Elsie had to cover her mouth with her hand briefly to hide the smirk of success that threatened to curl her lips upward, feigning a cough to further conceal the movement.

Shaking her head in silent laughter, Elsie knew she wasn't going to last much longer in this conversation if he kept this up. She hadn't any idea where the jumbled up sentence about the ministry came from but it briefly reminded her of responsibilities before his next quip caught her further off guard. Her retort was better left for later, when she was absolutely, one hundred percent sure nobody could hear them, lest his reaction give them away entirely.

"If you say so," Els shrugged, but her smile likely gave her away. "On that note, I think I should probably go play the part mother wants me to for a little while longer, though now I've got something to help get me through the rest of the evening," Which would now, obviously go horrendously slow, but she had to keep up appearances. Dance with a few gentlemen her mother pointed out, try to look like she was enjoying herself. Couldn't be that hard, right? Elsie wasn't so convinced, but she did have a lot of practice with it at least.

"I'll see you later." She promised, with another smile, wishing they could go now, but holding on to the fact that there at least was a later to look forward to.