Dreaming of a Warm Christmas | Afternoon 28th- Xmas 1677

[Guest]

#38 - Residence of the Earl of Gowran

The residence is separated from the bustle of the street by a five foot tall brick wall. A carriage arch with ornate wrought-iron gates leads into the modest but elegant front garden. A gravel driveway forks towards a small stable with an attached carriage house. The facade of the two-story townhouse itself is plastered with lime, and the fashionable sash windows have been painted black for contrast. Above the massive walnut wood double door is a balcony with a wrought-iron balustrade, supported by four pillars, creating a small portico.

 

John arrived at the house (near to his own) on time for tea. He found Lady Gowran perfectly frustrating. An Irish Catholic who seemed perfectly commendable and civilized. Time would tell whether her husband would be the same. He was curious too at her implications of French aid and vendettas against the Dutch.

 

He knocked politely, having brought some scones.

[Hope]

OOC: Lets get this rolling, Diana can join us later when she clears her tableau.

IC:

 

Gowran was lounging hear the fire with a book, the dust jacket identified it as "Gerania; a New Discovery of a Little Sort of People, anciently discoursed of, called Pygmies ~ by Joshua Barnes' -- though the volume inside that deceptive slip of paper was something other again.

 

He hearded the doorbell, and knowing his wife to be corralling the servants in prepare, he stepped to answer the door personally. Page marked, book left on the side table.

 

"You must be Lord Maldon, I'm Gowran." the tall, fair haired and blue eyed gentleman greeted the man at the door, won't you come in." With the servants all busy, John might see to his own outer wear to the conveniently placed hooks.

 

"I don't think they are quite ready for us in the Parlour, wont you idle with me in the office while we wait?"

 

In to the modest sized office he stepped. The fire was burning brightly there, with chairs placed nearby it. His desk was sited in a less than obvious location within the room, indeed, behind the door, and was heaped high with paper work. "My Lady wife said you wanted to talk about Ireland?" He slid back into his chair with a relaxed manner, assuming that Diana's guest would follow suit.

[Guest]

“A p-p-pleasure.” John said. John didn’t mind the informality since it didn’t smack of disrespect so much as simplicity. John followed him easily enough, placing the scones down. He nodded to the invitation.

 

John sat in the office, taking in his surroundings. “Your l-l-lady wife invited me t-t-to talk about the East Indies. But I’d be p-p-pleased to talk about Ireland as well.”

 

John had spoken of East Indian samples, especially from the Spice Islands. Diana had rather enthusiastically suggested the English presence there be reinstated and the Dutch monopoly be broken. She’d implied she had connections and resources that might help and invited him to come.

 

The idea had its appeals. John would at least hear her out. But John didn’t know if she’d shared it with her husband. Or if he agreed.

[Hope]

"Oh? She did not mention Eaat Indies to me. How bizarre?" Why was his wife interested in such a place? Strange.

 

"Ha, but I've little interest to talk of Ireland, so that is great. Hmm... now I think about it, I suspect we've been set up my friend. She told you I wanted to hear of one thing, and told me the topic was something else entirely. She lured us. Ha! My wife is a far from simple creature." this last he said with the resonance of pride. "I say, lets have a little fun with her then? And talk of nothing the like. Why, in fact, she insisted to me that you were not a man of sport. So lets us talk of drinking games and gambling exclusively. It shall drive her nuts."

 

Gowran was enjoying his visitor far more than he'd anticipated - now that he thought to has all the boring stuff dispensed with.

[Guest]

“Uhh,” John hesitated. “She told me she grew up there. In the East Indies.” John furnished why he’d asked her about the plants there. And why she’d been so eager to get involved. Though Gowran was right: his wife was not a simple creature.

 

There was little point in pressing. Diana would reveal her plans and he believed Gowran to be honestly ignorant of them yet. But John wasn’t going to avoid the topic either. That was why he’d been invited over.

 

John's presence here was unusual to begin with. This was the first time he’d been in a purely Catholic house and the first time he’d been in an Irish one.

 

While John didn’t quite follow the train of logic, he let out a laugh. “Drinking and gambling?” John was reminded of Caroline. She’d been asking him for some good party games. “There’s no point in talking about such things.”

 

John tried to be moderate, but he did drink and gamble. In fact, one of his complaints against Buckingham was that the man hadn't paid his gambling debts. The duke had lost a wager and then, conveniently, forgotten.

[Hope]

"Ack!" Gowran laughed as the more studious fellow pointed out the answer - it was obvious. "Slipped my mind, she is as far from a native as she could be, and we've talked about her childhood like never. Here, but be a good chap wont you? and don’t tell her that I forgot something like that."

