July 5th, 1892 — Daphnel Dinner Party, Wellingtonshire

Victor was well aware that tonight wasn't for him, because this wasn't the first time they'd done some variation on this exact same event. It was hard to deny that Beatrice stood little chance of capturing someone's attention in a typical ballroom setting, but whether dinner parties and parlor games were any more likely to suit her was yet to be determined, as far as Victor was concerned. They'd been throwing dinner parties and game nights and that sort of 'intimate' gathering for two years already, and Bea wasn't married yet. She hadn't even had an offer that Victor was aware of — and he doubted anyone had expressed an interest by sending a letter to his chronically absent father, so if there had been an offer he was sure he would have been aware. Anyway, tonight was for Bea, but that didn't mean that Victor had a pass. He had promised his mother that she wouldn't have to worry about his prospects when it came to romance, and he was determined to keep his word on that front — which meant he couldn't spend the night watching Beatrice like a hawk and trying to prod her towards conversation whenever he could. He needed to actually put forth an effort to meet someone.

If only that someone didn't have to be a debutante. Presumably some of these women must have been interesting, if one got to know them in any other context than brief society encounters, but devil help him if he was meant to know which ones. All debutantes seemed the same from his perspective... which made the task of trying to choose one of them a daunting one.

"Are you musically inclined?" Victor asked the young woman he'd found himself talking to, already sensing that he would forget her answer within two minutes of hearing it. He only had... four to six more hours of this to go. They hadn't even sat down to dinner yet.

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