Reblogged from Tallis Steelyard.

It was only by chance that I was present at the Ball when the daughters of the House Senton were introduced to society. House Senton is a family of the old aristocracy, they were here before Port Naain was built, and they do things differently, please themselves, and largely care little about what the city thinks of them. But it was at this ball where I was introduced to the Lady Senton in her full regalia.

To an extent I was invited by accident. I knew old Viper Senton well enough and whilst he’s hardly a patron of the arts, he and I would occasionally meet at some of the leading society occasions. He had been dragooned into going because his wife felt he ought to ‘get out more’ and ‘mix with the right sort of people’. Thus he was bored. I tended to attend them without bothering the hosts for an invitation because they’re excellent venues for meeting people who might well consider becoming one of the patrons of the leading poet of his generation.

On one occasion I discovered that burly footmen were closing in on me and that I was inevitably going to be unceremoniously ejected. (I cannot abide that, I feel that if you are to be ejected, there ought to be a certain formality, a degree of ceremony, concomitant upon the fact that with my leaving, the event declines from being one where literary culture abounds, to a collection of clods discussing the marital prospects of the offspring of bankers, actuaries and local political luminaries.)

But as I was saying, I was about to be ejected…

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Source: ‘That Dress’ – Tallis Steelyard