Ellie was surprised by Anne forwardness. Of the three girls who all shared the common bond of school and the Cragg, Ellie, Kate, and Anne, the later redhead was usually much more retiring, preferring to make as little of an impression as possible.

"Waaa.." was all Ellie could blurt out before she was pulled along towards the bandstand. The bopping, happy tones of the band's current tune, seemed to drive the fisher lass ever faster in her rush.

Anne finally stopped when they were close by, within clear view of the musicians. She would hate to have to catch a man's attention, but she was also very curious as to how it was done. Ellie was bolder than her. And she was a maid. She knew far more about the world. And so Anne looked at her expectantly.

Ellie wasn't sure how it was done either, but Anne was looking at her to show the example, so Ellie had no choice.

"Oh, you want me too..fine. Follow me." Ellie took a deep breath.

The music from the band reached its climax and there was a ripple from the assembled crowd as the notes died on the wind. Ellie moved closer to the bandstand. The band on the pavilion relaxed. Some shuffled their music, wiped off their instruments, even blew the odd note to practice. Ellie worked her way over to near the trumpet player, she walked with as much confidence as possible.

"Excuse me, I don't want to bother, but I just wanted to say yer trumpet is excellent. Playin' that is." She looked over her shoulder towards Anne. Was she looking? "If yer not playin' again soon, I've got some sweets. It's a big bag, meant for sharin'."

The young man knelt by his instrument's case, popped the mouthpiece out of his trumpet and wiped it with a clean handkerchief. Not a piece of cloth he wore looked more cared for than that handkerchief.

At some angles, he looked a bit like Noah Longbottom.

“Got something coming up at the tavern,” he said, then slipped the handkerchief into a compartment under the trumpet frame.

Sounded a bit like Noah Longbottom, too.

He glanced up at Ellie.

“… What kind of sweets?”

Anne followed the girl and looked on with both horror and admiration. She was certain she could never be so confident and watching Ellie be almost made her feel embarrassed in her place. Oh no! Was she inviting the young man over? That wasn't part of the plan! Then she would have to talk to him too!

Looking and listening to the boy only made her regret it more. He reminded her of Noah, and that reminded her of the trouble Alice had gotten herself into. Father certainly wouldn't like her hanging out with young man. Not like this. And she didn't want Ellie to find herself in Alice's position. She nervously pulled Ellie's sleeve.

Ellie was about to say that they were the same penny sweets of various flavours she and Anne had gorged on, but she felt a tug at her sleeve.

"Excuse me." Ellie took her friend a distance away. The crowd from the concert has almost disappeared "What is it Anne? What's the matter?"

"I don't think this is a good idea," she whispered, even though they were far removed. She looked nervously in the direction of the crowd. She could feel her face burning. She quickly looked back at her friend. "Maybe he's the bad sort of guy. I don't want you to get in trouble."

"Anne, it was yer idea, ye can't very well run away now. Besides he's wearing a brocade jacket and plays trumpet in a band, how bad can he be?"

That made her feel worse. She hesitated, but she didn't want Ellie to think badly of her. "Well... alright... if you say so," she agreed.

A delightful opportunity still awaited the girls! Not-Noah and his bandmates were gulping down and belching jellied eels.