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"I’ll let it pass"

"Very kind of you, sir"

He rolled his eyes at her iain, Billie felt more at ease Perhaps this wasn’t how the more refined ladies flirted, but it was all she kne to do

And it see Of that she was certain

Maybe she did have a touch of feht

At the Wintour Ball

Ninety ged at his cravat, which he was certain his valet had tied farout of the ordinary about Lady Wintour’s Spring Soirée; in fact, he’d have gone so far as to say that it was so ordinary as to be dull, but he could not shake the odd, prickly sensation that kept crawling up his neck Everywhere he turned, it felt like so him with far more curiosity than his appearance should warrant

Clearly, it was all in his iination, which led to a most salient point – that clearly, he was not cut out for this sort of thing

He’d timed his arrival carefully Too early, and he would draanted attention Like e, he usually spent a few hours at his club before fulfilling his social obligations If he showed up at the ball on the dot of eight, it would look strange (And he would have to spend the next two hours reat-aunt, as as legendary for her punctuality as she was for her fragrant breath)

But he didn’t want to follow his usual schedule, either, which involved arriving well after the party was underway It would be too difficult to spot Tallywhite in such a crush, or worse, he could ether

So after careful consideration, he stepped into the Wintour ballroo tih people e to remain unobtrusive

Not for the first ti this whole thing It seemed an awful lot ofa line from a nursery rhyme

A quick check of the time told him that it was nearly ten, which meant that if Billie had not already arrived, she would do so soon Hisfor nine-thirty, but he’d heard nues queued up outside Wintour House Billie and his mother were al for their turn to alight

He didn’t have et this taken care of before they arrived

His expression carefully bored, he continued to s as he brushed past acquaintances A footlasses of punch, so he took one, barelyhis lips as he peered out at the ballroolass He did not see Tallywhite, but he did see – da George to deliver a e when he could bloody well have done it himself?

But maybe there were reasons why Arbuthnot could not be seen with Tallywhite Maybe there was someone else here, someone who could not be perether Or maybe Tallywhite was the one in the dark Maybe he didn’t know that Arbuthnot was the one with the e