12 Days of Christmas Degustation | Evening, 27th December- Xmas 1677

[Guest]

“Ahh, welcome back, my lord, pull up a pew!” said Edmund merrily. “I fear I have been boring the young lady terribly with my homespun tales of life away from the bright lights of the capital and in my moth-like fascination with all things bright and beautiful now I’m here.”

 

He chuckled to himself. “No, Mistress Doolittle has been most kind in listening to my ramblings!”

 

Although his primary aim in attending the Red Lion had been to sate the gnawing hunger of a day’s walking, he now realised that since arriving all he had done was drink! Edmund looked about for a servitor to see if they could point him in the direction of some food or, ideally, have some brought over. The effects of wine on an empty stomach, whilst warming the brains, did not for a clear mind make.

[George Hardwick III]

OOC: thank you!

IC:

 

It hardly helped that George beckoned the waitress for refills as he took his seat, 'on my tab' in a discrete voice to her he added.

 

"She does not appear to be suffering unduly." a smile tugged at his cheeks at Edmunds relenting of the topic into his own hands. Ellen too seemed content to let the Earl direct it - perhaps it was a benefit of his station that he discovered these quite unnecessary deferances. "And there is no lack of precedent to regale our country homes though rosy glasses, while we at not actually there - twiddling thumbs with idle for the most part!" he laughed.

 

"Of the Doctor." Ellen suggested some prequel for James arrival. "Well... let me see. I could fascinate you with the dale of his marriage, it was but a few seasons ago. He's recklessly high achieved, much to certain persons aghast. Although the ceremony is known to hold the phrase 'if anyone cares to object, etc etc,' -- his is the first that I have ever attended where someone did in fact do so." George told the tale with cheerful humor, it was a good pub tale in any ones books.

 

"Mmm... but Mistress Ellen, I think you now have my friend and I at a disadvantage." She knew of Georges, and Torrington had expanded of his family home, but where did a wealthy family like the Doolittles go to escape London's summer stench? "Share with us if you will, of your own families country home?"

[Raconteur]

A smile exchange with the Earl and a small nod as she accepted the offer of a refill content to follow his lead in playing Host.

 

He spoke then of his Doctor friend and she was interested in meeting him.

 

"He sounds very much a plesant sort of Gentleman and I think held in regard and I do hope that his Marriage had a good outcome despite that 'interuption'?"

 

Next came his own question to her

 

"I am afraid that I have no great thing to say in that regard. My Father is not one to absent himself for long in Business. But we did have a house in Surrey, near Guildford, some twenty mile or so from London. It is a green place full of woodland and forest. Tis divided by the North Downs that run East to West and the Rivers Wey and Mole which, so I have been told, will meet the Thames."

 

"Guildford is the largest of the Towns and a house was purchased from those that desired to leave - I believe that too much sadness was the cause but then who can know for sure - and my Lady Mother was pleased so the deed was done."

 

She gave a smile to Torrington for that had been a topic of discussion between them.

 

"Sadly it burned down before the Spring of this year and now we remain here. I do miss that place for there, well, there was Freedom. We were allowed to leave off London dress and wear only hunts if the mood took or other clothes that allowed for ease of motion."

 

"We had two horses and my Fathers hunters that we were not allowed to ride but I am proud to say I did and stayed on - but received a beating for it - I was still in the schoolroom then or close to being out. But then things changed and twas important that more time be spent here and so we did as told."

 

While she talked she forgot her inner thoughts and it was perhaps the closest thing that the two Gentleman might ever see - that rare glimpse of the true Ellen.

[Guest]

Edmund shook his head and tutted - "A shame, my lady, I am sorry to hear of the fire. A pernicious thing, to lose something like a home, even if one is not so attached to in, in such a way."

 

A fresh set of refills had been passed around. It had not gone unnoticed by him that the kindly Earl was the benefactor of the liberality so far. He had better do something to repay the generosity. He surreptitiously slid a hand into the pocket of his jacket and slipped the coins therein through his fingers, mentally counting what he had and assessing the best method of recompense.

 

"Perhaps I have made us all too melancholic with all this talk of homes, the past and things gone by. We are on the cusp of a new year, one full of opportunity, no doubt. Or at least if we make it so! Come, I hope I am not too bold, but I would be honored if you would both raise a glass with me - a pact, the Oath of the Red Lion! To a mutually beneficial new year in which a great many things will be made right and successful!"

