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What gossip?”
     
    “I have not been to the opera yet or the playhouse. Gossip? Mr. Brummell is fled to France, but everyone knows that. Lady Farnham ran off with her footman. Everyone knows that as well. I cannot find anything intriguing in the fact that a lady I don’t know has run off with her footman. It is not very interesting.”
     
    “Can you not flirt?”
     
    She raised her fan, and those green eyes flashed a languishing look at him over the top. “Like this?”
     
    “Exactly like that, minx. I fear you were not made for fashionable society.”
     
    She gave a little sigh. “You have the right of it. I would rather be in the country. I love the changing seasons and the feeling of freedom one gets surrounded by woods and trees.”
     
    He smiled. “There is always Hyde Park. I will drive you there tomorrow at the fashionable hour—with your mother’s permission, of course.”
     
    “I should like that,” she said. “Charles drives Drusilla there a lot.”
     
    “I shall
not
take you if you are going to make sheep’s eyes at Lord Charles!”
     
    “I will be good,” said Mira meekly. “I may as well use you to make myself fashionable.” She suddenly looked at him in consternation. “How rude of me! I meant—”
     
    “Ever practical, Miss Mira Markham. I know exactly what you mean. But you must pay attention to the other gentlemen about. Over there is young Mr. Danby. He danced the cotillion with you. He appeared charmed. You appeared indifferent. He comes from a good, solid, wealthy country family. He is near to you in age. This is his first Season as well. Should he ask you to dance again, do try to be a little more aware of him.”
     
    Mira let out a gurgle of laughter. “How like a governess you sound! Is there anyone else I should be getting my little hooks into?”
     
    “There is Viscount Falling, the tall, thin man at the same table as your sister. He may look like a heron brooding over a pond, but he is kind and amiable. About my own age, which must seem ancient to you, but a good prospect. If you cannot have love, settle for an amiable man.”
     
    “And what of yourself, my lord?” asked Mira curiously. “All the gossip is that you have come to the Season to find yourself a bride.”
     
    “Perhaps after tomorrow, when I consider I have paid you enough attention to set your steps on the right path, I shall turn my attention elsewhere.”
     
    “Are… are you, too, attracted to my sister?”
     
    “She is a handsome creature, I will allow, but spoiled. I would require more strength of character.”
     
    Mira looked at him in amazement. She reflected it was the first time she had heard any criticism of Drusilla at all. An odd loyalty to her sister prompted her to say defensively, “She has been sadly indulged. But, you see, when one is so very beautiful, people do not worry whether one is unkind or… or…” She bit her lip, feeling that what had started out as a defense of her sister was degenerating into a criticism.
     
    “Let us change the subject.” He looked at her empty plate. “Would you like some more?”
     
    “Yes, please, and may I have some more wine?”
     
    “By all means.” He signaled to a waiter. “Do you usually eat so much?”
     
    “I have a healthy appetite. Besides, I have had nothing to eat since eleven o’clock this morning. There was tea and cake and things when we made our calls, but I was so nervous about this ball that I could not eat anything.”
     
    “In future, Miss Mira, remember you are supposed to eat like a bird—and not a vulture either. Most ladies have plenty to eat before they go out for an evening to maintain the fiction.”
     
    “It seems very rude to one’s hosts to shun all the food they have arranged for us.”
     
    “You will note the gentlemen more than make up for the deficiency. Now we have talked long enough to each other. You must engage the gentleman on your other side in conversation. He is Colonel