Chapter 31
I’m in a hedonistic fever dream. I almost walk out the door again to confirm I entered into a staid Georgian townhouse. Who knew this would be a portal to debauchery?
The air is smokey, which isn’t great for my respiration, but I’m distracted by the loud mass of bodies crammed into the space.
Mostly men, and some women, crowd the entryway laughing, yelling and stumbling over each other, like I walked in to an elegant, costumed frat party.
People are about as drunk as a frat party-goer. And I think I see a couple making out.
After all the balls I’ve been to and the propriety shoved down my throat, I might be a bit scandalized. Or at least a little surprised.
“Where are we?”
“A private gaming hell,” Leo whispers in my ear. He’s joined the spirit of getting closer to members of the opposite sex than is usually allowed, and his breath tickles the hair by my ear.
He nudges me along, probably to stop me from looking like the tourist I am. We move into the next room, this one set up with tables. More people jostle and joke around them, playing cards and hazard. There’s more room to breathe here, but it’s still crowded.
“This is not the most captivating part,” Leo yells in my ear. He’s loud but I can still barely hear him over the roars of excitement and disappointment filling the room.
“It’s pretty good.” More proof that everything edgy we think we invented has already been done.
Leo smiles and keeps tugging me along. He takes me up the stairs, the din of noise lessening as we get farther up. “This may not be the most elite gaming hell I could have taken you to, mostly because women are not allowed in those.”
I give him a dirty look and he throws his hands up. I roll my eyes. “I’m not mad at you. I’m mad at the entire situation.”
Leo nods. “But this one in particular does let women in. It is also run by a barely respectable widow, and caters to a wider swath of society. It is the most interesting gaming establishment I could have taken you to.”
“A barely respectable widow?” The best kind, I think everyone will agree.
“And we are going to speak to her right now.”
I gasp, getting my mini-notebook and pen out of my purse. “I’m ready.”
Leo knocks at the closed door at the end of the hall and opens it after an “Enter” comes through.
“Lady Jane.” Leo bursts into the room and approaches the white woman sitting at the desk, who is reviewing documents.
She’s wearing red silk, with one or two less petticoats than me so the dress hugs her curves a little more.
She’s more fashionable than me with my older, borrowed dresses.
Her gray hair is done up and she’s wearing more makeup than is entirely proper.
There are two large white men in the room, who stand up as Leo approaches her, ready to do violence to him for nearing her.
“Basildon,” the woman greets him warmly and accepts his kisses to the cheek, motioning for the men to back down.
“Looks like business is doing quite well.”
“Despite you lot trying to close me down in Parliament, and then showing up on my door step the same day you try to pass laws on vice and gambling.” She shakes her head at him.
“Lady Jane, I would never vote for those monstrosities.” He puts his hand on his heart for sincerity.
“Hmm.” The elegant woman looks at me. “Who is this?”
“Indian royalty,” Leo says with a wink over his shoulder at me. “Her Royal Highness Meera Chopra, of the Cooch Behar royal family. And this is the infamous Lady Jane.”
“Bringing me royalty? You must want this place to succeed.”
“I may not be the best advertisement. You might want to hold off putting me in the brochure,” I say.
“You speak strangely.”
“I travel a lot, especially in America.”
“Ah, they are strange there. Welcome to my establishment.”
“If you’re not too busy, may I ask you some questions?”
She jerks her head back on a laugh. “You come to my den of sin and you want to talk to me?”
“It’s so impressive, what you’ve built here.” I wave my hand behind me to encompass her domain.
“Leo has brought so many of his friends here, and they’ve spent so much money, that if one of his friends wants to talk, we can do that.”
“Great.” I get out my notebook and start the interview, wishing my phone had come with me. I could use the recording app for all the fantastic information I’m getting recently.
Lady Jane is open with me. Her great-grandmother ran an aristocratic Faro house, back when they were in fashion in the 1790s.
It was acceptable for women to play in private houses while men played at their private clubs.
But people started to be more concerned with the morality of gambling, especially after the French Revolution and the growing middle class who disapproved of the vice.
For women, it was increasingly associated with a loose sexuality, because how dare women have fun? And without men—unacceptable.
More laws against private gaming houses shut down a lot of the Faro Ladies, but Lady Jane’s family kept running a small gaming house after. When Lady Jane inherited it, she built it up to where it is now.
I could have listened to her talk all night, but she has to do actual work, so Leo tugs me away. He leads me back downstairs. “Did you enjoy the talk?”
