"Thank you." He nodded at her kind welcome and then he bowed to her for the music.

The music started and Hugh tried to remember the steps. It took more concentration that he'd anticipated and much to his dismay the lady seemed to want to talk to him as they drew close again. "Egypt. Ottoman Empire." He shrugged casually. There had been other places as well but there was not time to list those as the steps moved them away. It seemed a moot point to try and explain that he hadn't been around in ten years and before that he had really only been on the British Isles for his school years and shortly after them. He had not even grown up in Britain, he had grown up in India. What a British citizen that made him. He had resided in Britain barely long enough to even have voted a few days ago - which had not made him the most informed voter out there. All this floated through his mind but he was not about to explain it all to her. She likely would not care for those details.

So what did he say to the lady before him? If she expected him to have a conversation with her as he tried to remember these steps. Her own story? The weather? The dance? Now she was almost back to him, close enough he had have to say something. The words that escaped him certainly made no sense in relation to what he knew of her, but at least he managed to say something and not to stumble in the steps as well, "And yourself?" She likely had not traveled, and such a fumble in words had Hugh's cheeks heating not only from the exertion but also from embarrassment. And this was why he should not be out in polite society. He was simply a mess.