[George Hardwick III]

"Indeed it did Mistress Ellen," Chichester replied, "they are settled at Chelsea with first babe in arms, and to the best of my knowledge the grumbler of the wedding day has become aligned. It were jealousy I suspect." his attention swung to include Edmund, "Princess Mignonette was quite the catch for a humble Baron." Yet with a royal nod things were possible.

 

Ellen answered with a tale of her past country home, though burnt down now it held nostalgic memories none the less. "Not at all." he replied as Edmund voiced his concern that he'd put them into a dreary subject, "or at least I should say that the tales of lifes obstacles does not trouble me, but rather grants insight to the persons who face them. Wouldn't you agree Mistress Ellen?" whom he thought had enjoyed telling of her 'beginners adventure' with horses. "Why, I should like to know now, that horse in question was saved, and that you persist with your practise in London still?"

 

But a toast was welcome. Lifting his glass the Earl knocked the bottom of his glass with each one, "hear hear!" he championed Edmund words.

[Raconteur]

She listened as George explained more about his friend the Doctor

 

"I am glad then that their's had such a good ending! How plesant Chelsea is and now a child so even more Joy." There was a touch of longing in her words when she made mention of a babe.

 

"The horse? Oh. I seem to remember twas named after the person my father swore he resembled for his temperment was the very "Devil" himself! And as for riding here, I have, upon occassion but not so much anymore"

 

She could have added for want of invitations but did not.

 

Glasses were raised and she added her own voice to echo the two Gentlemen her smile once again serene and her eyes dancing from the attention and company. She silently added her own wishes that the New Year would be better than this had been and that Fortune might at last smile upon her.

[Guest]

Setting his cup down, his face a little flushed now with the heat and the drink, Edmund nodded at the Earl's remarks to the young lady. "In truth, adversity is the greatest mirror for the Human Soul."

His life had been, thus far, relatively blessed in the lack of it.

 

"But, yes, Mistress, do tell us more of your horses. That I think is something we can all enjoy! It has been a long time since I had the pleasure of accompanying a hunt. Until better settled here, I have left my own horse up in Torrington Kirby, with a view to him joining, with the rest of the Torringtons in due course. It is not the same having to hire livery nags whenever one needs to get about. I always enjoyed riding to hounds across the great rolling expanses of the Northern moors. I am sure that the land hereabouts must have some fine places to ride. Where, in your experience, are they?"

[Raconteur]

It would seem that she would have to tell her story after all ..

 

"I am afraid that I am not the best person to ask that of Lord Torrington." She smiled but it carried a small sigh that trailed. "I do not have the benefit here of those that persure it. In the country, as you have said, tis far easier to find those of like mind. There it is indeed a pleasant occupation and even tho I am not the best rider I do not lag that far behind!"

 

"But I must admit that I am not fond of blood-sports and so perhaps that is why I am not asked? To wager on bear-baitings or cock fights causes me sadness - yet there are many of my sex that thrive on such things - and there is much interest here in Town for it and I am sure Lord Chichester is better equipped to speak on it."

 

She turned her brown eyes in his direction

 

"But then again as he has a gentler Soul perhaps he too does not find it a goodly occupation?"

 

She was not intentionally putting him on the spot but giving him the opportunity for a 'man to man' discussion as it were.

[George Hardwick III]

"Adversity is the greatest mirror for the Human Soul. - what a fine phrase Lord Torrington." George approved of it, really he approved of Edmund himself, and added a second toast on the spot to him, "to the sentiment of a philosopher."

 

The topic moved on and past Ellen's own riding adventures, towards talk of a hunt, then of gambling and blood sports (which George would not have equated with hunting, but there it was!)

 

"Yes it is true." he looked from Ellen who declared him to be the expert of such topics, "I love a wager shrewdly placed, and to be rewarded generously when ones hunch proves right. Forgive me if it sounds proud, but I happen to win far more than I've ever spent. I might have been a professional I suppose, had I need for a lucrative career then gambling would be it."

 

"Though Mistress Ellen, you do see me as far more bloodthirsty than I actually am. For bear baiting is a nasty business, and cockfights not much better."

 

"As to pastures to ride, I'm only recently returned to the saddle myself. Shall we discover it together, come the thaw, and plan an excursion one and all."

 

OOC: since we are supposed to be closing our thread now, shall we assume that midst conversation we've all been eating, and perhaps are wrapping up with an after dinner sweet drink?