“So much.” I smile at him.
“Good. Now maybe you can enjoy the gaming hell itself.”
Before I can ask what he means, he leads me to a table with gentle tugs and pushes until I’m in the seat.
“I don’t have any money,” I whisper to him, trying to stand back up.
Leo puts his hands on my shoulders to keep me at the table. “I shall fund you. I am sure you will be more responsible with it than I ever was.”
“I’m not going to lose your money.” I resist even though the dealer is starting to give us the stink-eye for delaying the game.
“You have an opportunity that no other scholar gets. To not only see the past, and hear it, but to taste, smell, and touch it. To experience it fully by living it, and gaming is very popular right now. So, enjoy it.”
“All right, but only a few hands so I can say I’ve played at this badass woman’s gaming hell. Then that’s it.”
Leo shoves money at me and I shove half back at him, ignoring his protests. Later, before the night ends, I’m going to make him promise to propose to Miss Chilcott. He needs to get engaged before everyone realizes what a fraud I am, hurting his reputation.
I take an extra a few seconds to caress Leo’s face. Standards of behavior seem to be a lot looser in this establishment, thankfully, and I’m going to take advantage by touching Leo as much as I can before the night is over.
He leans into the hand and covers it with his own, planting a kiss on my palm. Then he nods at the table, while motioning for wine to be brought to us.
Two hours later, I’m giddy. And tipsy.
“This is dangerous.” I lean into Leo, who has stayed by the side the entire time, as I gained and lost and gained a small fortune.
A small fortune for me, since I had very little money to my name to begin the night with, and none with me.
I’m able to pay Leo back his stake, with interest, and pocket a respectable amount of guineas to help when I flee.
It’s so Leo, helping me through this entire journey. Without any thought for himself, or how he really should be saving his damn money. I still don’t even think that wealth accumulation is a good thing. But maybe he should accumulate enough to save one of his houses. The rest can be museums.
“It’s very dangerous. But you appear to have good luck.”
“I’m stopping here before I push that luck.”
Leo doesn’t make any bets himself. He watches me, cheering me on to make my own bad decisions. But he refrains from putting any money down on the table.
Because he really is the most responsible rake ever.
“You don’t want to keep playing?”
“No. I’m done for now.” I clutch my purse closer to me so I won’t be tempted to put more money down and potentially lose it.
“Would you like to return home or continue watching the revelry here?”
“I want to stay.” I don’t hesitate even a second. He might not know I’m leaving soon, but I do, and I don’t want to miss a second with him. I need to build an entire lifetime of memories from this day.
They’ll have to be enough.
“Let’s people watch.” I don’t want to think about my lonely future. I’ll have an entire lifetime to be sad about losing him; tonight I’ll enjoy him.
I entwine my hand in his, feeling very twenty-first century. Besides my giant dress, lack of phone, and the shitty lighting. But the couples in this house are getting friskier the later it gets. Women sitting on laps and even some canoodling.
I think we’ll be good with some hand-holding.
Leo knows people here, and we stop and chat when we run into them. Well, he chats, and I pump them for information. While also enjoying their company. Because I can multitask.
I do wait until they’re gone to make notes about our conversation. I’m not completely unfit for social interaction.
We wander back upstairs to get away from the heat, the noise and the crowd, which has only increased as the night goes on.
We find an alcove set back from a balcony, where we can sit and watch the hedonism below with some peace.
Nice for me, because I’m used to studying history, not living it, and it’s kind of exhausting to be on the other end of it.
“You don’t want to be downstairs among the revelers? That’s not very rakish of you.” But I’m glad. I like pushing close to him in a crowd, but I also like being in our own little world of two. Where I can look at him as much as I want. And touch him when I want.
“Madame, are you doubting my credentials?”
“No?” But then I see the glint in his eyes. An intriguing glint that I want to see more of, and I change my answer. “Yes. I think you lied to me the first day when you said all you wanted to do was have fun.” There. Gauntlet thrown.
“All I want to do is have fun. And I stand by my stance. However, I have learned some consequences are not worth momentary pleasure. A lesson all hedonists must learn eventually.”
“So you’re an ex-hedonist?”
“I most certainly am not. I can do hedonism with any of these children downstairs. And for longer, because I’ve learned how to do it with stamina.”
“Okay.” My tone is purposely as patronizing as I can make it.
He leans toward me assertively, like he can will me into thinking he’s a wild child when I’ve seen the hints of responsibility he tries to hide.
“I shall prove it to you.”