Sure enough, Wilhelmina had gone after the liquor. Muttering to herself in Italian again, Sybella managed to duck behind a partygoer and make it to the cabinet before her friend. In the end, she needn’t have worried because Wilhelmina had gone for the cheapest, worst liquor possible. In any case, Sybella had taken the bottle back, if only to protect it from the other woman’s prying hands. Certainly after this there wouldn’t be a ball in society that would invite her back. Sybella didn’t like to gossip, but she placed a high value on consumption of goods and how to enjoy them, and Miss Wilhelmina Finkle had broken all of the rules.

Sybella had gone around the party with the unopened bottle dangling in hand by her side as she chatted amongst friends (some who cast her questioning looks but didn’t go as far to ask her motivations). Just as one conversation had drifted off into a lull she heard a greeting to her left and turned towards it to find the man she’d quite forgotten she’d abandoned in order to rescue her precious gift from Miss Finkle. “Oh - ciao di nuovo,” She greeted with a laugh. Then with a triumphant grin produced the bottle of cognac by way of an answer.