A Taste of Honey by Lindsay Kiernan

was no way of telling just how ill he was.  Dabbing the tip of her quill into the ink well Katherine began scrawling out a quick note to her father and wishing him a safe recovery.
     
    The hours leading up to the Buckman's dance were nerve wracking for Katherine.  She kept expecting to find another note or worse for him to show up from out of nowhere, telling Mrs. Brentley everything that her young charge had done.
    Robin received a note of her own just hours before the party.  Winnie had run into Victor lurking outside their house.  He had asked her to deliver it to Robin in secret, which confirmed their suspicions that Mrs. Brentley was not about to let a man like Victor into her house.  After reading it Katherine and Winnie had asked Robin what he had written.  She only told them that the note was far too private to share.  However she did confirm that he would be seeing them at the Buckman's dance that evening.
    Katherine was happy to discover that it was to be a much smaller affair than the Emerson's dance, which had been an open invitation to any member of Parliament and their family members and friends.  The Buckman's had been more selective with whom they invited and Katherine was surprised to hear that Victor and his friends had made the list.
    “Men as rich as Victor are hard to say no to,” had been Robin's reasoning.
    Mrs. Brentley made sure that they arrived at exactly one half hour late, ensuring that the dance would have already begun in earnest.  Katherine and Robin were asked to dance by many of the same men that they had met the other night.  They again thanked each man for his attentions and superb dancing, despite the fact that nearly all of the men had been written off by both of them.
    After four dances apiece, with well meaning young men, their chaperone seemed to relax enough that Robin had her chance of slipping out into the gardens to find her sister's mysterious man.  She left the red rose that had been pinned into her hair on a banister leading outside and tried to pretend that she was Katherine, even walking slower than was normal for her.
    The back garden's fountain was large, but because it was hidden amongst several hedges and trees, it was difficult to get to, making it the perfect place to be meet up with someone before finding dark corners to hide in.  Robin tried not to pace back and forth as she thought about what exactly she would say to the man when he arrived.  If it were her, she could have been rude and told him to leave her alone.  But she knew that Katherine never would be, so to convince him she would have to think of something else.  There were already too many things that could mess up her plans without Katherine's one kiss getting in their way.
    Robin had been hiding behind a hedge, trying to get a good view of him when she realized that he would not appear until she was in plain sight.  To test her theory she stepped out from her hiding spot and into the open.  Almost instantly she was greeted with his arrival from behind a similar hedge on the opposite side of the fountain.
    In a few quick strides, she bridged the gap between them and pulled him into one of the corners where they were less likely to be seen.  Trying to remember the words that she had prepared, she looked up into his face, still mostly shadowed beneath his hat. 
    From her sister's brief description, Robin could tell that he wore the same hat and coat that he had the night that they had kissed.  Likely it was so that he could be more easily recognized by her.  He looked quite young and while she could not see his features, there was a confidence in his stance.  It assured her that beneath the shadows of his hat was a handsome face.  The mystery hovering around him was palpable and Robin knew then that she would have kissed the stranger too, had she been given the chance, and instantly forgave Katherine for having done so.
    “Where is she?” the husky voice ordered, breaking into