Chapter 6: The Debutante

September 1825

Come the late September, the Wilkes attended the first soiree of the autumn season, with Ellen accompanying them. She had received lessons in the Viennese Waltz, but also in the Quadrille, but she was far from accomplished yet. Fortunately, they shared a table that evening with the Carters, and that gave Ellen three partners with whom to do her first dances in society.

Richard had received more thorough lessons in school, but like Ellen, he was apprehensive and insecure at first. Yet, they both calmed down whilst dancing together. Once the three gentlemen at their table had had their turn, Ellen had to accept other dance partners, mostly gentlemen acquainted with the Wilkes, and over time, Ellen calmed down enough to enjoy the music and the dance steps. She even learned a few new figures from an adept older gentleman, another fellow of the Royal Society of Surgeons, and when she had Richard as partner again during the last Waltz, they both revelled in the experience. Ellen was dead tired when the evening closed, but she thanked everybody at the table for bearing with her and making the experience possible.

On the way out, when they received their coats in the entrance hall, she even contrived to hold Richard’s hand for a brief moment.

“I hope that we shall have a chance to dance again soon,” she whispered.

“I should love nothing more,” was his reply, making her smile happily all the way home to Mayfair.

In the next weeks, the Wilkes attended several more soirees, but not always with the Carters, and even less with Richard Carter accompanying his parents. He had started his position as Sir Robert Norton’s private secretary, making it impossible for him to attend any functions during the week, excepting the Saturday evenings, and not all soirees held on Saturdays.

Therefore, Ellen met quite a few new people, some of them even outside the Wilkes’ circle of friends. With her social skills steadily improving and her shyness waning, many gentlemen and ladies acknowledged her and made her feel accepted. She had learned to deflect overly intrusive questions, especially regarding her pedigree, and some of her newly found female acquaintances tutored her in the art of inconsequential chitchat. She made quite the impression as the naïve beauty in her first season, and her dance card was sometimes filled in advance.

With all the attention she was getting, she also neglected people close to her. She did not visit the Carters anymore when Richard was working, and she found excuses to decline Eleanor’s invitations. She realised that she was hurting her best friend, but she was so caught up in her perceived popularity that she postponed conciliatory gestures time and again.

Still, whenever Richard Carter was in presence, she made certain to give him the first and the last dances of the evening. Most gentlemen attending those functions accepted that with grace and enjoyed the few minutes of dancing with a popular debutante who smiled easily and flirted innocently with her partners.

Yet, some gentlemen, for lack of a more fitting, if less flattering epithet, had other ideas and tried to turn her head with compliments and innuendos. Those men made Ellen uncomfortable, and she was always glad when a dance ended.

Fortunately, some ladies took it upon themselves to act as chaperones for the debutantes, rebuking overly forward men and escorting their charges back to their tables and families. One of those was Margaret Binnings, a wealthy widow past her mourning year and a well known society figure. The gossip saw her as paramour of one Major James Finney, a salon dweller of dubious repute, known for his penchant for duels and for being named in a divorce proceeding currently before the Lords.

Ellen found Binnings a supportive woman who gave her advice at times and encouraged her to be more daring. Lucy had no such positive views of her and warned Ellen of her and especially of her paramour, Finney.

Ellen had danced with Finney once and found him an exciting man, a bit roguish, but very much a man of the world, who paid Ellen compliments and made veiled innuendos that made her heart beat faster. Yet, she had also heard the rumours about him and was wary of him. It was exciting to flirt with him and to hear his compliments, but Ellen knew that he had but one thing on his mind.

She saw him twice more, but she turned him down both times, not wanting to start any rumours, and he seemed to accept it. She continued accompanying her parents to various functions, but Richard Carter did not attend any of those.

In late November, she received an invitation to a small soiree at Margaret Binnings’s house. It was on a Saturday evening, and she knew that Richard was also invited. Being Sir Robert’s private secretary made him interesting to people who hoped to extract valuable information from an inexperienced young man. However, when she showed the invitation to Lucy, she was told to decline. Lucy was in the last stages of organising Lady Wheeler’s charity soiree, and she could not spare the time to accompany Ellen. For two days, Ellen wheedled Lucy into allowing her to attend the soiree accompanied by Richard Carter, and in the end, she wore her good-natured mother down.

Thus, three days later, Ellen dressed carefully for her first official evening alone with Richard, and when he picked her up at seven o’clock, she beamed with happiness. Richard had to hear Lucy’s adminishments of course, but he, too, was delighted over the prospect of spending an evening with Ellen.

