The young man went directly into the young Master's study, looking nervous. Eleanora hid behind the door to watch but not be seen. She saw the man reach into his pocket and bring something out, carefully putting it on the Earl's chair. Then he quickly walked out and re-entered the ball, head down, trying to remain inconspicuous.

When she was sure that the man was gone, she darted into the study and examined the chair. The man had placed a tack on the chair—typical joke. She was about to dispose of it and have it done with when she recalled the recent murders of the nobility—no evidence, no witnesses, no suspects. For all she knew, this could be an attempt on the Earl's life. She couldn't tamper with evidence like that, but at the same time, she couldn't let the Earl sit down on it.

She had to go and get help and advice. She ran back down to the party and desperately located the butler. He was standing in a group of ladies, politely listening to their flirting efforts. He was smiling, but it was so obviously fake that he looked just like a statue—just a bland, smiling statue. Eleanora wondered how the women could miss that he was clearly not interested.

She carefully pushed her way through the throng and managed to find his sleeve. She tugged on it anxiously.

"Sir? Uh…Sir?"

He ignored her; he probably didn't hear her or thought that she was another woman clamoring for his attention.

"Sir? Sir! Listen, something's off, I need your help…"

The Earl walked by and the butler moved off to talk to him. Eleanora almost swore in frustration and fought down a wave of panic. It was rude to talk to the Master in public; she would have to wait until he was alone or at least to the side or something.

She eavesdropped a bit; the Earl had something to discuss with Sebastian; they were going to the study.

"Well, !," she thought and grabbed a platter of champagne from a nearby table. She strode towards the Earl and the butler, acting as ditzy as she could without appearing drunk, bumping into people and giggling.

"Oopsie! Please excuse me! My, but this floor is slippery, isn't it? I'm afraid that I'm going to…"

She "tripped" and spilled champagne on the Earl. Everyone gasped and murmured and the Earl was just dumb with surprise and the butler looked at her as if he was seriously considering murder but Eleanora had seen the young gentleman in the crowd—the one who had placed the tack—and she "accidently" "tripped" again and spilled the remainder of the champagne on him, landing on the floor.

The butler immediately restored order, apologizing profusely and assisting the gentleman and the Earl out of the ballroom, Eleanora "meekly" following behind.

"S-Sir, I'm so sorry," she said in the sappiest tone she could.

"It's fine; don't worry about it," the Earl sighed. "I'll change once I've finished talking with Sebastian. Come." And he began walking towards the study.

"Shit!"

"Eleanora, attend to the gentleman; get him a new suit of clothes," the Earl called over his shoulder.

The gentleman smiled shyly and plucked her sleeve.

"That's right; if it's not too much trouble, ma'am, I would appreciate it if…"

Eleanora snapped into action; she grabbed his arm and began running after the Earl.

Sebastian was remarkably displeased. His party—which he had so carefully planned—was ruined. And it was all the fault of that idiot. He had been wrong about her. He thought that she was competent…No. She was just another moronic maid. He couldn't wait to have her leave the manor…

They arrived in the study with the Master talking about this-and-that, he was just about to sit down…

"Don't sit in that chair! Don't sit in that chair!"

Eleanora burst into the room, dragging along with her the very confused man. Sebastian didn't think that he could get angrier, but it was absolutely possible.

"What are you doing here?" he asked icily. Eleanora leaned against the doorway.

"Don't sit down," she panted. "Don't…sit…down."

The young Master hadn't sat down. He frowned at her.

"What? Why? What's going on?"

"Young Master, there's a ta—"

There was a loud sound and Eleanora felt a sudden, sharp pain in her side. She got a little weak and gently touched her side. Her hand came away red.

The gentleman looked absolutely horrified.

"B-Blood? Is that b-blood? I c-can't s-stand b-blood; take it away from me…"

The Earl and his butler were looking shocked as well. Eleanora slowly turned her head to look behind her.

There was a man in the hallway, a man with a rifle. Upon realizing that he had been spotted, he stood up and ran away.

"Oh," Eleanora thought, "I've been shot."

"Sebastian!" the Earl shouted. "Go get that man!"

Eleanora nodded and dazedly stepped aside for the butler to run out the door. She let go of the gentleman who fell to the floor, whimpering and staring at her dress, which had a slowly growing red stain on it. The Earl grabbed the gentleman and pointed a gun at him.

"Who are you?" he demanded. "Who told you to do this? Why are you trying to kill me?"

The man started blubbering.

"I-It was just a prank, I swear, my Lord! J-Just a harmless little prank; I didn't think that there would be blood…"

Somewhere in the distance there was a gunshot.

"Here, let me—" Eleanora said.

She grabbed the gun out of the Earl's hand and chased after the two men, her fist firmly jammed into her side.

Sebastian intercepted the gunman in a hallway, leaving him trapped, unless, of course, he would want to go backwards, which he didn't seem to want to do. The butler frowned and reached into his pocket for the silverware, fully prepared for gunshots and screams and tears…

The gunman started to grin. He grinned and reached into his pocket with trembling fingers.

"I've heard about you," he whispered. "They say that you can't be defeated. But lucky for me, I just happened to meet two gentlemen yesterday who told me how to beat you…"

He brought his hand from his pocket and held it out, revealing a silver bullet.

Sebastian felt cold.