 

Yes things seemed to be getting off to a swimming start. Although no doubt Diana did not intend her Husband to be interviewing John for the wastrel lifestyle, that was precisely what Gowran was thinking - better than that the other way around. (Though Diana might say differently of her gaming husband)

 

"I like how you are thinking." with a chortled laugh Gowran took possession of a decanter of whiskey, pinched up a pair of nip glasses and returned to the pair of chairs they had claimed, low table between. "Here's one to wet the whistle," first nip poured, "and then what shall we play, cards? dice? or perhaps a wager on how long till her delightful ladyship comes in to scold good men 'at work'." he winked and picking up his drink downed it just like that.

[Guest]

“Of c-c-course not.” John said, just shy of indignant at the thought of telling Diana. He wasn’t going to try and cause strife between a man and his wife.

 

John took his shot after a short laugh. His face twisted then settled into something more pleasant. “Why n-n-not both? Let’s say you t-t-take half an hour, I take longer than that.” It seemed better for Gowran to bet on his wife being prompt. “What’s the wager?”

 

“And that’s your choice.” John said on dice or cards. John slightly preferred dice games but only very slightly. He would be happy with whatever to pass the time. "The... game is too."

 

"What do you think we should p-p-play for?" Normally John played for shillings (which itself showed he was rich, but was moderate for someone as rich as a lord). But that seemed a tad dull.

[Hope]

One day John would be married, one day he'd understand why Gowran did not want to take that risk.

 

"Looser has to eat the asparagus rolls - there is always asparagus rolls." Gowran leaned across and shook on the bet as one did. He noted then the time. "Quarter after three." the steady tick tock of the long case clock coming into focus as the metronome for one particular game.

 

Yet from a pocket a pack of cards was then produced (John Butler was ever prepared).

 

"What do you fancy playing for?" came Gowran’s reply as he shuffled the deck, "High card wins, and looser takes a shot? Though it's a bit early in the day for a game of such stakes." At some point Lord Maldon would have noticed that his opponent was missing one of his eyebrows; evidence of previous nights of high sport.

[Guest]

“Asparagus rolls it is.” John said with a laugh. “And you have to… c-c-compliment them and tell her they’re your favorite.” John upped the stakes.

 

John was surprised at Gowran’s pack of cards. If he brought out a potato and leered at Diana he’d have the hat trick on Irish stereotypes. “B-b-best not to get drunk before dinner.” John said. “Normally… I do shillings, but that’s a b-b-bit dull.” John thought for a bit, “Why d-d-don’t we keep a tally now? Let your wife choose the stakes when she's here."

 

John did notice the eyebrow. Gowran was not the husband he expected Diana to have. "Without telling her who’s ahead, of course.”

[Hope]

"Hey now steady on!" Gowran held up his hand in a hammed up protest, as though complimenting asparagus rolls was one moral step too far.

 

A sporting man like he slipped a pack of cards into his pocket upon a habit. If that was a stereo type for the Irish, then good on them, a rousing game of cards was only a hand-reach away. He begun dealing out the cards for poker without saying, and Maldon found in his hand to be black. J of clubs, and A, K, 9 & 8 of spades.

 

"You do not know my wife very well do you?" he joked of giving Diana such control, "She a playful thing, with just the right touch of cunning." which in this case meant she might have the last laugh indeed.

 

 

 

 

(OOC we are today playing with a pack of 8's and up, no jokers, to hopefully make our hands more interesting.) Although - off to a bad start! >.<

[Guest]

John let out a deep laugh at where Gowran’s limits were. “Chicken?” John dared him to prove his courage. Maybe Gowran would come up with something even worse!

 

John’s opinions of the Irish weren’t to be taken too seriously. It certainly didn’t make him think any less of Lord Gowran. Indeed, he liked the fellow. Gowran’s household continued its streak of being full of kind, decent, human people. Much to the annoyance of John. He was being forced to reevaluate his opinions.

 

“I know her well.” John said. He had a high opinion of Diana. “If we throw ourselves under her p-p-power, she might forgive us.” Better to let her get her licks in now, than to let her wait and plot something out…

 

John had no idea how to play poker. He looked at the five cards dealt to him with a brief furrow of his brow. But his face sunk back into normalcy and he waited for Gowran to make the next move.

 

OOC: I also don’t know how to play poker. Let’s do this.

[Hope]

"Chicken?" The confidant Earl was unflappable, and easily returned, "I could say any number of nice things about chicken."

 

Perhaps John would be placated to know Gowran was also very much Catholic, thus a little of his prejudice against was still morally justifiable to a good Anglican.

 

"Twenty pounds says you underestimate her wiles, and life to regret giving her sway over your fortunes." According to Gowran the obvious answer to the current debate was to place a further wager upon it.

