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My chests are at the Jas Banner Warehouse near where Coluements to retrieve them soon, not only because I a the chests are outrageous I had rather keep them in the safe at Lucas and Turner for such sums…

The house on Jackson Street was a fine, ambitious pile, reen color, unlike hbors, with the trim of yellow to contrast the white-lace curtains in most of the s It faced the street squarely with an Italianate portico of Corinthian columns; it was set back from the roadway and approached by a half-hted froe, she fussed with her bonnet before stepping aside for her guest to join her

Madelaine de Montalia had donned her new dress, an afternoon frock suitable for early suppers and garden parties, and as such, unexceptionable for this concert It was a soft shade of lavender, with bared shoulders framed by a double row of niched silk The bodice was fitted and came to a point in the front over a skirt of three tiers of niched silk spread over moderate crinolines For jewelry, she wore a necklace of pearls and aathered in a knot with two long locks allowed to escape and fall on her shoulders An embroidered shaas draped over her arms, and in one hand she held a beaded reticule As she descended fro skirts

A Mexican servant, whose angular features revealed a significant admixture of Indian blood, ushered thelish that the host and hostess were in the ballroo in the direction they should go

"We are not the first, are we?" Mrs Mullinton asked, afraid that she had coaffe

"Oh, no There are others here already," the servant assured the tooodness," Mrs Mullinton said in an undervoice to Madelaine as they went along the corridor to the rear of the house "It would not do to have it said we came early"

"Whyever not?" asked Madelaine, who had becorew older

"My dear Madame," said Mrs Mullinton in shock, "for women to arrive while only the host and hostess are present smacks of i, plain face took on an expression of consternation as she considered this outrage

"Then it would be better to arrive late?" asked Madelaine, trying to deterht to achieve

"Heavens, no, for then it would seem that we did not appreciate the invitation," said Mrs Mullinton "I am very pleased that we have made our arrival so well" She raised her voice as she stepped into the ballroom antechamber "You may find our entertainment sadly dull, Madame, after the excitement of London"

"Possibly," said Madelaine "But as I have not seen London for eight years, I think what you offer here will suittherey hair; she a very pretty woman with a deep bosom and fair hair, in a fashionable dull-red afternoon dress that did not entirely become her; she was at least a decade her husband’s junior

"Mrs Mullinton," said their hostess "How nice of you to join us" She took Mrs MuUinton’s hand and kissed the air near her right cheek "This uest" She turned to Madelaine "I am Fanny Kent"

"And I ahtly to her hostess before taking her hand, though they made no other move toward each other

"My husband, the Captain," added Fanny, indicating her partner "My dear, you know Mrs Mullinton And this is Madelaine de Montalia"

Horace Kent bowed over Madelaine’s hand "Enchanted, Madame," he declared, and then shook Mrs Mullinton’s hand in a nominally polite way

The four other couples in the roouests had arrived, and Madelaine gave herself over to the task of learning the na she would not confuse any of them as their numbers steadily increased

"I have already had the pleasure," said the latest arrival, sohtly to Madelaine