"Ah, you're scared, aren't you?" the man whispered and slowly loaded his gun with the bullet. "They said that you would be. Nice guys, they both wore glasses…"

"Glasses…"

Something in Sebastian told him to run, but he couldn't. To run would go against his Master's orders, and he was physically unable to do so. He wanted to attack the man but he felt so cold and afraid that he couldn't move; the man raised his gun up as if in slow motion…

There was a gunshot, followed shortly by another gunshot. Sebastian froze and waited for pain; none came but he vaguely realized that the man was screaming and was writhing around on the floor; someone had shot him in the legs and then he saw Eleanora standing behind the man, holding the Master's gun and he sprang into action.

He knelt by the man and quickly began rifling through his pockets and unloading the gun. He was unarmed save for the gun and numerous bullets…Five of these were silver.

Sebastian tremblingly pocketed the silver bullets and weakly nodded to Eleanora as she asked him if he was alright, if he had been shot, if he was sure that he was alright.

He truly was alright. The danger had passed; he had all five of the bullets. He calmed down and grabbed the man's arm. Eleanora grabbed the other and they dragged him back to the study. Sebastian was vaguely concerned about the blood trail on the floor that they were leaving and whether-or-not the party guests would see it and be concerned. He also was aware that he should technically be helping Eleanora, as she was an injured lady, but she seemed to be fine. She panted and moved a bit slower than normal, but they got to the study with no further trouble.

Ciel, upon knowing that the gunman wasn't armed anymore and was now securely tied up, ran back to the ballroom to reassure the concerned guests (who had heard the gunshots) and to find Madam Red to attend to Eleanora and the gentleman (who had fainted).

Eleanora leaned against the wall, far away from the tied-up would-be assassin and watched the butler. He was standing in front of the fire, examining the silver bullets that he had taken from the man. She wondered why he was so worried about them; he treated them delicately, as if he was afraid that they would kill him.

He slid a fingernail around the bullet and the top actually popped off.

"No way," she thought. "It's hollow?"

He turned the bullet upside-down over the fire and very fine, white powder fell out of it and he shuddered. He did this with every bullet and disposed the now-empty hollow silver shells into the fire as well. Then he turned to Eleanora.

"Does it hurt?" he asked in a surprisingly gentle voice.

"What? Oh…No, it doesn't. I've been shot before; this is a remarkably simple wound," she told him.

Sebastian nodded and then the Madam and the Earl entered. Madam Red saw to Eleanora, fussing over her, while Ciel questioned her.

"You spilled that champagne intentionally, didn't you?"

"Yes sir, I did."

"Why?"

"Because…" she trailed off; everyone was looking at her; it was so awkward… "Because I saw that young man enter your study and put a tack on your chair."

The Earl did not look impressed.

"That's what this is all about? A tack?"

"My Lord, someone tried to kill her when she tried to tell you," Sebastian said. He felt as if he should defend the woman. "I think it's worth examining."

"Well, then, go on and examine it."

The butler bowed and went to the chair, coming back with the tack. He smelled it, frowned, carefully licked the tip and looked shocked. He quickly spat into the fire (Eleanora noticed that the fire blazed instead of sizzling, which was odd) and carefully set the tack on the desk.

"It's poisoned, my Lord."

"P-Poisoned?" the gentleman squeaked, who had just regained consciousness. "Th-That's impossible; it can't be poisoned; it was just a harmless little prank…"

"It's a very slow-acting poison," the butler said. "You probably wouldn't have realized that you had been poisoned until sometime later this evening…And without proper medical care, you would have been dead by morning."

"'Dead by morning?'" Madam Red gasped and hugged Eleanora. "You dear, you darling dear, you saved my nephew's life!"

"Saved his life? I wouldn't go that far, my lady; I really was just lucky…"

"The perfect crime," Ciel muttered. "I would just play it off as a harmless joke and would have explained the illness as something else entirely. Then I would be dead by morning, with no evidence and no witness. But why did you decide to do it?" he turned to the gentleman, who blushed.

"I-It was just a joke, my Lord," he mumbled. "Someone got the idea of putting a tack on your chair and then someone gave me the tack and so I…"

"…But who told you to do it? Who gave you the tack?"

"My Lord, I don't remember!" the gentleman said and burst into tears.

"Sebastian, call the Yard," Ciel sighed. "Tell them to apprehend these two."

Sebastian nodded and left the room.

"And you, Eleanora," Ciel said, turning to the maid. "You did very well this evening. Have Madam Red examine you and then you can take the rest of the night off."

"But sir…the ball…"

"We have other servants and besides, I'm not really much in the mood for a party now," Ciel said. "I think I'll cut this ball a little short. You go with Madam Red and get treated."

Eleanora rose with assistance and dropped a small curtsey. She left with Madam Red. A few minutes later, Sebastian came back with the news that the Yard would be arriving shortly, and within a few minutes of that, both the gentleman and the gunman had been apprehended, leaving the Earl and his butler alone.

Ciel sat down in front of the fireplace; he wasn't sure he could trust a chair ever again.

"Sebastian?"

"Yes sir."

"The maid was really clever wasn't she?"

"Yes sir."

"I mean, she successfully faked dumping champagne on us to get both of us out of the party and somewhere more private so that we could talk."

"Yes sir."

"And she's a good fighter," Ciel continued. "She took a gunshot, no problem, and was able to help you with that man. And she's knowledgeable in the bad parts of town—information that could prove useful time and again."

"Yes sir."

"Sebastian?"

"Yes sir?"

"I think she's a valuable asset to Phantomhive."

"Yes sir."

"Your orders:"

"Yes sir?"

"I want that girl to work for me. Make her an offer she can't refuse. I want her tied to Phantomhive for as long as possible."

"Yes my Lord," Sebastian bowed and left the room.