual...different. I would love to have one, see if it can be ridden, oh it might be small, but it must have spirit!" He said enthusiastically.

The music had come to an end, which Willoughby thought was a pity, but since supper followed he could still look forward to that.

Bella frowned, trying to recall pictures of zebras, but while she had the impression that they always had been small, she could not say whether they were larger or smaller than a pony.

"Natural artists should really include something to measure the size of their subjects against", she decided, and curtsied to Willoughby.

"Thank you for this most enjoyable dance, Mylord. Will you accompany me to supper?"

"Gladly." Willoughby bowed then offered his arm to her with an elegant motion. He smiled. "I believe that it would be a rather peculiar painting, one that would have a tool of measurement in it...and it would tell which painters have drawn the animals from seeing them, and which have read about them only." He looked rather excited about owning a zebra, yet it was true he would have not minded owning exotic animals either if he knew what to feed them.

"Is there a particular place you wished to be seated at?" He asked.

"I would like to continue the conversation with your cousins, if they are agreeable, and I promised Charlotte I would save her a place ... If that is alright with you?"

She looked around to see whether any of her friends was already there.

"Then my cousins it will be." He smiled. "And I do not mind should Charlotte join us. She is a pleasant girl and nice company." He saw Anne and Catherine together with probably the dance partners they had been with last and looked around to see if he could spot Charlotte as well as they would probably need to invite her to them before they took residence at a table.

Anne in polite conversation with one, and Catherine more animated in whatever the discussion was, with the other.

Bella shared a smile with her brother, who was in conversation with Catherine, and with the two girls, and waited to be introduced to Anne's dancing partner.

She was rather glad that Willoughby liked Charlotte, as she was one of her closest friends and it would be rather unpleasant if she would have to choose between her and Willoughby's company.

Anne smiled and greeted Willoughby and Bella as they approached and introduced her dancing partner as a distant relative of her father's family. The man bowed politely and greeted the new arrivals. Willoughby turned briefly towards Bella. "Would you like me to bring Miss Charlotte and her dance partner here?" He inquired. Catherine smiled at Bella, apparently having quite enjoyed the dance.

"If Lady Catherine and Lady Anna would not mind?", Bella politely deferred to the two other girls.

"No, not at all. " Anne smiled and Catherine nodded in agreement. "She is welcome, of course." She said politely. They had nothing against Charlotte being brought to the group and seeing their cousin suggest it, they knew it was wanted. It was this that would probably have made them agree even if they had not particularly cared for the girl and they might only have protested if she was indeed so terrible of a company or rather if they had had feud amongst themselves.

Willoughby bowed and excused himself from the ladies, promising Lady Isabella that he would return quickly, and sparing a warning glare at his cousins who seemed to hide chuckles behind their fans, Anne particularly.

With those last words he turned and walked towards Miss Charlotte to inquire whether she would like - and her partner - to join them at the table.