"This is... quite... a different outfit from the last time I saw you, Mr. Jing."

...That is a very fair reaction of Ruby's, honestly. "What's the point of a masked ball if you don't get to wear something ridiculous?"

"Of course. And there's nothing like a mask to reveal the truth."

...He has no idea how to respond to that! Especially considering the whole 'yes, she knows Polari' thing. Time for a brilliant strategem: changing the subject! "Business is treating you well? Less equine costumes, I hope?"

"Another fashion house tried to hire me away to Paris," she says, "but I just don't feel like I can leave London."

"There is no other city quite like it."

"And my French is hopeless. I just don't think I'm brave enough to move to another country where I barely even speak the language."

The flattery is incredibly unsubtle and if it was from someone less wonderful than Evie he would potentially be annoyed by it. But he isn't. "You get used to it."

"What have you been up to?"

(She sounds so interested, and the way she moves is magnetizing.)

"Oh, you know, the usual profession of the working actor: not acting, and spending all your time convincing people that they would like to pay you for actually acting."

She laughs beautifully.

"I thought you did a wonderful job as the back half of a horse."

"It was the height of my career. I'm never going to be able to top the pathos I brought to that role," he says, tongue firmly in his cheek.

"I'm sure you'd do equally well as the front half of the horse."

"With good luck, maybe I'd even be able to land the role of the dame."

"But the villain is the best part. All the actors I know agree. The villain is the part you can have... fun... with."

"It is a fun time to get to chew the scenery." Chewing the scenery: fun. Chewing the scenery as an ~evil mandarin~: ...less fun.

"It's why I'm Carmilla here! The villainess always has the best time."

"Ooh, Carmilla is a good choice."

"Thank you." She kisses his cheek. "I'd like to get to see a lot more of you."

...Assuming she is flirting with him is probably wishful thinking. (Though he would really, really like it to be the case.) "It's a good thing we run in the same circles then."

She smiles. "It certainly is."

And she disappears into the rest of the party.

...and now he is actually bereft. Ruby seems to have disappeared, probably with the aforementioned sailor? He is going to have to apologise when he next sees her. ...and come up with an apology better than 'In my defense: Evie.' ...He is going to sit down and be somewhere quieter. He glances up at the balcony. It looks like Terrence is up there. ...Terrence, especially when diluted with other people, is better than standing alone at the punch bowls.

Meanwhile-- 

Immaculately trimmed and perfectly kept-up, the garden looks like an illustration from a book. There’s a bench by the fountain, or a space to stand near the peonies. In the poorly lit garden, you can hear the whispers of hushed conversation, but you can’t see who might be talking; it’s the most secretive place in the ball.

Dr. Frankenstein and her creation race to a dark corner, giggling.

Violet came here to dance, and she's been dancing. Some. It's fun and exciting and wild and she loves it but it's also rather loud and there are quite a lot of people, and she's dressed herself up as a lovely bird with a full-face mask and a feathered wig and a boa for effect and this was perfect for looking nice and being unrecognizable but she is also starting to sweat.

So now she's outside, where it's cool and dark, and she is looking at the flowers.