The idea of watching a balloon ascension from Hyde Park had rather excited Henrietta, when it had been placed on a list of ‘events to attend’ as the Season began to take shape. It meant nothing to her now, and it was a listless Miss Gaydon who took her place in Lady Elstead’s barouche on Thursday afternoon. To Lady Elstead the actual balloon was nothing, but the situation of the barouche was another matter entirely. Ensuring that it was placed so that she might be able to converse with the most powerful hostesses was paramount, and she dithered over whether to direct her coachman to draw up in the rather narrow space between Lady Sefton and the Duchess of Rutland, and appear to have pushed in, or to settle for the Duchess of Bedford, and a decent gap to Lady Soughton. To Henrietta and Caroline’s disappointment, she chose the latter, for Gerald Soughton was sitting with his mother, and from her expression, even she had already tired of his knowledge of aeronautical adventure. She was thus only too delighted to engage in conversation with Lady Elstead, and foist her son, with his inexhaustible flow, upon the young ladies. Caroline exchanged glances with Henrietta. The former was living upon her nerves somewhat, still wondering how her dear Lord Martley was going to win over his parents, and her own, and Henrietta was, despite Mr Newbold’s support, as yet not cheerful. Henrietta grimaced, very briefly.

‘Of course, the hydrogen gas used to fill the balloon is not without risk, since it is highly flammable. It was the work of Mr Henry Cavendish, whom I had the honour of meeting as a small boy, er, myself being the small boy, of course. The first balloon ascent in this country was by Signor Lunardi a little over thirty years ago, and the following year a small town in Ireland suffered the incineration of a hundred dwellings when a balloon crashed into it and caught fire.’

‘Goodness,’ cried Caroline, rather alarmed, ‘and we are eager to see such a dangerous contraption?’

‘You must be, Miss Felbridge, for this is the future!’

‘If we survive to see it,’ murmured Henrietta.

‘Ah, Soughton, should have guessed you would be present. Good afternoon, ladies.’ Mr Newbold, who had discovered that Lady Elstead was bringing her charges to the event by the simple expedient of asking her, had spent an increasingly irritating half hour ‘sauntering’ between the carriages, looking mildly entertained, and really seeking only Miss Gaydon.

Henrietta gave him a look that pleaded, and a pleading look from those eyes would have won more than mere extraction from the loquacity of Mr Soughton.

‘Miss Gaydon, would you care to be escorted to the edge of the enclosure before anything of a dangerous nature develops? I believe they are bringing barrels of hydrogen with which to fill the balloon itself and I would rather stand well back from such things.’