[Eleanor Clare (Rose)]

((OOC: This thread takes place simultaneously with In Search of an Enchantress and the two threads will eventually merge. Jen, send Vester over whenever he's free.))

Eleanor followed behind her stepmother without much enthusiasm. She did not like this Captain Sterne who had not bothered to introduce himself to her but monopolized her step-mother. She distrusted a military man instinctively for the girls had been warned time and time again against fortune hunting soldiers and their lack of respect for virtue. At least he seemed more interested in Selina than in her for she would not have known how to deal with his advances.

She tried not to look at their heads bent into conversation together and the odd tinkle of laughter that drifted back to her. She looked left and right but for several minutes there was nothing to see but grass. Then they descended into a small wilderness near the lake. Eleanor found her steps slowing as she enjoyed the trees and shrubs and the rather damp coolness in the shade. Suddenly a bird flew out of a bush almost into her face and she started back in surprise. By the time her heart had stopped beating quite so fast, she found herself a bit behind her step-mother and the Captain. She grabbed her skirt in one hand and hurried up the path after them, without running because that would be most indelicate.

When she got out of the wilderness however, she found herself in an entirely new part of the gardens. She stared around in horror. There was no sign of the others who must have taken a different path and there was nobody about apart from a merry looking group having a picnic some way away on a lawn.

She felt her position most keenly. To find Selina would involve descending again into the shrubbery unchaperoned which she was not willing to do. It was a dark place, relatively speaking, and she was afraid of what she might meet there. Girls' reputations had been ruined for less! She felt tears start into her eyes at the thought of failing so early in her life- before she was even out. And yet she hardly dared to approach the picnickers and ask for help. Wherever she went and whatever she did, she was courting ruin. All she could really hope for was that the others would notice her absence soon and come and find her, though she suspected they might not for quite a while.

She brushed a tear away and sighed and stood around indecisively. She would have to do something but she did not know what was the lesser evil.

[Sylvester Leveson (Jen)]

Sylvester had been unsure at first as to what to do. He had seen Eleanor from afar and witnessed her distress, and was more curious than anything. He supposed it was understandable that she was so upset, since she looked fairly young, and was out in the park unchaperoned. It really was a strange vision, but one that Sylvester felt drawn to. He liked to think he was being chivalrous and gentlemanly, and perhaps he was, but mostly it was just curiosity.

Therefore, having extracted himself a little unceremoniously from the group that included Lady Juliet and Miss Vaughan, he hesitated for a moment before striding over to where the girl was. Upon closer inspection, it seemed she had just emerged from a more densely wooded area and was perhaps lost, or had at least lost whoever she was with. A slight frown darkened his brow as he approached, and wondered how best to treat the situation, and what he should say. He was never usually so cautious or uncertain but this particular situation was a novel one to him. She looked like she could be...easily frightened off.

"Are you alright, miss?" he began, and then it struck him that she was more upset than he had perhaps at first noticed, for she had tears on her cheeks. He also couldn't help but notice that she was very pretty, being Sylvester. "Are you unhurt?" There was genuine concern in his voice and he kept a little bit of distance, as if he was approaching a bird that might take flight.

[Eleanor Clare (Rose)]

It seemed like hours to Eleanor as she stood on the path out of the wilderness in indecision. Actually it was probably all of two minutes before she found herself approached by a handsome young man. He did not have the noble yet personable appearance of the man she had met in St George's but was more... more of Captain Sterne's appearance not that she could really put her finger on it. He was... sleek seemed the best description. And in Eleanor's untrained eyes he was handsome. But then again, most men under forty who looked kindly on her and were not utterly repulsive seemed handsome to her.

He spoke to her very gently and she felt sure that no harm could come from replying, though she did so with some confusion. To address a gentleman (for his clothes showed him to be well born or at least rich- Eleanor had met enough snobs at school to know there was a difference) without a chaperone all alone was not at all the done thing! And yet to ignore a polite and civil enquiry was also rude.

"No, that is, yes, I am unhurt," she replied and blushed at her awkwardness. "Thank you, Sir. Please do not trouble yourself on my account, I beg you."

And she did not know what to do next for she would not put herself under an obligation to him for all the world. She wished only to have the protection of her step-mother. She did not like Selina's attitude always but she knew how to speak to strange gentlemen at least.

