[Henry Layton (Rose)]

Henry had woken up enough to enjoy the drama of Charity's duet with Captain Sterne even as he realised in the back of his mind that such a duet was not really suitable for a public performance. For fooling round in the drawing room at home with family it would have been charming, but did she not see the impropriety of singing a song about making a liaison with a married man and acting it out in front of the majority of society? Even more to the point, didn't the Captain? And if he did, if he was her friend, why hadn't he stopped her?

These were bothersome thoughts. Henry had no moral objections to such a performance. He had enjoyed it. Both had attractive voices and had thrown themselves into the performance very admirably. Henry certainly appreciated the acting, since the duet had indeed come from an opera. Nevertheless he was too sensible of society's opinions of such behaviour to escape from feelings of unease. Charity had protection from the Marchioness of Emerson (and this was not to be sniffed at) but he was amazed that she had not attracted more scandal than she had. Without meaning to do or say anything inappropriate, Henry knew that she was courting disaster. And very likely disaster would be the only one to court her. She was putting her own future in jeopardy and this bothered him.

These were indeed disagreeable thoughts. He walked into the dining room thinking them and ignoring several people who tried to speak to him, grabbed a plate of roast beef and found himself face to face with a friend.

He nodded to him. "Louth! Where's your charming wife? I only speak to you on her account. Shall we...?" He gestured towards a patch of space out of the way of most of the crowd and the dash to the refreshment table.

[Clarence Haworth (Shar)]

"Ah, Lord Parry," Clarence said pleasantly over the small samples of various items on his own plate. "Lady Louth saw you coming, I'm afraid--if you wish to speak with her, you shall have to do so at a masque." He joined the other man in the indicated spot. "You have great faith in the roast beef, I see." He nodded at Parry's plate. "Enjoying the evening--excepting Lady Louth's escape, of course?"

[Henry Layton (Rose)]

((OOC: Yay, Clarence finally has 100 posts! I've been waiting for this to happen for literally months!))

"Ah, I understand perfectly," Henry replied wisely. "She avoids me out of sensibility; my presence renders her speechless from admiration. It is hard being me."

He tucked into the plate of roast beef with more relish than his previous words might have led one to expect, nodding as he did so. "Very much so, both the beef and the music. I hope someone cracks on their top notes in the second half though, the performers are nearly all of them tediously competent. How do you find it?"

[Clarence Haworth (Shar)]

"Sensibility, yes. Admiration... If that makes you feel better about it, by all means." Clarence considered whether a crack would really be desirable.
"Competence is to be valued, but I daresay a bit of screeching would enliven the proceedings. Not to mention tomorrow's Tatler report, of course. Will you be performing?" he added innocently.

[Henry Layton (Rose)]

"Me?" Henry replied, the hand that did not hold the plate of beef going to his heart with equal innocence, "Oh no! I would not presume... Modesty forces me to... I really have no notion of putting myself up there to be... Really, my voice is terrible tonight - such a sore throat..." He coughed pathetically.

He knew perfectly well that his name was down on the programme, and at the end no less.

"But if your dear, sweet, darling lady wife should drop a hint, the merest suggestion that it would give her any pleasure at all to hear me in the most trifling piece and I might consider it. Mind, I say might!"

He dropped the act and rolled his eyes up to the ceiling.

[Clarence Haworth (Shar)]

"I'll be certain to warn my sweet, darling, lady wife, then," Clarence said with a nod. "Thank you for that. How has the rest of your time been? When you are not bewailing your ill fortune, of course. Or developing sore throats. If that doesn't take up every moment of your day, which it very well may."
The food was, unsurprisingly, excellent; he had now tasted several items and was coming to a decision on what he should have a healthier serving of.

[Henry Layton (Rose)]

"It takes up more time than you would expect. Frankly, my friend, my life is a constant whirl of dissipation and frivolity; I even ended up bonnet shopping with Miss Pritchard and her friends this morning - not, I need hardly add, by design. But what about yourself? I am sure you have been spending your time in a more worthwhile fashion than myself!"

[Clarence Haworth (Shar)]

"Bonnet shopping?" Clarence asked in some surprise. "Did you find anything fetching? Pink lace could be lovely on you. My own time has been less adventursomely spent, certainly. Reading, debating, looking after the family. No bonnet trimming at all, I'm very much afraid."

[Henry Layton (Rose)]

Henry pretended to consider the question of pink lace. His father had had a pink dress coat which had certainly included a large amount of lace but brightly coloured jackets for men was no longer considered fashionable. It was quite a shame.

"You see, Louth," he replied, "you explain perfectly why my legs remain firmly unshackled! No time for pink lace."

He wondered what precisely "looking after the family" meant precisely. He'd have to have been far less in touch with society gossip than he was to miss what people were saying about Lady Louth. It was a delicate issue when no official announcement had been made. Fortunately Henry's attitude to delicate issues was equivalent to a bull's to china.

"I expect Georgiana will be dancing even less in the coming months than she is now, am I right?" he commented lightly, but with a serious expression.

[Clarence Haworth (Shar)]

"Nonsense; you can always find time for pink lace," Clarence said absently, before being shocked by the next. Really, joking was one thing, but this was becoming quite excessive. What business was it of Parry's?
"Lady Louth will dance just as she pleases," he said, with rather less lightness than the rest of the conversation had. A happy thought occurred to him for turning the discussion aside, and he went on more lightly, "Has she chosen not to dance with you? My greatest sympathy."