Duplicity [Available on Radish]

Chapter 2

A sudden cold snap a fortnight into the season made the evenings more frigid and blustery than the coldest winter night. That couldn't keep any of the le Bon Ton indoors, though. After several long months in the country, they were all eager to be back in the bustling, close quarters of the city. They were prisoners tasting freedom again! Caged birds set free once more! That freedom may taste like icy soot, but no one minded. Young people flocked to anywhere with music and dancing, and a chance to see and be seen.

Lady Evelyn was attending her second ball of the week, making it her fourth of this Season. What a strange, but wonderful world she was in. Soaring grey structures blotted out the grey sky above, yet new scaffolds rose every day. Beneath these behemoths were vehicles and countless bodies of every sort, all converging on the muddy streets.

And then there was the stench!

That awful thick stench hung like a thick canopy and smothered everything. Yet she longed to explore the city's mysteries. She longed to discover what was behind the clamouring. She wanted to know what laid down each avenue and boulevard.

Was she out there? Evelyn had to wonder in the dark recess of her mind.

But, instead of seeking that answer, Evelyn must adhere to customs and go where she was told. The only explorations she made were to more ballrooms and drawing rooms where dazzling beauty astonished the senses. As she made her way through a crush of bodies in a crowded gallery, she felt a familiar chill despite the heat. She had been warned that this lot was suspicious of foreigners. Here now, in the packed, noisy ballroom, ablaze with enormous and countless girandoles, she was once more on display. Once again, she felt dozens of stony stares evaluating her from the top of her head to her slippered feet. What did they think of her when she glided across the chalk arabesques on the dance floor with her current dance partner?

Her current dance partner was the Honourable Henry Wilkes. Handsome young man. Pleasant enough. Yet, the way he dressed, spoke, and carried himself was in the same imperious manner as the rest. Perhaps it was his expressionless eyes, or maybe it was the way his sweet words always sounded so stilted that made Evelyn wary of him.

"You seem preoccupied, my lady," Henry said. "I do hope I haven't been a bore."She didn't think he noticed her disinterest, as he had prattled on and on about his stable of fine horses. "I beg your pardon, sir. I'm a bit overwhelmed by it all. There are so many smart people here."

"Do you fear them, my lady?"

"Not particularly. It's difficult to be amongst strangers."

"Then, you must allow me to help you find your way amongst them," he replied in an imperious tone.

"Oh, but I could not impose."

Young Henry's toothy smile did not reach his hooded eyes. "I assure you, you are not. We may all seem the same to you, but some of us are more 'in' than others. And I am just the man on the periphery to bridge the gap for you. I see you doubt me. I assure you if I told you what I know of those around us, they'll seem far less intimidating."

"But they would not care for you to share their secrets with me," she said.

"One thing you need to learn, my dear Lady Evelyn, is that society feeds on gossip." Unphased by her troubled look, Henry nodded at a tall, beautiful lady in the crowd. Her regal cat-like eyes scanned the room with a look of boredom.

"Don't let Lady Ann Seymour's cool exterior fool you. Rumour has it that her husband perished under mysterious circumstances when he got drunk and passionate one time too many. They say she carries a long stiletto somewhere on her person should anyone cross her. Beside her are two noble ladies with lofty titles and even greater debts. They're here now as they've left their last farthing at the card table. Those jewels they wear? Paste, I assure you. And there, across the room, that splendid creature is the new Lady St. James."