[Guest]

Edmund raised his glass and saluted the second toast. Wiping the corners of his mouth with a napkin, he finished the food he had been most happily picking at and felt, at long last, that the grumblings of discontent in his stomach were abated and an uneasy truce restored. A balance in all things, a noble philosophical sentiment. He had been so engaged in the tripartite pleasures of food, drink and conversation that he had quite neglected the passage of time. The candles illuminating the chamber had started burning down, the once golden illumination now a more autumnal orange glow, flickering over the walls. The problem with being well fed, well water and well rested after a long day’s (self-inflicted) route-marching was that it all conspired to cloud the mind with tiredness and the limbs with leaden fatigue.

 

“Another worthy sentiment to follow another – I think that a jaunt, for whatever purpose, would be an admirable idea, come the thaw. Do please count me amongst the number! After all my walking today, however beastly it may sound, I am certainly of a mind to have a beast do some walking on my behalf for a while!”

 

He rested back in his chair, enjoying the warming heat of the nearby fire.

 

“Well, I can safely say that I am fully enamoured with the Red Lion. Just what I needed after all that exploration. No conquistador required less! I fear now that the evening is closing in, I should shortly be on my way or else I run the risk of having to have the landlord throw a blanket over me where I sit!”

[Hope]

Just in time for a night cap...

 

Lucinda and John

 

By the scents in the air the pair might know they had missed a very fine meal. Lucinda's hair style was dishevelled, and John's jacket was creased. But Lucinda strolled back into the main room as though she was Queen of Sheba upon the Earl of Maldons Arm.

 

Giving a nod to this one and then that, and giving a nod of thank you as the swift waiter brought them an after dinner tipple. A sherry if she guessed correct.

 

At the table they had previously vacated, now sat a man in a camel coloured jacket, with a finely trimmed beard that consisted of sideburns shaped down around the edge of his jawline till it met in the middle - rather alike a chinstrap of an helmet. A style not fashionable, and yet seemed to suit him well enough.

 

 

 

OOC: feel free to meet this NPC, though we'll be wrapping up the thread shortly.

[Raconteur]

She had pushed the food on her plate absently not really eating and her drinks had been kept to two and no more. She was comfortable but now the room was stuffy and confined and she would welcome the cold night air once everyone made to leave.

 

She sought out that spot where her Father had placed himself and she was glad to see that he remained in it content within his circle and that he would be needing the attentions of his coachman.

 

"I think Lord Chichester that I have judged you unfairly - or so it would seem. I am glad to hear that you share in those pasttimes so devoutly Male and here is Lord Torrington to join in."

 

Her words held teasing and a playful banter and the wine had made her relaxed and in the company of these two men she felt no pressure to be anything but who she was. That he too shared a distaste for bear baiting please her as well.

 

"I should like to be included if it pleases you both. Yes tis far too cold and frozen ground makes for an unplesant ride so Spring to discuss makes far better sense.

 

"Might I offer you the use of our carrige? I am sure my father will not object and it might break the ice so to speak so that in future any concerns can thus be adressed more easily after an introduction."

 

"I will send you the name and location of the agent as promised Lord Torrington and I hope you will allow me the pleasure of seeing what is finally chosen?"

 

She made the offer of the carriage as she had listened to his tellings of himself and so supposed that he might find her father useful and vice versa - business man to business man - at some future time.

 

"You are welcome'd as well Lord Chichester to make use of our carriage ."

 

Her smile was easy and she hoped that their's might grow into a friendship yet would be truly sad if he chose to remain aloof.

[Guest]

John walked back in easily, a smile at Lucinda on his arm. His sense of propriety wasn’t offended by what happened. John thought widows and unmarried men were free to get up to what they pleased in private.

 

He took the sherry and sipped, strolling over to the table. “Good evening.” He looked to Lucinda for signs of recognition. He expected the man to stand and introduce himself.

 

OOC: Alright.

[George Hardwick III]

Edmund looked to be settling in for a cat nap, while Ellen was making talk of carriages, her eyes flitting about. Looking for her family he supposed. That ilk had been talked about often enough, but he'd never met a one. Perhaps he would tonight?

 

"Fear not, I've my own carriage." George said no more than that. His carriage happened to be a rather ostentatious affair, he'd been unable to rein (pardon the pun) himself in the ordering of all the bells and whistles imaginable. Drawn by six horses no less, it was quite the sight, though not entirely practical on the city streets.

 

He noted the late arrivals, then, Maldon. How about that. He gave the man a nod, with a discreetly curious look at the woman he was with.

