Page 3 of One Perfect Dance
I am all grown up now and having my very first ball. Papa and Mama said I could invite anyone I liked, and I would be so pleased if my very first friend could attend, especially since it is your birthday, too. Remember you told me we were twins born four years apart to different parents?
When I asked Papa whether you were still in London, he said you were, but that your Mama had died. I am very sorry, Elijah. I liked your Mama a lot.
Papa got me your address. He told me that he did not mind if I invited you, but he didn’t want to invite Major Deffew or his sons. I hope you do not think that is rude, but after all, I do not know them. They were all too old to take any notice of me when I was a little girl. And it is my ball.
Please do come. I know you can dance, for we learned together.
Yours sincerely
The Honorable Miss Regina Kingsley
Under her full formal name, she had signed again, this time simply asGinny.
Elijah looked at the letter for a full minute after he had read it several times, smiling. It sounded just like Ginny. He was tempted—after all, he was twenty-one that day, so Major Defect and the two louts could not stop him.
But he had nothing to wear. Finally, he sighed and hid the letter away again.
Then Cook sent for him. Her assistant had burned the onions she was meant to caramelize, and she needed more onions, urgently. Elijah returned to his room for his coat and the pair of trousers he had just finished. He would seize the opportunity to call past the vicarage and add them to the trunk the vicar was storing for him until his transformation from skivvy to secretary.
Partway down the servant stairs, he turned back for the letter and invitation. He’d add those to the trunk, too. Perhaps, when he was far away, he could write Ginny a letter.
Or he could leave a message with the vicar. That might be better. Gentlemen did not write letters to young ladies who were not their relatives.
So, when he had his bag of onions, he called on the vicar, and showed him the invitation.
“You should go, Elijah.”
“How can I?” Elijah asked. “Even in my new clothing, I would be an embarrassment to her.”
“Now as to that,” said the vicar, “I was not going to mention this until your birthday, but I have a present for you that will help.”
When the vicar pulled out a full dinner costume, complete with dancing pumps and several pairs of silk stockings, Elijah protested. “It is too much!”
“Nonsense,” the vicar told him. “It is not new, Elijah, so you need not let cost worry you. My brother is about your size and has more clothes than he knows what to do with. He gave me these in a box of items for the poor box.”
Elijah touched the silk stockings, which he was certain had not come from any poor box. The vicar cleared his throat. “Most of it, in any case. I knew you would need to dress for dinner when Lord Arthur asks you to accompany him, as he often will. And I believe I might justifiably claim to be a substitute for your godfather, young Elijah, given that I am both your ministerandyour mentor. You must allow me to give you a small token to mark the day of your majority and the start of your great adventure.
Which left Elijah with nothing to say but “thank you.”
Chapter Two
Regina Kingsley heldher ball gown up in front of herself and admired her reflection in the mirror. Her ball had just become even more exciting to her.
Of course, she was delighted to be making her debut to Polite Society, even if she was a little nervous about, as her mother put it,establishing herself creditably.
That was, after all, the whole goal of the Season. Her mother expected her to choose a husband, someone well-born, with connections that would be useful to her father, and after him, to her brother. Someone with sufficient wealth to keep her in comfort for the rest of her days.
Regina had every intention of pleasing her mother. And if she hoped to find a handsome young man who fell in love with her at first sight, was that too much to ask?
“You will look just like a fairy princess,” said her maid. Annie was a niece to Mama’s dresser. Her promotion from parlor maid to lady’s maid had made her a devoted slave to Lady Kingsley, and she was determined to do everything she could to ensure Regina’s success.
Regina’s mother had already mapped out her daughter’s entire evening. She would be escorted into dinner by Mr. Paddimore, her father’s closest friend. That must have been by her father’s decree, for Mama would have selected anyone except Mr. Paddimore, whom she disliked.
Regina would also be led out in the first dance by Mr. Paddimore. It should have been Papa or Regina’s brother. But the doctor had forbidden Papa to dance, and William was only fifteen and away at school.
Mother had chosen partners for all of Regina’s dances that evening. Mostly the sons or younger brothers of people that Papa knew. They were all men Mama deemed suitable as suitors for Regina, though Regina had so far met very few of them.
The one person Regina had invited to her ball was not on Mama’s list. She’d coaxed her parents into permitting the invitation. When she was a child, Elijah Ashby was the only boy close to her social status in the village near her home, but he had gone down in the world since then.