When they arrived at Binnings’s house, he helped her from the cab, making certain that her dress was not soiled by the wheels, and then led her up the steps to the open entrance. Their host, Margaret Binnings, greeted them with a slight frown which made place for a smile a second later.

“Hullo, my dears! How lovely of you to come!”

“Thank you, Madam, for the kind invitation,” Richard answered nicely.

“You must excuse my mother, Margaret. She is too busy preparing for the charity dinner next Friday. Mister Carter was kind enough to accompany me.”

“I am quite certain that he does not view this as an unwelcome chore, my dear,” Binnings said with a wry smile. “Please, leave your coats, go inside and have a merry evening.”

Once inside, they found Binnings’s dining hall where a number of guests was already mingling. There were tables with foods and drink for the guests, and the two young people helped themselves to a light white wine and some small pastries before they began to walk around the room, trying to identify acquaintances. Richard was not that wellknown, but Ellen had met quite a few of the guests before. Conversing easily with people, they had a good time indeed. After an hour, a musical quartet began to entertain the guests, and pretty soon afterwards, the center of the hall cleared of milling people whilst the first couples started to dance.

Richard and Ellen began the first Cotillon together. Ellen had much improved her dancing skills, and she enjoyed it whilst Richard was slightly awkward.

Richard was not enjoying himself that much anymore. After his first dance with Ellen, other gentlemen partnered with her whilst Richard offered his services to other ladies in attendance. With men outnumbering the female guests, he soon had difficulties finding willing partners, and decided to take a break. From time to time, he saw Ellen whirling past — Waltzes were now played — and she seemed to enjoy herself with other gentlemen. This was not what he had envisioned, but he knew that Ellen could not be expected to turn down other guests, and he resigned himself to standing in the background, near the table that held the wines and spirits.

There was a short lull in the music, and suddenly, Richard overheard a conversation between two men at the wine table.

“She’s a right little morsel, isn’t she? Her parents are insignificant, some sawbones and his wife, but who cares? She’s damned beautiful. Naïve, too. Mark my words: she’ll be next on my list. Two or three glasses of this Champagne will do the trick.”

“Arent’t you with Binnings these days?”

“Yes, but who cares. Maggie is not that virtuous either. No, tonight’s the night to pick a beautiful flower.”

“Isn’t she accompanied?”

“That’s the beauty of it. She’s with some whippersnapper, the son of some Navy upstart. He’ll have to leave alone.”

“You’re incorrigible, James,” the other man laughed.

“Well, don’t complain. Once she’s broken in, maybe you can be...”

The music started again, making it impossible for Richard to hear more. It had been enough anyway. Unobtrusively, Richard edged away from the table and began to circulate through the hall, trying to find Ellen. He was in luck. When he espied her, the music was just coming to an end, and Ellen’s partner gave her a courteous bow. Looking about, she saw Richard and smiled.

“May I have your next dance, Ellen?” he asked, trying to sound normal, and when he saw her hesitate and look around, he whispered, “it’s urgent!”

Her eyes widened, but she accepted now. As they began to move with the music, she whispered back.

“What is it? You look so serious.”

“Do you know a man named James? Did he dance with you?”

“Only James Finney, Major Finney. I danced with him once.”

“I overheard him talking to another man. He plans to make you drunk to ... well, have his way with you.”

“Are you serious, Richard? Oh, dear, of course! He’s known for such things. Well, never worry! I shan’t get near him again.”

“Perhaps we had better leave?”

Ellen looked crestfallen for a moment, but then she nodded.

“That might be sensible. Thank you for looking out for me!”

“It is what I promised Aunt Lucy,” he answered, earning a smile from Ellen.

Thus, when the music stopped again, they left the dancefloor and headed for the entrance.

“Why, hullo, Miss Trilby. You are not leaving, are you? You still owe me one more dance!”

Ellen turned to face the speaker. It was Finney, and he held two glasses of Champagne wine in his left hand.

“I don’t know of any obligation of that sort, Mister Finney. I must decline anyway. I promised my mother not to be late. Besides, I do not drink Champagne wine. It goes to my head, and I do not want to make a spectacle of myself.”

“Lady Wilkes will be understanding, I am sure if you tell...”

“Sir, Miss Wilkes wishes to leave,” Richard interjected. “This fits with my own plans, so you will have to excuse us. It is getting late.”