A/N: I can only apologise for the delay, but I just haven't been motivated with this story recently. I will continue it though (a few reviews would help :P). Anyway, thanks to Maricella for reviewing the last chapter!

Thursday night came quickly and soon Angelique was down in the hallway, waiting for Barnabas to arrive. As she paced up and down, listening out for the young boy's footsteps to sound out, she thought about what she would say to Barnabas to thank him for not telling on her. It wasn't her fault originally that he was so angry she was worried he would tell on her, but she felt it was her place to do so. He was the Young Master of the house, she was a servant. Her mother would say she should thank him, if she knew that her daughter was in contact with Barnabas that was.

"Angelique, is that you?" Barnabas' voice made the young girl jump as it travelled down the quiet corridor. But joy soon replaced the initial shock.

"Yes, of course it's me. There's no one else this small in the entire household apart from you and me!"

"Yes there is," Barnabas replied immediately, reaching to where Angelique was standing.

"No there isn't. I know all the servants and there are none as young as us, and there is only you, the Master and the Mistress."

"And then there are the ghosts."

"What ghosts?"

"Hasn't anyone told you? This house is full of ghosts and one is of a small girl like you. I've seen her. Apparently she was a servant of the house and one day she went out to the stables to give the stable boy some food and was trampled to death by a horse and cart coming in. She haunts the house, still looking for the stable boy to give the food to."

"You're lying! I've never seen her, or any other ghost for that matter," Angelique said.

"I'm not lying. I told you, I've seen her, wandering up this very corridor…"

The young girl gave him a disbelieving look and changed the subject. "I just wanted to say thank you to you."

"For what? I haven't done anything."

"For not telling on me. I was sure Maman was going to come back and scream at me about the fact I'd been sneaking round the house. It seems Sèraphine caused a bit of a problem though. She got caught inside."

"Oh yes, my father told me about that. I was with my tutor when it happened so I didn't see her. I managed to take him off the scent though. I told him it was a bird that had got caught in my room when I was being taught how to paint and had had a bath in my paints. The painting master moved away to the South last month so he'll never know any different. It seems to have done the trick. He's not so interested in her anymore."

"Well, that's one piece of good news at least," Angelique replied. She had been worried that people would have interested in her strange colouring, like her mother had been. "Thank you for lying to your father."

"It's alright. We share Sèraphine, remember? I don't want Father to lock her in a cage for his collection. Anyway, have you heard about the ball Mother and Father are putting on?"

Angelique frowned. "No, I haven't. What's it for?"

"For me. They want me to meet some girls of my class to see if any of them are suitable matches for me when I get older. They want us to interact a lot as children so that we know each other well by the time it comes for me to marry. You can't tell anyone though. Officially, it's a ball to celebrate Father's promotion, but they're inviting all the families with girls around my age. Mother's teaching me to dance, you see."

The young girl sighed wistfully. "I've always wanted to dance at balls like that. You're so lucky, getting to see all the pretty girls in their ball gowns."

"Then why don't you come down and watch from the doorway?" Barnabas suggested. "There's a door that nobody ever uses and if you open it a crack and look through, you'll be able to see everything! I used to do it when Mother and Father were having balls and I wasn't allowed to stay up. I was never caught. I can show it to you now if you want?"

"Really? You will?" Angelique was shocked. Would she really get to see all the ladies dressed in their multi-coloured gowns and dazzling jewels, waltzing around the room with their partners? Something that she had always wanted to see?

"Yes, of course! I told you, I always tell the truth. Well… almost always. And as for the dancing, you may not be able to do it at the ball, but I can teach you here."

"You'll teach me to dance?"

"Yes, now follow me, we'll go to the ballroom." And with that, Barnabas stalked off in the direction he had just come from, leaving the young girl with no other option than to comply and run after him.

The ballroom was huge. Bigger than any room Angelique had ever seen in her life! It must have been at least ten times the size of her attic room, leaving her gazing round at it in awe.

"It's so big," she commented.

"Well, we do have to fit hundreds of people in here when we use it," Barnabas said, making Angelique laugh.

"I suppose you do," she giggled.

"So, may I have this dance?" the young boy asked, holding a hand out for her to take and making Angelique giggle even more.

"Of course, sir," she replied, taking the hand and curtseying. Her mother had told her that's what you do when a man asks you to dance.

"See, you already know how to start," he said, bowing to her. "Now, you put the right hand on my shoulder and the left in my hand."

Angelique did as she was told and Barnabas put his spare hand on her waist. "Is this right?"

"Yes, perfect. Next, I'll show you how to do the steps. With a waltz, the woman always moves backwards and is led by the man. The rhythm of the waltz goes one, two, three… one, two, three…, meaning you step down on the one because it is a heavier note and up on two and three because they are lighter notes. Do you get that?"

Angelique bit her lip, trying to sort out what he had just said. "I think so."

"Alright then, so the first step is sideways." Barnabas stepped with the young girl as she moved to the right. "That's it. And then backwards with your other foot on the ball of your foot… and join your feet together… and that's it. Then you start again with your other foot."

After a few wobbly tries at first, Angelique got the hang of it and the two were soon waltzing off round the room, just like the young serving girl had always dreamed of. The only thing missing was the music and the ball gown, but Angelique didn't care. Living half the dream was enough.

"That's the basic step of the waltz, but of course, there are many turns and tricky steps added in," Barnabas said after a while. "I can't teach you all of them, but the turn is easy. Just go under my arm." He lifted his arm up and Angelique skipped through and back around to where she was stood before. "That's it."

Angelique laughed. "Thank you so much for teaching me. I never thought I would ever dance with anyone in a ballroom," she said, before her face fell serious. "Although, I think we should go. It's going to be daylight soon and if I'm tired tomorrow, my mother will suspect something."

"Yes, of course. Oh, and that corridor for you to watch the ball from, it's just here." He pulled the young girl by the hand over to the corner of the room. "The kitchen is just opposite this room. I'm sure you can sneak out while no one is watching."

"I'll try, I really would like to see all the dresses."

Barnabas smiled at her. "Alright then, so I might see you on Saturday then, if we can both get away?"

"Yes."

"Goodbye, then." Barnabas waved as he turned to walk away.

"Goodbye," the young girl replied, watching with a smile as Barnabas left the room, leaving her to take one more look at the room before she left as well.