A Season of Masks and Masquerades

Chapter 30: The Unfortunate Change of Events

The Duke of Dales would have never imagined himself walking down to a woman's house to offer himself as an escort to a dance night. Begging her to accept the offer was of course beyond all his imaginations, yet, he did not deem it necessary to give his actions another thought before doing all of it for Esther Sherborne. 

And he wasn't even regretting any of it. 

On the contrary, he was quite content with the memory of that morning. 

He was not certain if he would be successful in getting Esther to accept his offer when he visited the Sherborne house that morning however, things turned out better than his expectations. She agreed to his offer, for all he cared. Or one would say she did not exactly reject it. Edward however decided to stay optimistic for the time being. 

He had prepared a royal maroon velvet suit for the night to match with Esther's red dress he requested that same morning. He really did wish she would acknowledge his request and wear red which again, was an extremely rare possibility. After all, Esther Sherborne was the most stubborn, unsubmissive woman to start with.

He wouldn't be too amazed if she put all her red dresses to fire, merely to express her strong disagreement.

However, fortunately for him, Esther was not planning a mass combustion. She had in fact, taken his request very civilly and was looking forward to the red evening.

The Packwood Ball was no common affair. It was a culture, a proper tradition that was being followed for many many years. Its roots were laid some hundreds of years ago hence none of the current attendees truly knew the reason behind its introduction, however as a chosen reader of this majestic story, you hold the rights to the exclusive knowledge. 

The whole idea of organising a season full of ball evenings was to ensure that all debutantes and bachelors are able to secure good matches and start a family for the happy and healthy growth of the society. However, it was observed that even after attending multiple balls and dancing with multiple suitors and debutantes, young men and women were yet walking into the ballrooms alone, hiding in the shadows and drinking flutes after flutes of champagne and lemonades instead of getting engaged. 

The problem was then studied and the conclusion that was derived threw light on a rather obvious root of the issue, the parents. 

You see, for most young ladies it was a struggle to walk forward and initiate romance with random men from society in front of their meticulous mothers and strict fathers. Men too faced a hard time trying to approach women with the manliest, most agreeable picture of themselves hoping for their parents to approve of them. 

Giving up was often the most prefered alternative causing the same bunch of people to repeat seasons one after the other.

Hence the Packwood Ball night was introduced. 

It was the only ball night in the entire season where only the bachelors and debutantes looking for a match were allowed with an unwritten rule demanding the attendees to come in pairs, male suitors escorting the debutantes mostly. This additionally ensured absolute fulfilment of the purpose. 

Knowing that such an event is organised exactly halfway through the season, the young crowd were often very cautious of their courting status. To make it certain that they are not among the embarrassed few who walk the doors of the Packwood Ball alone with their head hung on their necks in sheer humiliation or worse, who are forced to stay home because of their pathetic failure in securing a partner even after dancing half a season away, most of them had extremely tested and proven plans in place to secure a partner to the night.

It was an evening believed to have successfully paired up almost all the unpaired men and women who attended the ball throughout the years.

Call it tradition or some kind of witchcraft, it was effective.