 

"Mrs Golightly stole my heart the moment I sat at one of her tables." George agreed with Edmunds sentiments of the comfort of the Inn, though most especially the calibre of the food. "I have spent some whiles plotting her kidnapping in fact." he laughed, "Mr Golightly is surprisingly lean, all things considered."

[Raconteur]

To her it seemed that his reply to her offer was rather abruptly concluded and she flushed slightly and turned her eyes away letting them travel about the room but not really seeing anything before taking another sip of her drink. Old habits died hard and she still felt a slight even if one was not intended.

 

"Yes, I have heard the she is much appreciated for her cooking skills, and tis one reason why this Establishment is so populated!"

 

She added more for the benefit of something to add to the conversation. Lord Torrington it seemed was inclined to linger and she wondered if it was perhaps time for her to leave thus allowing the two men to speak freely of whatever it was that Gentleman spoke about.

 

But in truth she really did not want to leave yet for her topics of conversation that she knew would be much different from those that moved in Court Circles and so she was rather at a loss for a direction.

 

Perhaps Lord Torrington might supply it?

[Hope]

Maldon, Lucinda & Cadogan

He had no idea that this pair had been sat at the table, but smiled as the man and woman arrived and approached him directly. Then greeted. That was friendly, and he pleased to have company.

 

"Good evening." Arthur replied, his eyebrows moving in an 'do I know you' fashion, before settling upon determination that no, he did not. Partially arising from his chair he offered a chair bound bow, "Arthur Cadogan , of Cadogan & Co. Would you care to join me, though I fear you have missed the greatest part of the meal. I believe we are onto aperitif's course. I was just trying to identify the the tipple upon offer. Rest assured it is not genever! Ha ha!"

 

Naturally the Inn’s staff saw to supply of drinks to the returned couple.

[Guest]

Maldon, Lucinda, and Cadogan

 

John smiled in reply to George, a brief moment of recognition. He neither hid Lucinda nor made any gesture to show her off.

 

“I d-d-don’t believe so.” John said of having missed the greatest part of the meal. “Cadogan and Co.?” John invited elaboration. John was open minded enough to consider wealthy merchants like lower gentlemen. Far below him in social status but of quality. But that applied to educated, well off merchants. Ideally ones from generational wealth.

 

John let out a puff, “I’ve got some very good jenever… recently in fact. It’s excellent before a night in.” John had an (incorrect) suspicion that it had been lifted from the Duke of Buckingham.

 

John helped Lucinda take a seat and with a sip tried to identify what they were drinking.

[Hope]

Maldon, Lucinda, and Cadogan

 

"Yes Cardogan and Co, here, my card." Arthur supplied to John's curiosity. That the young man did not introduce himself or his lady friend however was a point made.

 

The merchant gave a further smile to the lady, he was of an age to think her a handsom woman indeed. He'd have enjoyed meeting her. But by retaining his anonimity and not accepting his offer of a seat, the younger man made it plain he thought himself too good for that.

 

Perhaps if the night had been younger, he'd have caught John in a more sociable moment? Arthur stood, and chuckled of the mystery man's claim. "I find that hard to believe." With a nod of his head he then moved on to settle his tab.

 

"I wonder what his business is?" Lucinda bent to look at the busines card in John'as hand, then after the exiting merchant.

 

The business card did not offer any clues, reading simply

Arthur Cadogan,

Cadogan & Co

C/o Westminster

 

 

 

 

OOC: time to wrap up the thread, if you'd like to do your final posts please.

[Guest]

John and Lucinda

 

John took the card and looked it over, tucking it in his jacket pocket. The man had not elaborated to the degree John wished. Still, it would be impolite to delay further. "The Lord Maldon. You'll forgive me... not having mine. And Lady Hawthorne." John made a gesture for the man to be at ease.

 

Before anything more could happen, Arthur rose to leave quickly. John looked to Lucinda. He wasn't sure if he'd given offense. Though he was beginning to think Arthur was a commoner. He hadn't begged his leave. "It's a p-p-pity he didn't stay." John agreed with Lucinda's curiosity.

 

John glanced around the room briefly. It seemed things were indeed ending. "We best be going too." He smiled. He would wait to see whether Lucinda's plans to put her lovers together ever materialized.

 

OOC: I've forgotten Lucinda's title, so if that's a mistake my apologies. And thank you for the thread!

[Hope]

Fin & thank you to all and to all a good night!

 

 

OOC: She has always simply been Lady Hawthorne