Lord Blackwood's Valentine Ball

“Lord Blackwood is giving a Valentine Ball? And you are invited?” Mrs. Henrietta Paisley widened her bulbous blue eyes at Patience. “How marvellous! What a romantic and thrilling idea. Let me see that.”

She snatched the gilt-edged invitation from Patience and squinted at it. “Oh, I can’t read this. Wait, where are my spectacles? Although I never confess to needing them, so you’re not to tell anyone.” She rummaged in her capacious reticule for her spectacles and then peered at the invitation card. An excited expression spread across her plump, florid face as she studied the embossed crest, the bold handwriting, and the elaborate signature.

“Well, I’m sure his secretary wrote this out, but this is his lordship’s own signature. Lord Blackwood.” She gave a sigh of pleasure. “Look at these flourishes and loops. So…so regal! Just what one would expect from a member of the nobility.”