The Journey Home

Chapter 27 A Dinner Party

         On the Occasion of the Visit of Miss Margaret Hale

        Captain and Mrs. Lennox

        request the honour of the presence of

        Mr. Henry Lennox

        at Dinner at their home at Harley Street, London

        on Thursday,  16th of October at 7:30 p.m.

 *****

        Mr. Henry Lennox accepts, with pleasure

        Captain and Mrs. Lennox's invitation for Thursday evening.

        Harley Street, 16th October

*****

Aunt Shaw and Edith heartily agreed on this point - it was fortunate that Margaret had arrived in London when she did.  The London season was not set to begin for yet another six weeks, and many of the Lennox's friends were still entrenched in their country estates, awaiting the cooler weather and less odorous air of London.  Where Aunt Shaw and Edith did not agree was the number of guest that should be invited to the dinner party, particularly as  a dinner party at this time of year could forego some of the typical formalities of an in-season affair.   "Such an expense!" Mrs. Shaw tutted when Edith's first list included nearly 75 names,many of whom did not know Margaret Hale, lately of Cadiz, Spain.  "Think of it, child.  We will be obliged to serve two meals, one at 7:30 and another at midnight! Plus refreshments through out the dancing."   Edith, however, hoped to entice a marriage proposal from Teddy, and thought that having many of his friends attend might encourage the reluctant widower.  In the end, it was decided that a formal dinner for 30 early in the evening would do quite nicely, with informal invitations extended to many of the officers for dancing and light refreshments later at 10:00 pm. 

The west wing of of the Harley Street house had been opened to accommodate dinner guests, and an unknown number of additional guests that would join the Lennoxs' dance, likely to extend into the early morning hours.  Where it was a smaller number, Edith had decided to forego bringing on a floor master for the dancing, and had asked that her husband and Mr. Levine, a respectable older gentleman, who lived several doors down on Harley Street,  make any necessary introductions on the dance floor and encourage any wallflowers to dance. The stately dinning room, with its silver and crystal serving ware, had been scrubbed and polished by extra maids and footmen hired for the sole purpose of preparing for the party. The tables had been set with a china brought back from India by Mrs. Shaw, when she was the young wife of the Colonel. The plates were decorated with flowers, trees and birds, to the horror of Maria Louise's nurse. Lilly was a firm believer that birds in the home were bad luck, and foretold death. The Harley Street house was abundant with birds on the drapes, wallpapers and bedclothes -  and was one of the many reasons why Lilly was anxious to depart London with Miss Margaret as soon as possible.

Lilly sat with her young charge in a room dedicated to the comfort of the ladies just outside the grand ballroom. Despite the cooling temperatures, Edith had filled the room with an abundance of white and yellow roses, all in a state of perfect bloom, and letting forth a fragrance that reminded Lilly of a brilliant spring day. The room's furniture had been arranged in small groupings of low settees and chairs to accommodate close conversations among the ladies, with an open area accented with a large mirror, so that the ladies might fix their hair or attire in privacy.

Lilly kept a book of children's poems which she had been reading to Maria Louise, little of which was heard by the young girl, who was impatient for the dancing to begin.  At Edith's insistence, Maria Louise had been dressed in a miniature version of Edith's own peach colored silk gown, trimmed in lace and ribbons, petticoats, silk stockings and cream colored kid leather slippers. Margaret disapproved of the extravagance of dressing the girl as though she were a china doll, but agreed to let Edith have her way this one evening. She also acquiesced to an elaborately curled and pinned cascade of ringlets for the girl's dark shiny hair, but only for as long as Maria Louise would sit still to have her hair done. Maria Louise had, of course, surprised her aunt and remained still for the near hour it took to arrange her hair.