There was something familiar about her, but behind the mask he wasn't sure he could place her right away. Not someone he knew from the Ministry, he didn't think, but somewhere else. Not that it made a great deal of difference. Ford would have spoken kindly to anyone, and unless she was Begonia Belby there was no particular reason to take any notice of her. At this point, anyway — all of the invitations for Grace's coming out had already been issued, so if she was the sort of Society Type that ought to have been invited and they'd accidentally snubbed her, it was too late to correct the mistake.

"I'm sure it will," he agreed with a good-natured shrug. "It wouldn't be a ball at all if there wasn't enough champagne for someone to get drunk and make themselves look foolish," he joked lightly.