Chapter Text
‘Good evening, Mr. van Rhijn.’
Oscar turns his head and nods. He isn’t in the mood to converse today, and parts from his questioner without leaving much of it in his memory.
A couple of turns around quite a small room give him no reprieve from his thoughts. The last couple of weeks were not kind to him, and he wishes he could forget them. The banker was alone and broken-hearted. He accepted every invitation, every suggestion, took every opportunity to occupy him, but it seems that his focus would always slip up, drifting away.
The banker looked around. Mr. Raikes was all the sweetness in the world, polite to everyone, but especially to his cousin. Charles Fane came around for a short while, no doubt to entertain his new guests. There were supposed to be new arrivals on which Oscar relied to take his mind off, but he could swear European aristocracy has some exceptionally dull and boring looking people. Their faces and figures fused into a blob of darkness, with some rare colours – mainly men, almost no women. Against the white walls and dark wood of this surroundings, they felt distant and indistinct for the banker.
Having no women in the crowd was almost sad. Not that Mr. van Rhijn had any desire to pursue any of them right now, but it’d be wise to keep his options open. Men barely interested him at all. Right now they were more object of a disappointment than anything else.
Finally, the man’s eyes catch a glimpse Mrs. Fane clearly intending to introduce him to someone. A gentleman. And not a very young one by the looks of it. Good heavens, as if he hadn’t have enough of those in Europe.
‘M. de Villefort, may I present you – Mr. Oscar van Rhijn. Mr. van Rhijn, M. de Villefort had just came from Paris. He is in New York for a work related matter, but he was persuaded to enjoy the city a bit’, the woman smiled.
Both men bowed in exchange. So his new acquaintance is a Frenchman. How lovely.
‘My, you, Monsieur, must be quite busy if I haven’t seen you before. I take it you arrived with the Depew party?’
‘I did, yes’, the man spoke as if he was displeased with having to speak at all. Or, perhaps, with his new acquaintance, it was hard to judge by his expression. ‘I was under the impression that I came here to provide legal assistance, but it seems I am merely on a vacation.’
Mrs. Fane found an excuse to leave them be, giving another smile to Oscar. Either she is happy to get rid of him, or truly thinks he can entertain this man.
‘Well you cannot possibly hope to avoid the whole world, not when it seeks out the only Frenchman of any note to come to New York this season.’
‘Truly? I cannot think of why. I am a lawyer, not a duke.’
‘The crown prosecutor of Paris, the very top of Parisian society. Your name was just as hard to escape, as it was to see it attached to your presence, Monsieur’, Oscar couldn’t help his sarcasm. The situation was amusing, even more so since it all seem to go over M. de Villefort’s head.
‘Well what do you expect of me? I cannot entertain, I came alone, not expecting to be put out like an animal in a zoo.’
The two men stopped at a distant corner of the room, away from most guests, and the banker stared at his unwilling companion. He looked so grave, yet the first moment he gets he speaks, and speaks passionately. Maybe even incautiously. Looking closer at him, perhaps he can provide a sufficient distraction for Oscar.
Their conversation went on for a little longer while the banker tried to asses the Frenchman in front of him. Not very tall, but still handsome, he looked like he is in his early 40s yet he must be older than that, thin, like himself, and yet very lanky. His pale skin stood up even more, contrasted by his hair, black as a raven’s wing.
A bitter smile came over the dealer’s lips. If that gentleman knew the ways his figure is being judged right now, he should blush from shame. But Oscar liked that ideas, strangely enough.
‘I do not think this is something to smile about, Mr. van Rhijn’, the voice brought the banker out of his thoughts.
‘No, not at all, Monsieur.’
‘I see that you were thinking of something else. I wouldn’t take you as an impertinent man.’
Oscar bowed, and his smile grew. Now all that’s left is to make sure his entertainment doesn’t escape, and this seemed like a perfect excuse.
‘Of course. I was only thinking how…’
Oscar pretends to be anxious about what he is wants, all while looking around to see if there are people to hear them and make it even harder for the prosecutor to refuse.
‘You see, it seems we have to part so soon, and yet I’d love to hear more of that story. If only you were invited to Mrs. Russell’s then we could…’
‘Mrs. George Russell? I am invited but-’
‘Ah then I can depend upon you being there?’ Oscar smiled in the most charming way, his easy tone making it sound like a decided matter.
‘I only heard she is new to the city, and to the society.’
His look says everything. Despite lacking the nobility in New York, he would still prefer to stick with the older crowd, the old money crowd. Luckily, to this Mr. van Rhijn already had a solution.
‘Is this a problem? If you are worried for the reception, I can assure you, she leaves nothing to be desired. And I assume you couldn’t have any objection to Mr. George Russell’s origin. I heard Monsieur Danglars frequents your house in Paris, and he is, in a way, a new addition to the society, no?’
Monsieur de Villefort bit his lip, no doubt reconsidering how far his acquaintances should extend and the nature of such acquaintances. With a final sigh of resignation, he agreed to come. Then, the lawyer bows and joins another group, just across Oscar, who can enjoy the view of his future friend, and his elegant figure. He can’t have him, he is sure of it, but he can pretend that he can, and distract himself from the recent events, which is good enough.
For now, Oscar’s life has improved.