As it turned out, Vesta being out had its downsides. By which she meant that her younger sister was so sweetly persuasive when she wanted to be that, whenever Rosamund’s schedule allowed, she had let herself be talked into accepting invitations alongside her, for moral support, if nothing else – as if Vesta didn’t have plenty of friends of her own, and no real anxieties about society to assuage, either.
As evidenced by Rommy being left largely to her own devices all night anyway, which she didn’t mind entirely either. Only now Mr. Scrimgeour had asked her to dance. Oh, plenty, Rommy might have answered, if that was the sort of admission a lady was encouraged to make – but presumably he would think her ungraceful on her feet if she did. But nevertheless, the next dance was free – and the next, and the next for that matter, and indeed most of the card, more out of choice avoidance than anything. (If she had a flute of champagne in hand or pretended to be invested in watching the acrobatics or talking to friends, or faded out of a conversation early enough not to be asked, there was usually room enough to make her excuses.)
“Well, now I’m terribly disappointed,” Rommy returned with a small smile, hoping as she proffered her card accordingly that he would not notice all the spaces on it. “I am sure everyone has just been waiting for some brave guest to take to the silks themselves all evening.”
As evidenced by Rommy being left largely to her own devices all night anyway, which she didn’t mind entirely either. Only now Mr. Scrimgeour had asked her to dance. Oh, plenty, Rommy might have answered, if that was the sort of admission a lady was encouraged to make – but presumably he would think her ungraceful on her feet if she did. But nevertheless, the next dance was free – and the next, and the next for that matter, and indeed most of the card, more out of choice avoidance than anything. (If she had a flute of champagne in hand or pretended to be invested in watching the acrobatics or talking to friends, or faded out of a conversation early enough not to be asked, there was usually room enough to make her excuses.)
“Well, now I’m terribly disappointed,” Rommy returned with a small smile, hoping as she proffered her card accordingly that he would not notice all the spaces on it. “I am sure everyone has just been waiting for some brave guest to take to the silks themselves all evening.”
