The Arrogance of Elegance

Part the Ninth

After a while, the dancing was finished, but that had started a new conversation which made an exciting buzz throughout the hall. Of course, it made a good conversation. There was dancing and flirting so they were now all ears to hear what was going on.

I had decided to join in the conversation with a man who Audra introduced to me as Mr. Wright. And I had heard of him from my dear friend and couldn't help but find his appearance to represent his name perfectly. He had slightly balding blond hair, a thin mustache, and slightly bugged eyeballs. His name was Carl. He just seemed to be the perfect representation of the name. At least in my eyes, that is.

But from my short conversation with Carl, he seemed like a kind and respectable young man. He was just unfortunate in the subject of hair. He was only a couple years older than me, and he seemed to love talking about traveling. He told me of his trips to Norway, America, the Philippines, and many more places—too many to remember off the top of my head. Except, he could name every single one with at least five specific stories and people from each place. Let me just say his storytelling was very detailed.

Soon enough, Nicolas joined us, and I was surprised to hear that Mr. Wright and Nicolas knew each other from when they both were abroad for business. And apparently, Nicolas was the one to introduce him to Audra over Christmas he came back. I had sadly been in London that Christmas and I missed seeing Mr. Burns.

"I must say that you look like a woman who would love to travel," Mr. Wright said looking at me as he straightened his collar. "Are you a woman curious of the world, Miss Forsythe?"

"One could indeed say that," I said, lowering my cracker back to the plate of food I held in my hands. "Of course, I would love to travel if given the chance, but I find enough satisfaction from my imagination when reading books about the world. That way I won't be disappointed at what it really looks like."

"Interesting," Mr. Wright said, nodding his head so sharply, I'd think he could make his glasses fly off. But surprisingly, they did not. "But truly, if you could travel anywhere, where would you want to go?"

"In all honesty, Mr. Wright, I am perfectly comfortable in Taunton and wouldn't travel too much except to visit family in London."

"What if your future husband would want to travel?" Carl replied. "Isn't it a woman's duty to follow her husband?"

"Of course I would love to enjoy the different locations with my future husband," I said, nodding. "But I am currently unattached so I do not need to have an opinion of such matters."

"I could recommend places for you to go, for I have been to many countries."

"I think that you have explained each country so well I could've been there, so your recommendations are not needed, Mr. Wright," I stated curtly, internally rolling my eyes at the man. Could he not catch a hint?

"But—"

"Mr. Wright, Mr. Nicolas," I curtsied to each of them. "You must excuse me, for I must check on Miss Burns. I fear I haven't seen her in a few moments, and I need to tell her that she chose well for the food." I turned on my heel, sighing aloud. That man was obnoxiously ignorant. Of course, he was nice, but he did not understand the boundaries of conversation.