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to being hostess. Sydney danced with the duke, Brennan, her own
admirers, and some of Winifred's disappointed suitors, even Baron
Scoville. Between dances she checked on the refreshments and the card
room and the general in the entry hall.
Bella and her party arrived late. She kept her cloak with her, saying she
was leaving early. She was not surprised to see Willy and Wally still near
the door, for they were to stand there all night, guarding the punch bowl
now gratifyingly full of donations. Bella handed over the price for two
admissions.
"She's my new Indian maid," she told Willy, nodding toward the small
woman draped in fabric who walked behind her. "She ain't going in, so I
don't have to pay for her. This is for me and the captain." Bella's escort
also tried to walk behind her. She dragged him to her side when she saw
the general and Lady Windham, whom she had not expected to be where
they were, not at all. While she was thinking, she yanked off one of her
rings and tossed it in the bowl. "For the starving children." Let them eat
paste.
Then she jerked the Indian girl forward and told the general, "This
here's Ranshee. She'll stand here and look decorative for the folks. You can
ask her to help; she understands English fine, don't you, Ranshee?"
The girl salaamed to the general, holding the edge of her veil across her
face. Her eyes were darkened with kohl; her skin with tea. Her sari was
yards of silk; two coffins were going naked into the earth.
The general had seen many an Indian maid in his day. Some even had
hairy arms. None, however, had green eyes and wisps of red hair beneath
their headpieces. Few were liable to have knives tucked in their sandals
either. The general made his growling noises.
"Hush up, you old lecher," Lady Windham hissed in his ear. Griffith
turned the general's chair away in case the sight of the Hindu girl was
bringing back bad memories.
General Lattimore was now directly facing Bella's male escort, whom
she introduced as Captain Otis Winchester. One of the naked coffins
belonged to an officer of the Home Guard who went out for pistols for two,
breakfast for one. He wasn't the one. Bella sewed an old shoe buckle over
the heart-high rip, like another medal. The captain walked with a limp
and a cane and had a patch over one eye. He also had a full beard and
mustache and muttonchop sideburns, which were not all the exact same
shade, but close enough. Like the general, he wore an ornamental sword
and a sidearm pistol.
"One of our brave boys wounded in battle," Bella told the general, who
promptly saluted, even though he couldn't quite make out the lad's rank
and medals.
Bella had to kick the captain and whisper, "Salute, you dunderhead."
So Chester saluted. Ah, the old bar sinister, Chester's inheritance from
his true father, was to have its day. Chester saluted with his left hand.
The general's face turned red. He gurgled in his throat and started
pounding on his chair arm. Griffith wheeled him closer to the door for a
little fresh air.
The Indian maid Ranshee, meanwhile, having taken up a serving tray
from one of the waiters, went to offer an hors d'oeuvre to Lady Windham.
Unfortunately the poor girl tripped over her sari and spilled the tray of hot
lobster patties right down Lady Windham's magenta décolletage. One of
the Minch twins came running over when the countess shrieked. Captain
Winchester, praying the remaining footman was Willy of the fragile
mandible, hit the fellow a resounding blow. It was Wally and he hit back,
sending Chester's mustache flying in the general's direction. Griffith
wheeled him around in time to see Bella pick up Winchester's cane and
whap Wally over the head a few times until the footman went down. By
now the Indian girl had torn off her veil and headpiece and was holding a
knife to Willy's throat, or as close as pint-sized Randy could get. If that
was Wally, though, this must be the easy one, so toothless Randy hit Willy
alongside the jaw with the heavy silver tray. They got it right that time.
Aunt Harriet was flat on the ground in a swoon, like a banquet table for
sea gulls. Bella was holding open her cloak while a groggy Chester tipped
the donation bowl's contents into it.
When the bowl was empty, Bella knotted her cloak and headed for the
door, Chester limping at her heels, Randy not far behind. But there was
the general, cutting off retreat, his dress sword stretched in front of him,
one last battle cry on his lips, his faithful batman wheeling him into the
fray.
So the O'Toole tribe retrenched and headed for another exit, through
the ballroom and out the glass doors to the rear gardens. In making her
plans, Bella had not counted on finding half the upper ten thousand
between her and escape. Sydney was first on the scene, having been
headed in that direction anyway. Randy grabbed her before she could cry
out, and held her in front of him as a shield, the knife now pressed to her
throat. Bella lugged the sack and Chester limped, followed by Wally on his
knees, and the general leading his own charge.
The moment they reached the ballroom, things got even more
interesting. Ladies shrieked and fell into the arms of whoever was close by,
even poor, homely men. Winnie started sobbing. Forrest and Brennan ran
forward, but slid to a halt when they saw the knife threatening Sydney and
the pistol now in Bella's hands. The viscount cursed when he reached for a
sword that wasn't by his side. Those guests who were not trampling each
other in their efforts to leave made sure there was a clear path to the
doors. Then the duchess, standing by the refreshments table, saw her
typically inept sons at a standstill and took matters into her own hands. A
punch cup in one hand, a saucer in the other. Soon she was joined by the
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