Aspire - Kanthony's continuation story

Chapter 16 - Bloomsbury

The next morning after everyone had broken fast together and the Bassets had left home, along with Violet and the duke who had left for Stanton, everyone of the Bridgertons had withdrawn to their own tasks, except for Kate and Eloise. Kate noticed that Eloise still lingered in the breakfast room for some reason, looking much more restless than usual.

"Eloise, darling... Is something the matter?" Kate asked softly as she sat down on the sofa next to Eloise, who was nervously biting her fingernails.

"No, no! Why do you ask?" Eloise replied and quickly pulled her fingertips away from her lips. Kate gave her a meaningful look and Eloise took a deep sigh. "Fine... Well... There is this sort of gathering I would like to attend... But, I can not." She said in a downbeat tone.

"Why not?" Kate wondered.

"Because it is a political gathering. A rather radical, political gathering." Eloise replied almost inaudibly and sighed deeply again. "One of that sort which got me in trouble last year, or when Lady Whistledown wrote about me socialising with such people..."

"I see..." Kate muttered. "One of the sort that demands equal opportunities for women?"

"Yes, exactly." Eloise declared.

"Well, in that case, I would love to come along and chaperone you!" Kate smiled eagerly.

"Oh no, no, no, no. That is absolutely no place for a viscountess!" Eloise protested.

"Humbug, a viscountess surely has to be as up to date with the political movements around town as anyone else." Kate smirked at her. Eloise gave out a sigh of surrender.

"I guess you must come with me then." She stated with a slight smile, still worried that even if Penelope might do their family the kindness of not writing about Viscountess Bridgerton participating in such an event, some other gossiper surely would feast on it.

"Wonderful!" Kate exclaimed happily. "And perhaps we do not have to advertise our plans to Anthony?" She suggested, winking an eye at Eloise.

"Oh, hell no..." Eloise cursed brazenly.

Later that night Eloise and Kate sat in their carriage rolling through the town towards Bloomsbury. Eloise felt a strange tingling sensation in her body and she was not sure whether she was terribly scared over the fact that she just might run into Theo Sharpe tonight, or if she instead was terribly excited over the opportunity. Nevertheless, her stomach was somehow at the same time both in a horrendous knot and a violent turmoil.

"Oh, this is not far from the street where I was born!" Kate exclaimed cheerfully and pointed out of the window. "I have not been in here for ages, but it still looks quite the same..." She sighed wistfully. Eloise often forgot about the fact that Kate was actually born on this side of London and not anywhere near Grosvenor Square or Mayfair, a fact that Eloise herself sometimes felt even a bit jealous over. Surely a life living near Bloomsbury - and Theo - would have fitted her better than her own actual life...

"Here we are!" Eloise uttered a bit nervously when the carriage stopped in front of the assembly rooms of Bloomsbury. She jumped out from the carriage and was soon followed by Kate, her dark purple dress no longer managing to hide her round belly. They walked a bit hesitantly into the dimmed, narrow corridor filled with people from a far lower social status than themselves. Even though they were dressed in their simplest gowns and wore no jewellery or hair ornaments, they still received weird looks from the people they passed and Eloise felt the knot in her stomach tightening even further.

"Come on now, the stage is over there." Kate tugged at her arm, she had an excited smile on her face and seemed to pay no mind at all to the townsfolk staring wide-eyed at her. Eloise halted suddenly when she recognized one of the women looking at them. The woman was quite short and seemed to be almost in her forties. She was wearing a plain white bonnet, curls of brown hair were sticking out underneath it and there was something almost heartbreakingly sickly and fragile about her already troubled, solemn face.