The Treasure of Ecarte Island

Up Jumped The Devil

      The very day Daphne's engagement to Laurie, (as she was fond of calling him) abruptly ended with a fatal riding accident, she had been instructed to wear nothing but black for a week. This she would have done anyway, whether it had been expected of her or not. In addition to the appropriate apparel, she had also been warned not to show any of her pain.
"So unbecoming for a lady, no matter what the age or circumstance," her mother had said haughtily, "Leave the sniveling dramatics for actors on the stage. Besides, it was not as though you were married."
Daphne had obeyed, not particularly keen on sharing the depth of her loss with anyone. She merely took to reading in quiet places, and immersing herself with thoughts of those very few times she and her intended had slipped off alone without a chaperone. Those times would never be found out, for there had been no pregnancy to show for it. . .nor would they ever occur again. Then the agony would become too heavy to bear and she would sink into the deep, dark water, wishing to drown.
Only Captain Baugainvillea would have had the audacity to make a social call to Daphne's parents stating his need for a court tutrice for his nephew and sole heir. Her parents had been more than happy to comply, all along hoping to see their daughter in another engagement as quickly as was possible.
Hilary Baugainvillea would one day be coming into one of the largest fortunes this side of the war. Daphne's marriage to him would be very much to their advantage. But at the moment, Dietfried Baugainvillwa was not interested in seeing his nephew engaged until the boy matured and received proper social instruction, not having been raised in an aristocratic environment.
        It had been nearly two years since her loss of Laurie when Dietfried had arranged for Daphne to be Hilary's tutorial companion at social gatherings. Hilary, for being a seventeen year-old boy, had already mastered much of what could be expected of a young aristocrat. He may not have been raised in a mansion on the mainland, but his parents would have not tolerated deplorable behavior soiling the Baugainvillea name.
So, Daphne's management of Hilary Baugainvillea's social education took very little effort, leaving her time to enjoy the company of Dietfried, who had transformed mere social grace at a party into an art form. In this way, Dietfried reminded Daphne of her Laurie, always at the ready to make her feel immediately comfortable in his presence.
          It had been a while since Daphne had attended parties without Dietfried and Hilary by her side. In their stead, Dietfried arranged for her to accompany Lord and Lady Devereux whom themselves had a daughter just coming of age. 
         The social event of this evening was the masked ball of Lord Borameer. If Dietfried had not asked her to be the eyes and ears for him, Daphne would have simply sat this party out. It was known to be borderline obscene for sometimes unbridled behavior, and even the Devereux's opted to leave their young Avoria out of it for one more year.
          It was traditional for all the unmarried women to wear a disguise of the same theme. Last year they were to wear some form of mask depicting a delicate deer.  The unmarried men were instructed to wear masks depicting a wolf.
          This year, the invitation instructed the unmarried women to be purity goddesses (and there were many different ones to choose from) and the unmarried men were to be any of the great number of demons.
           Daphne reluctantly dressed the part but chose to be Lucienne, a goddess who was known to destroy the demons who preyed on young human girls. She knew this choice would most likely be lost on many of the men present this evening. It was not lost on one young man in an ornate demon mask who approached her to dance midway through the festivities.
         "Bold choice," the man commented, as they got into the full swing of a waltz.
          "Lord Borameer's masked ball calls for bold choices." Daphne replied, trying not to breathe too deeply, for her dance partner's cologne was just nearly overpowering.
           "True enough," the man chuckled, "Speaking of choices. . .I see your Hilary chose to be absent this evening, as well as your escort, Captain Baugainvillea."
           " Hmm, I thought the point of a masked ball was to remain anonymous." she lightly chided, although a red flag immediately hoisted in her mind.
           "I would know you through any disguise, Lady Daphne."
            "Forgive me for not being able to see through disguises as well as you do, Sir. . ."
             The man shook his head. "You would not know me even without my mask, my lady."
             "A pity." said Daphne, as the waltz ended.
             "Might I have a word?" the man asked, still holding her gloved hand.
              Daphne smiled graciously. "Certainly up for some lively conversation, and perhaps a drink."
              The man she did not know lead her to an empty table for two and hurried off for her a cup of punch. Daphne kept her poise, but her mind raced.