[Sylvester Leveson (Jen)]

Now that he was assured this lady would not in fact take flight at the sound of his voice, he became encouraged, and took another step forward, though still kept a polite distance. After all she was alone. For all the experience he had with women, this was an altogether very new situation to be presented with. His initial temptations to take advantage of the situation and of the lady present seemed to dissolve more and more, the more he watched her. She was very timid, and scared, and he was so used to women that were sure of themselves and confidant, speaking with ease and self-assurance. Perhaps it was because she was still a young lady, though it did not cross his mind that she might not even be Out yet.

He gave her a charming smile, "I am afraid I simply cannot leave a lady in distress. You are quite clearly upset, and I will do anything in my power to rectify the situation," he declared, briefly glancing back to the picnic to make sure no one (namely his sister) was watching or following him. It would not do to have her come and ruin things, or scare the girl off. Thankfully she was absorbed in her own conversation and tea-drinking. He turned back.

"My name is Lord Sylvester Leveson," he bowed, "Please allow me to assist you in whatever way I can. Are you lost?" He had not come across a lady lost in a park before. Still, there was a first time for everything, and if it was the case, he would find it quite charming and original of her. A lost little waif in the middle of Hyde Park! He was all talk, however. He actually had no idea what he could do to help her. She was so innocent seeming and it half surprised, half intrigued him.

[Eleanor Clare (Rose)]

Eleanor stared at Lord Sylvester Leveson with wide eyes.

She very much did not want to accept help from him. How ruinous for her reputation if she was discovered with him and no chaperone! And yet he was being kind to her which clearly meant he had no designs on her, yet how could she be sure? And he was quite right; she was lost and upset. And should she introduce herself in turn or wait for a proper introduction? She hardly knew.

And he was the younger son of a Duke or Marquess! That was very, very high up in the aristocracy. He almost deserved her reverence for being so very, very elevated and deigning to take notice of her. Eleanor was of a very good (though untitled) family and had a very satisfactory fortune but that did not mean that she was accustomed to mingling with people who were second only to royalty.

"Thank-you," she replied at last. "Your lordship is very kind to think of me. I have- I have found myself separated from my chaperone."

She gestured back at the path through the wilderness.

"She is walking with a gentleman in that direction. Would you be so kind...?"

She trailed off. If he went to look for Selina and her friend then she could wait under a tree and avoid being seen by anyone until Selina returned.

[Kitty Clement (Jen)]

Vester was not so socially callous to not realize that Eleanor was in a predicament. Speaking to him or accepting his help, alone in the park, had potential to do great harm to her reputation. But he didn't know what else to do, and it went against every fiber of his being to simply leave the poor creature there.

He resisted himself a small smile at her reply. How did a young lady become separated from her chaperone? He was sure it happened often enough, a simple enough error to make, yet it seemed very odd, unless one of the pair had been very distracted. "Yes, I guessed that," he said rather insensitively, a momentary lapse in his charm, due to his amusement.

Ah, so her chaperone had been distracted. By a gentleman, no less. In that case, surely this young lady would not be missed then? Too much? He certainly was not going to go gallivanting off in search of this elusive chaperone, running around Hyde Park by himself. How incredibly dull that would be.

"Perhaps I could persuade you to come over to the picnic over there..." he indicated the groups of people clustered, "to wait until your chaperone presents herself? That way we would not be alone, and I doubt very much anyone will notice," he ventured. They would simply look like another conversing pair at the picnic, and he was sure Rosalind would not mind. Not that she had any say in the matter.

((OOC: ahh wrong account sorry))

[Eleanor Clare (Rose)]

Eleanor followed his gaze and frowned. She wished she could agree. To be left with some ladies and gentlemen while he looked would definitely be the best scenario, but from what she could see the party seemed to be breaking up.

Nevertheless, she found herself relax a little at her companion's obvious appreciation of the difficulties of her position. She felt very fortunate to meet such a sensitive and right thinking young man, considering what could have happened.

"I should appreciate that," she replied quietly, "but I am not sure that they will want me. See- the servants are clearing up now. If so, I declare, I had better go on my own!"

And she made a move to return to the wilderness.