I am kind of missing the Throckmortons, so I thought I would include a couple of them. If you do not know who they are, I would suggest reading my story 'The Adventure of Morton Manor'.

Disclaimer - Holmes and Watson do not belong to me. Meredith and Gregory do.

Duchess

"How on earth did you talk me into this?"

"I am very persuasive."

"I know…"

Tottering across the ballroom, on high heels, I felt an utter fool. The black veil which covered my face - and most importantly my moustache - made it very difficult to see anything, let alone see the man we were meant to be tailing - a man with 'dubious' intentions towards our client. He had not even come though, but it had been impossible for us to leave, and now we were stuck here for as long as propriety demanded - I dressed as the fictional Duchess of Dovecot, whilst Holmes posed as my daughter, Anastasia. For anyone inquiring why we were dressed as women, it must be explained that as women, we were able to fit into this particular ball well - especially due to the fact that we were not entirely attractive women.

The ball was in honour of our client's sister's twenty-first birthday and there were perhaps ten men to over sixty women. If we had come as gentlemen, we would have not been able to do any work for the women trying to induce us to dance with them.

The ballroom was quite warm and I felt utterly awful. Holmes had procured us two unfeasibly ugly dresses, from heaven knows where, but mine was thick, and the veil was not helping. Holmes, who looked a little uncomfortable himself, murmured to me "Only about half an hour and it will be acceptable for us to leave."

I grimaced, and whispered "Heaven help you, Holmes, when we get out of here. I am a Doctor, not a Duchess."

We heard footsteps stop behind us and turned as a woman spoke "Duchess, I…"

Our eyes met with those of our friends, Meredith and Gregory Throckmorton, who we had met a few months before.

"Good Lord," said Gregory, who looked more than a little surprised.

"May I ask what you are doing?" Meredith's voice was a little hesitant, and I realised that she was trying to keep from laughing.

"It was his idea" I growled.

"I can well believe it."

Much to my amusement, Holmes coloured slightly. He liked Meredith, and it was not at all uncommon for the two to go to the opera or theatre together.

Both of the Throckmortons still looked a little dazed, but their bafflement seemed to be giving way to hilarity.

"What…? Why…?" Gregory stumbled over his words, turning crimson in the process.

Meredith was studying the dress Holmes was wearing "Is that not the dress that went missing from the laundry room at the school?" She turned her face to look at mine "…and this!" She really did look like she was going to burst out laughing now, but it is testament to her immeasurable self-control that she stopped herself "I ask again, what are you doing here?"

"We are on a case. A young lady - a Miss Esme Danvers - came to us this morning begging for our help," I said.

"It seems," said Holmes "That she is being paid attentions by a very dangerous man, a…"

"Mr Joseph Carter" finished Gregory.

"What?" I said, confused.

Meredith grinned "Esme and Mr Carter eloped this afternoon. It seems after she returned from town, she was somewhat ambushed by Carter and he…talked her round. I am surprised she did not send you a telegram…"

Holmes seemed dumbstruck. I was absolutely furious "Holmes!"

Holmes looked at me, then Meredith, then Gregory - the latter two were in spasms of laughter, tears pouring down their faces. "Stupid girl!" Holmes cried "I-I- Come, Watson. Let us go!"

Gratefully, I followed Holmes, not caring that we were being eyed curiously by everyone after this stupendous breach of etiquette. We hailed a four-wheeler and I got it, followed by Holmes.

Meredith came it look through the window "If you could engineer a way to get those dresses back to the school, I would be eternally grateful." Holmes nodded. I took off my veil and cast it aside.

Holmes looked at me, uncertainly. "I am sorry, Watson. But it is not my fault."

"We could have come as men!"

"You saw the way they treated Sir Gregory - gathering around him like carrion crows - we would have been eaten alive!"

Meredith laughed "What is your revenge to be, Doctor?"

I studied Holmes for a minute, and then smiled "I have one idea…"

"Pray tell…" Meredith said, conspiratorially.

"I shall write this story and sell it to the Strand. Of course, in the interests of modesty, I will not insert myself. I will call it the 'Adventure of the Birthday Ball'."

"It will be a best-seller" said Meredith seriously, her eyes sparkling. She turned to Holmes "I take it that you are not going to wear that dress to the opera next Saturday? You might be mistaken for a cast member."

Holmes glared at Meredith, but his eyes did soften a little, and a smile tugged at his lips, if only for a second. Then he cried out to the cab-driver our address. As we left Meredith, we heard her crying with laughter.