She closes her eyes. "Gideon absolutely does not see me that way."

"I have seen her magazines. And I am not Dulcinea Septimus." She turns back to the tangles of thread, unaccountably upset, to glare at a particular card.

"If Griddle is angry it will only be because I allowed Ingress to function as my cavalier for the night. Despite being coerced into it she has proven surprisingly attached to the role."