Upon being handed the mask of a fox Minnie had almost protested. It was beautifully made by what was clearly an exceptionally crafty witch but she had only to exchange a single glance with her sister before they had both grinned ruefully - a cunning and wily fox Minnie was most emphatically not and she had tried to swap with Emma but she had been overruled and found herself with a much slier face than her natural one for the duration of the evening. 

And it had produced the most peculiar effect. Usually she was approached by at least two or three gentleman, usually hapless younger sons picking her out as a less intimidating member of her sex who wished to be seen to dance or talk with a debutante whilst their mothers watched beadily, but tonight those offers did little to rouse Minnie's interest and she turned most of them down. They were dull and offered her extremely little, why waste her energy? 

"Thank you for the dance."

All apart from one. Mr Pettigrew was Hannah's brother-in-law and worth the connection at least, so she had danced with him and his not unappealing face, though the face was almost entirely hidden behind an otter mask that she found curiously thrilling. Behind it she hadn't a single clue what he might be thinking of feeling and that was oddly liberating when she realised he was probably having the same trouble. 

"I do hope I didn't tread on your feet, Mr Pettigrew? I feel I can barely see a thing through this mask," her lips curled into a small smile. "Though I expect foxes should be naturally lighter of foot than I anyway." 

Minnie laughed at the unusual, though fitting, compliment and took Mr Pettigrew at his word. It was, after all, difficult to conceive that an otter would lie to one's face, even if both their visages were false for the night.

"You're far too kind. Perhaps the whiskers gave us both balance?" Had she danced with him before? She simply must have done - in all her years as a debutante Minnie felt sure she must have danced with every eligible young man in their circle at least once, but for the life of her she could not recall him.

"I've been warned to be cautious of wild beasts this evening," warned by Emma, as she donned a jaguar mask without irony. "I hope you haven't been troubled?"

If nothing else Minnie was quite glad not to have been handed a mask depicting a puppy. They were sweet but hardly the impression one wanted to put across at a ball when image was everything and one did not wish to be thought of as simply an endearing pet. At the very least she hoped for the other woman’s sake it was a breed with purpose: a sleek Dalmatian or an attractive, blue-eyed huskie.

“I expect that’s the purpose of a masque ball,” she replied with a smirk that was quite unlike her but felt oddly natural tonight. “It’s all supposed to be terribly mysterious is it not?”

Of course it was slightly let down by the fact that they all already knew each other and moved in circles that were far too small for anybody to be a complete stranger.

Minnie doubted there was a person amongst them who did not know the other by sight at the very least so any air of mystery had long since vanished. She shrugged and reached up to tilt her mask up, blinking in the lights of the ballroom and smiling coyly at him.

“I’ve never been mysterious in my life I’m afraid. All too willing to share my name, though I believe you may already know it?” She let the mask fall back into place. “I’m a friend of your sister-in-law.”

“An excellent guess and an accurate one,” Minnie replied with a giggle, circling around him in imitation of their dance and with the sort of single-minded dedication to keeping his attention that was not normally her forte. Tonight though the movements seemed to come a great deal easier and she had no idea why, nor did she have any inclination towards questioning them.

“I’m surprised we’ve never danced before, although I suppose your brothers parties are not the sort people dance at.”

Over Mr Pettigrew’s shoulder Minnie spotted the next gentleman listed on her dance card and knew their moment would have to come to an end. It was a shame: she felt…wilder, much more able to reach for what she wanted and at the moment she would have preferred staying in Mr Pettigrew’s charming company. But she had a prior obligation – one of the many downsides of having done the circuit for quite so long was that she knew practically everybody and tended to be one of the girls picked by gentleman to placate their mothers.

“We must do it again some time,” she replied with a playful smile. “But for now I’m afraid I must take my leave. Until next time Mr Pettigrew?”