Chapter 10
At last the musicians drew their bows across the final notes and the couples on the dance floor bowed and curtseyed towards one another. Mr Wiverton led Jemima back to Kitty and Miss Berystede. Jemima was thoroughly glad to be rid of him, for he stepped all over her feet when he danced, and his grasp on her arm was clammy.
He bowed in an unctuous way to Kitty, making an elaborate gesture with his fingers, which were long and thin. "After the honour your friend has done me in partnering me for the quadrille, I can hardly hope that you will increase my pleasure in further in taking my hand for the cotillion?"
Despite the professed faintness of his hope, Mr Wiverton clearly anticipated no refusal. He barely masked his indignation when Kitty, who only longed to be rid of him, dec
