Bonus: Looking for Me?
"Look!"
"What? What is it?"
"Look! Out on the balcony."
A pause.
"Isn't that…Nadja Preminger?"
"With Francis Harcourt!"
"Why is he wearing black? I thought he was wearing white when I saw him earlier…"
"He must have brought a change of clothes that he changed into to propose to her."
"They're engaged?!"
"Well, Francis Harcourt's a proper young man. He wouldn't go that close to a young woman that wasn't his betrothed."
"But I thought that Francis Harcourt was engaged to Maryann Hamilton?"
"Who?"
"An English Duke."
"Must be one of those fake rumors."
"But Master Francis…"
"Yes?"
The two men spun around to see a young man of twenty-two clad in a white suit looking at them questioningly.
"M- Master Francis?"
"Yes?" Only one who knew Francis well could have picked up the beginnings of annoyance in his voice.
"But…but…you were just…"
The men looked around. Indeed, there was another Francis Harcourt out on the balcony dancing with Nadja Preminger.
"I…I think I'm…" Loss of consciousness prevented the man from completing that sentence.
"Jerry!!" The other man was quickly on his knees by his companion's side. "It's all right, you're not dead! Master Francis must be dead, he's a ghost—a split ghost, that must be why he's in two places at once—that's come to haunt us all… But a ghost can't hurt us, you're all right!" And he proceeded to begin to slap his friend repeatedly across the face.
Francis stared at the men a moment before walking away. He had no idea what they were so worked up about, but whatever it was, he was pretty sure that he was better off somewhere far, far away from them.
And then he chanced a glance in the direction that the men had looked.
Ah. Keith and Nadja. Finally.
Now, where was Maryann? She had been talking about planning their wedding for the past four years… Best tell her that she ought to put her plans into action quickly before the couple in question decided to elope…