 

Unaware that John would not know how to play poker, Gowran assumed that he was sitting upon an exceptional hand - or was being wily and putting up a bluff. "What? Sitting eh? Well I'll take three." He rejected three of the cards from his hand, putting them face down on the table. Then picking up the pack again, he dealt himself three replacement cards.

 

He inhaled deeply looking at them, then looked across at John. Weighing the man. The man who sat there with an expectant look.

 

"Gah, I’m out." he threw in his hand.

 

"That's one to you. Your deal."

[Guest]

John was too innocent to make the obvious chicken jokes.

 

“Twenty p-p-pounds.” John agreed. It seemed a lopsided bet. And one that he would win automatically if he came out ahead in the poker game.

 

John observed the theater before him. He blinked rapidly a few times in confusion. He comprehended how at least one turn of the game went... Sort of. But he still had no idea what the cards meant. John was used to Cribbage or Whist. Maybe Zero or All Fours.

 

Still, John smiled. He was proud of his victory. He dealt out five cards to Gowran then five to himself. Gambling's mostly chance anyway... John salved his insecurities about his inexperience.

[Hope]

While John's dealing technique could be frowned upon, "Ah now that's better." Gowran claimed with relaxed attiude of the hand he was dealt.

 

John found his own cards to be K, J & 8 of diamonds, J of Hearts and 10 of clubs.

 

"I'l have one." he removed one card from his set, and pressed it face down onto the table sliding it away from himself.

[Guest]

John watched Gowran. He thought he understood how a turn went… sort of. He had no idea how points worked. He knew he’d only won last round because Gowran gave up…

 

John took the eight and the ten (the lowest two) and placed them down. He hoped he hadn’t just broken a rule. This entire game was one long bluff.

 

“So, how d-d-did you and Diana… c-c-come to be together?” John asked. He was hoping some conversation would be distracting.

[Hope]

"Then you have not heard the tale?" Gowran tipped his head, "Our pairing was courtesy of some sort of opiate, a Kings question, and a ladies plucking of a name from proverbial hat."

 

John recieved 9 of clubs and 10 of spades to replace his discards.

 

Gowran peeked at his new card, and stated "of our undecided stakes I bid two more."

 

What would Diana decide they were playing with? This game was a gamble upon a gamble.

 

"Though I was not present at the time would you believe it. Ha, yet how does the saying go, 'What therefore The King hath joined together, let not man put asunder' - or something along those lines, hah hah."

 

There was far more to the tale, and he was happy to tell it if John showed interest to the preamble.

[Guest]

“Not in d-d-detail.” John said. He gave Gowran a strange look when he said it was made of opiates and a hat. John laughed at the mangled (and sacriligous) bible quote. “Not p-p-present?” John was shocked by that. “Now you have to tell me.[/i]”

 

Gowran bid two more. John didn’t know what his hand was worth or that he had to match Gowran’s bid. John looked at his cards and did his best to look thoughtful. “Alright,” He said in a way of vague agreement. He moved a card around in his hand and nodded as if he'd just confirmed something.

[Hope]

"You are seeing me? Or raising ..." Gowran asked, as there seemed to be some sort of hitherto-unknown Essex-dialect in Johns return poker gesture.

 

The tale of he and his wife though was easily enough spoke. "Yes indeed, it seemed I missed my own engagement party as it were. Brighton. You have heard the tales no doubt?"

 

The tales of the party there were as wild as they were spectacular, though very many persons liked to pretend they never happened at all.

 

"Someone spiked the punch, literally, with some manner of opiate that brought about a most gregarious mood upon one and all. I have made my own inquiries of course, curious to the scenes I missed, scenes that led to His Majesty approaching me later with tale of his promise. Or was that my being promised. You have likely also heard that our fine King has a weakness for arranging marriages." he gave a wry smile.

 

"I might have been flattered really, that when asked by the King who she would like to marry, My Lady Diana chose me. Aside from the little detail that I was not her first choice at all! My name was chosen at a random!" here he laughed easily. His and Diana's relationship was very honest, and the detail he now revealed was the distant past. Really, he only said it for he thought it highly amusing. "She got damned lucky, is all I can say. That Avon is lousy at cards." Avon had been one of her first choices, so he'd managed to find out -- his wife, was certainly ambitious, a point he could not fault her for.

[Guest]

“Oh, seeing.” John replied. Raising Gowran was Diana’s job. He didn’t make a gesture, for he had no idea what he’d just agreed to.

 

John quirked his head slightly. He’d heard some stories but not this one particularly. John listened to the tale with a smile. He’d heard of something similar. Devonshire had spoken of it as a possible path to his own marriage. John had demurred. He’d demurred last season too when Devonshire suggested he pursue Shaftesbury’s daughter.

 

John was politic enough not to let his shock at the proceedings show through. But it was shocking to treat marriages so lightly. And insulting. The King would not let his bride be chosen by lottery. Making such an unreasonable demand of his lords showed deep disrespect for his peers.

