Chapter 3
Oh my god she thought to herself. Oh my god she thought again. And then she thought that bringing Gods attention to what she had done wasn't the greatest idea, as she had just been with a man she met barely two hours ago. Still, she couldn't help think anything else.
Robert was talking to her. She didn't hear a word he was saying. He could have told her her was a prince and she wouldn't have heard. He had helped her get her clothes and hair right with surprising amount of experience and swiftness.
Suprisingly, the only thing that hadn't moved were their masks and she refused to let him remove it.
"Until midnight" she told him. He had given her his handkerchief to clean up which was now stuffed inside her reticule all soiled, she would probably go home and burn that and maybe her clothes.
Oh god what was she going to do. She had no idea what she needed rondo. She just needed to get out of the masquerade.
She couldn't think, she couldn't hear. What was wrong with her she thouggt. She couldn't even manage to get ruined to the right extent she went and got completely ruined. Completely where there was no going back. Completely with all the consequences. She was an idiot. How did she think she can get ruined to the perfect extent. What had she been thinking. It was that stupid Wilbur's fault. If he didn't want his dirty greedy paws in her fortune she wouldn't have had to do any of this.
And no one had even seen her. No one had even realised she had been gone. She had thought the peers had nothing better to do than snoop and spread rumors. Where were all the gossips. Where was Margaret. She might even have to marry Wilbur she doubt Wilbur wouldn't marry her even if she told him she had had a lover.
Wilbur had no feelings for her. But Wilbur cared about society. She needed to get ruined publicly. Then she would have been out of Wilbur's clutches.
They walked backed to the house. She didn't see Margaret or anyone. There were some couples walking outside taking air. No one paid least amount of attention to them.
She told him she needed to use the ladies room
"I'll wait by the buffet table for you" he told her. " I can't wait to see u again my Cinderella. We have to talk my darling."
"About what?" she asked
"I need to see u again. I will see you again. This isnt over." he told her with such intensity and certainty that it gave her goose pimples.
She went to the end of the house designated for ladies and laid on one of the chaise lounges kept for ladies he required a break from dancing. And that was where Margaret found her.
"I have been looking all over for you" she told "I took that busy body around the garden twice on the pretext of getting air." She got so angry at me for making her walk I had to listen to her while she told he about her gout and arthritis and sciatica. "And then she realised she missed the moment when Mr. Fitzgerald came looking for his wife now Lady Smythe. You remember he was lost at sea a few years ago. Apperantly she fainted there was a huge commotion."
"We got lost" she told Margaret. "And when we got back I didn't wanna go in there again. Why don't u go find Mrs Perkins and we can go I'll meet u at front"
Chelsey waited while Margaret went to wake up their highly incompitant chaparone who had been hired by her father for both her and Margaret for the duration of the season. Her father was sponsoring Margaret for the season which was her first. She waited for enough time for Margaret to wake Mrs. Perkins and then made her way to the front.
She saw Robert waiting at the buffet table he was talking to a man she didn't know. She knew he was waiting for her. She remembered that she had promised to show him her face at midnight. But she couldn't keep that promise. It would be better for them both. She managed to sneak away with out being seen.
As soon as she reached the house she sent the maid away as soon as he stays were loosened and all the pins holding her blonde wig were removed. Her drawers had blood on them she threw them in the fire. Smell of burning cloth filled the room. She remembered Robert hankerchif. She took it out to burn it too but she didn't she washed it with the left over water in her wash basin and left it to dry on her night stand.
She would never see him again. She didn't plan to find him again. She had no way of finding him again even if she wanted to. She didn't plan to either. But for her it had been a magical experience. And she wanted something to remember him. It wasn't a monogrammed handkerchief it was quite plain really. No one can tell it didn't belong to her.
She felt sore. And excited and devastated at the same time and now she realised she was probably ruined for other men as well.
Ladies took a long time at the retiring rooms he knew that. But his Cinderella was taking longer than everyone. He looked in the direction of the ladies retiring rooms to see if he could spot her.
He knew she wasn't an accomplished flirt as he had thought. He had felt her barrier give as he entered her. He knew with out a doubt she had been a virgin. He had no idea why she had been dressed as a herlot Cinderella but she wasn't a seductress she had been an innocent. But she had flirted like one.
He wasn't a seducer of innocents. But the way she had rubbed against him he had assumed she was experienced. Maybe a lady bored in her marital bed. Maybe an actress. Last thing he would have thought was a virgin.
Robert had never been with a virgin. His first women was a tavern girl at the docks in america where he was lifting loads when he was seventeen. That was before the ship owner Stevenson hadn't taken Robert under his wing.
He felt possessive of his Cinderella. Some how he didn't want anyone else to go where only he had been. He didn't care if she was a merchants daughter or a noble mans. But she was going to be his. He had enough money to win over both.
This was wen loxly had found him.
"Where have u been" he asked
"I was with a lady" Robert told him
Loxly laughed. Trust u to find a lady in a masquerade. "What's her name?"
"Cinderella" he told him.
Loxly laughed again "My man, I think u have gone crazy did you even take a look at this place every other women is Cinderella complete with golden slippers to boot"
And Robert realized loxly was right every other women was a Cinderella.
What he had no idea that a few weeks before a seamstress had made a Cinderella dress for an opera singer which had gone all in range. But gently bred young landies can't wear dresses like that every day so the masquerade was an opportunity for all the ladies who had been coveting the dress to wear it and therefore the Cinderella abundance.
He didn't want her Cinderella to be worried; he wanted to do right by her. He had felt a stronger connection to her than he had ever thought possible.
He didn't know her name. He wanted to tell her that she shouldn't worry. He was going to call on her father o guardian and ask for her hand. He wanted to marry her.
Robert had always thought that marrying would be like a chore. But the idea of having his Cinderella all to himself was the best one he had ever had in his life. He couldn't imagine anything better.
He hoped she wasn't crying in there. He wished he had reassured her before she had gone. He would just have to wait. He had told her he wanted to talk.
He waited near the table for more than an hour. She didn't come or she sneaked out. He started feeling uneasy. But he knew she had been attracted to him like he had been to her. One sided attraction didn't give of sparks like that.
He wished he had told her.
By midnight he was gloomy. It was beyond doubt that she had sneaked out either when he had been distracted or she had left from the back. But he was sure she wasn't in the room. He had even talked to three other cinderellas who had looked like her from the back
He had no idea how he was going to find her. He had no clue as to her name. He didnt even know how she looked like he had only seen her in the crowded ball room and in the dim chinese lights. He found loxly made his excuses to the host and left before midnight
