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Chapter 2
Outside of the ball, Percy Wentworth was struggling to do up the cuffs of his shirt. At the last minute before leaving his estate, he had discovered that the shirt he had intended to wear was too small, and that left him with only his back-up dress shirt.
When he put it on, he had forgotten that he had not asked the family’s seamstress to put a new button on the cuff, and so now he was trying to work something out with the sleeve of his shirt and the button of his jacket. It was not, however, working.
Just as he was about to tear his cuff off in frustration, Percy looked up and saw a familiar figure making his way towards him.
“What ho, good chap!” Lewis Crawford shouted at his closest friend, clapping his hands and rubbing them together. “Trying to tear off your clothes before you’ve even met a handsome lady this evening?”
“Good lord, man,” Percy hissed at him, “keep your voice down. You can make your amorous jokes later, but for now, you must contain yourself.”
Lewis tilted his head back in laughter and put his hand upon his stomach. “Contain myself? What do you take me for, a society man such as yourself? If such a day should ever come, I give you my consent to take me out to pasture and put an end to my misery.”
Lewis tossed back his hair dramatically, and Percy couldn’t help laughing. Lewis was, indeed, a society man, as his parents were the Duke and Duchess of Flamborough.
However, the moment that he was out of whatever ball, gathering, or dinner he had been forced to attend, his boyish, playful side revealed itself immediately. He was a handsome young man with black hair, olive skin, and brown eyes, and stood a few inches taller than Percy.
“Then perhaps we should just skip this event altogether so that you are not tempted to be well-mannered. Shall we make our exit presently?” Percy asked, jokingly making his way back to his carriage.
“Come on, then,” Lewis halted him, coming around in front of him. “Don’t allow your anxiety to get the better of you. And do not make it worse by pinning your escape on me! There may be some fine ladies here this evening, and all of them would be overjoyed to make your acquaintance.”
Lewis puckered up his lips, sucked in his stomach, and mock-curtseyed at him. “Oh,you’rethe Duke of Wexley,” Lewis said in a high-pitched voice. “How strapping you are! Allow me to show you my affection by steering you towards this broom closet!”
Lewis started prancing towards Percy, flapping his hands adoringly, and Percy pushed him away, making sounds of horror. The two young men laughed together, and then Percy collected himself enough to enter the ball with his outgoing, somewhat boisterous friend by his side.
When they entered the hall, Percy was instantly overwhelmed by the number of people, the smells, the sounds, and the heat they were all creating together. This was one of the many reasons why he didn’t enjoy society balls: he constantly felt over-stimulated and as though he needed to escape more and more with every moment.
However, he knew that his friend wanted him to be there, and he also had another, more important reason for being at the ball, and so he pushed through his initial anxiety and put on his brave face.
Right at that moment, Lydia and Marianne arrived at the ball with their chaperones. Marianne was not fond of her chaperone, an older spinster named Gertrude who wore drab old gowns and constantly appeared to have just finished sucking on a lemon.
She had wiry grey hair, but she had a face that told Lydia that when she was younger, she would have been a very fine lady indeed. However, her looks could never make up for the rotting apple core that was her soul, and so Lydia could understand why she had ended up alone, as horrible as that sounded.
Lydia’s chaperone, on the other hand, was so beloved by the Seymour family that Lydia considered her to be her aunt. Mabel Wainthrop was a widowed woman in her fifties who was almost more maternal that Lydia’s own mother.
She kept up with the fashions and trends of the day, even though she was not in society very often anymore, and tonight was no exception. She was wearing a charming brown dress that made her look quite lovely and had a single feather protruding from her hair.
When Mabel saw Lydia looking at her, she said, “Oh dear. You have that look upon your face. Do I have some food on my cheek that I did not see before we left, Lyddie?”
“Not a spot! I don’t think any crumbs would have the gall to remain on your face, dear Mabel. Now on Gertrude’s face, on the other hand ...” Both women looked over to where Gertrude was chastising Marianne about something or other, and much to Lydia’s delight, they could see that she did have one streak of brown protruding from the corner of her mouth. It seemed that eating dinner had not been as simple a task for Gertrude that evening.
Mabel stifled her laughter entirely, but Lydia allowed herself a good chuckle.
“Now, now,” Mabel gently reminded her, “we mustn’t be too mean to dear old Gertrude. What if she hears us? You shall fare all right, but I have to spend much of the evening with her! Imagine my despair!”
That only made Lydia laugh harder, which garnered her some jealous looks from Marianne, who was still being scolded. “Now you go along and talk to some of the people that you know here; I shall make myself quite comfortable somewhere that I can see you, but please let me know if you’re heading into another room.”
Lydia thanked her profusely and then ran to grab Marianne’s hand and rescue her from Gertrude. She knew exactly how lucky she was when it came to chaperones, for Mabel was one of a kind. She could not imagine what her entry into society would have been like had it not been for her, and she did feel slightly guilty that Marianne had to contend with Gertrude all the time.
When Marianne and Lydia had found their place in the crowd, they began catching up with some of their relations who were in attendance, and they had not seen for some time. Marianne then quickly became aware that a dance was about to start, and so she began doing what she did best – making a show of herself to the men around her.
It worked like a charm, and not one minute later, she had an appropriately high-class young man leading her towards the dance floor. Lydia cheered her on in her mind and then looked to see what Gertrude thought of her dance partner. For once, she seemed almost contented.
While Lydia was very happy that her friend was getting a chance to dance, she admitted to herself that she was slightly disappointed that no fine young gentlemen had asked her to dance with them. She consoled herself by thinking of Percy and momentarily dreaming about the possibility of him being in attendance. She thought of his fine eyes, his enchanting smile, the way his laughter tumbled out of his body like water over the rocks in a warm stream ...
Amid her daydream, however, Lydia did not notice that people were rushing past her in every direction, and eventually, one of them bumped into her. Lydia stumbled but was caught by a strong hand that prevented her from falling.
“Oh!” she said instinctively when she was struck.