 

John smiled, “Yes, lucky.” John agreed. There were certainly many men worse than Gowran, especially for a Catholic. He managed to suppress his wince at hearing of how terrible Avon was at cards. John was hardly better but was at least making a go at it.

 

“The p-p-punch could have been a bit more spike at the ball.” John sought release from the misery of such events. “Do you think there’s to be… anything like that this season?”

[Hope]

Though in fact His Majesty had approved of the lottery that was held prior to his choice of his own bride, it had been a great sport which nearly every noble house had taken bets. John was still new to court, he still needed to learn a lot about the way things actually were, in compared to what he'd previously read and learnt.

 

As it was Gowran believed himself honored to have been matched by the King, Diana also.

 

"I am beginning to think you are a novice at this game." Gowran replied to John's off hand manner of 'seeing', his eyebrow raising, even if the stakes did not.

 

"I rather doubt it." was that a touch of pride in Gowrans reply? "While His Majesty is fond of matchmaking, he usually enjoys a little theatre around it. You remember how it was with the Mountjoys do you not? Though more likely we'd see something like what he did with the McBain girl." such recent events were well known in Whitehall, and Gowran assumed that John would be familiar.

 

 

OOC: you have permission to already know of those instances, there was no IC secrecy of either. Feel free to do a search and read up about it in the archives.

[Guest]

The important distinction, to John's mind, was that Gowran had had his marriage actually determined by lottery without his consent. The King had consented and even then retained the decision for himself. These seemed to the young lord to be distinct acts.

 

But as for poker, "I'm not sure I have even that m-m-much skill." John replied, smiling mildly. It had been fun while it lasted though. He put his cards down, though face down in case they were to continue.

 

"Oh, really?" John said. "You should d-d-do it then." John had been speaking of spiking the punch, not of marriage. "P-p-pass it on to some lucky fellow." He smiled. John usually found balls dreadful and the last one had not recommended courtly ones. Alcohol had provided relief.

 

As for matchmaking (for some reason, marriage seemed to constantly come up in his life), "A ball where everyone lines up to try and compete?" John would be excused from that. It was just about the most unpleasant thought imaginable though. "We'll see." At any rate, John intended to marry last among his siblings.

[Hope]

Yet neither Diana or John had been privy to the Kings approach of Gowran, neither knew how that conversation had went. Only that in the end Gowran consented to it. His Majesty King Charles could be a persuasive man, and how persuasive had he really needed to be in any case. Diana was a prize catch (a fact that she was all to happy to remind her husband of daily!)

 

Hunch confirmed, Maldon was not a cards player at all (His lady wife had warned him).Discarding his own hand he took up his drink instead, "If it was a good idea, then I think you'd be planning to do it yourself." he returned with a scoffed laugh.

 

"What is keeping her can you imagine? I think we need to go in search-of." with his suggestion he emptied glass and rose his eyebrows, silent suggestion that John come in search of Diana with him.

 

 

 

OOC: With Diana out of play for so long now, I propose two options:

#1 We invent an situation that neccessitates we abandon the dinner

or

#2 We do a *fade out* post that we all take a lovely dinner together, then *fade back in* on Gowran seeing their guest to the door and completing the evening with a chat on the porch.

 

Take your pick which you'd like to roll with .

[Guest]

"I d-d-dumped stronger brandy in the punch at the ball." John replied. It had not been strong enough for his tastes. "Now it's someone... else's turn. Court's a sad p-p-place if I'm the troublemaker."

 

John puffed as Gowran wondered after his wife. "You," John said amused as he stood, "are going... to d-d-discover a new love for asparagus rolls." He waited for Gowran to lead the way.

 

OOC: If there's something you'd like to have the two discuss, I'd be delighted to have them on the porch afterward. Otherwise, I vote Gowran gets sick on asparagus rolls and the Gowrans have to retreat before the dinner gets underway. They can make it up to him when she gets back.

[Hope]

OOC: Agreed to the dinner being cancelled, though not by the asparagus rolls! (He's a tougher boot than that) I'll wrap this on up then.

IC:

 

 

Going through to the Parlour, Gowran's face shifted into great concern as he saw his wife sitting, a letter in her hand that she mutely passed to him. Something was amiss. Diana was a woman with a strong constitution, yet was now visibly paled.

 

Swiftly the gentleman read the letter, deep was his frown.

 

Turning. He spoke, "I am sorry Lord Maldon, but this news, this news... may we defer our hospitality to take your company upon another day."

 

Just what the contents of the letter was, was not revealed. plainly it was of a personal nature, to distress both the Lord and Lady of the house so.

 

Thanking Lord Maldon for his consideration, Gowan bade farewell.

 

 

~ Fin