             She did not fear the man, especially since they were still in sight of many, including her escorts for the evening. If the man wanted to play the game of attraction, at least it would be in words only.  This was far better than being alone with him in the poorly lit garden.
             If it had not been for her promise to Dietfried, she would not have entertained the man at all. His scent just did not set well with her.
           He returned with drinks and sat to her right, nearer to her than he would have been sitting opposite.
           "I come to you a friend, not a foe." he said.
           Daphne was taken aback, but then laughed lightly. "Well, that's a relief! I shall keep that to the front of my mind."
           The man did not return her light demeanor and Daphne felt alarm.
          "Hilary Baugainvillea's presence was very much expected tonight. In fact, it was understood as being mandatory."
         "Mandatory?" Daphne said, sipping her punch casually, "I've never heard of a mandatory presence to a party. Especially directed at a Baugainvillea. If anything, t'would be the other way 'round."
           The man sighed, becoming agitated. "You obviously do not realize the trouble your boy Hilary has gotten himself into, my lady."
           Daphne calmly sat down her drink, giving her time to choose her words wisely. She very much wanted to beat him at his game of intimidation.  Almost immediately, her mind arrived to the most obvious origin of Hilary's trouble, the ever present gambling parlors present at every social gathering.
             "Humph!" Daphne sniffed flippantly, "Hilary's shoddiness at the card table is hardly anything new, sir."
             "Too true," said the man, confirming Daphne's assumption. "But he has been careless with the wrong people."
            "Hmm. How cliche. When it comes to such games, one never hears of having been careful with the right people, do you? Funny how that always is."
          "Clever, aren't you, my dear?"
          Emboldened, Daphne said, "I would like to think so. Yes."
           The man snorted laughter, and glanced about the large ballroom full of goddesses and devils dancing with one another. What a ghoulish scene it made.
          "But, I'll have you know his trouble is dipping dangerously close to costing him more than just his rich uncle's money."
           "Ah!" Daphne leaned closer, narrowing her eyes menacingly, "Now we're getting to the real juicy meat of the matter! From gambling debt to murder, with some good ol' torture thrown in for good measure. You know, this tells me, friend, if I may still refer to you as one, although, I must admit, our friendship is on one awfully slippery slope, that whomever has put you to this task is also being threatened for their own debt.  A fish being devoured by a bigger fish, that could very well be hunted by a whale. It is truly sad, don't you think? Being so desperate as to have to lash out in such a way, over a bit of silver and gold."
             The man glared back at her, his cologne reeking now mixing with his perspiration . "You listen to me, girl," he sneered, "Get this message back to Hilary. If he values his life, or better yet, if he values your life he will get his finances to those he is indebted to sorted immediately. Rather easy to be, oh so brave here in the midst of all this," He waved his hand to refer to the crowded ballroom. "But who is to know what could happen out there, in the dark. . ."
            "Oh! So, now my life is under threat." Without even thinking about it, Daphne threw back her head and laughed at this notion. It was loud enough for others nearby to glance at them curiously.
             The man sat back in his chair, his mouth had gone slack in astonishment, especially when Daphne's laughter faded into a giggle that could have been that of a complete lunatic. Then it died away completely and Daphne sat merely looking at him, as if bored with the conversation.  "You haven't much of a clue about me, do you? I've been dead for years now. All that needs to happen now is for my blood to stop feeding my brain. If that could occur sooner rather than later, I'd be ever so grateful."
            The man apparently had no more to say after that, and without another word, he stood and simply wondered off into the crowd.
            Daphne continued sipping her punch quietly, feeling an overwhelming sense of peace wash over her.  Verbalizing her deep pent up emotions in such a way was something not allowed in her family, but finally letting them out lifted her spirit far more than she expected it would.
              So, when approached by another demon masked guest, she looked up at him and genuinely smiled.
           "What are you? Friend or foe?" she asked sweetly.
            The slight man, obviously more Hilary's age than her own, gaped at her question, then grinned. "You are the goddess Lucienne. I guess that makes you more of a foe to me than I to you."
            Daphne took the boy's offered hand, and stood up. "Dance with me. Let's be friends."