14 on file
By the late twenties most women have hosted as many evenings as they have attended, and it shows in small things: where she sits, what she orders, how comfortably she lets a silence run. Fourteen companions are on this page, aged twenty-five to twenty-nine, which makes it the largest of the three decades.
Their manner is practised rather than rehearsed. Most have kept a discipline for years, an instrument, a brush, a saddle, a potter's wheel, and they bring the same patience to an evening.
Membership follows the facts in each file, nothing looser. Every companion here travels to hotels and residences across central London.
Karolina, 174 cm with straight black hair, goes to hear a recital at St James's Church whenever one is programmed. Danielle, 170 cm, chooses an early film at the Curzon and a supper near enough to discuss it. Patricia, 172 cm, looks at the watercolours at the Mall Galleries as if rereading old letters. Michelle, 173 cm, opens at Apsley House, with the stories behind its portraits. Liana, 167 cm, makes the prelude an hour among the shelves at Hatchards.
Laura, 169 cm and green eyed, orders at Murano on Queen Street like a regular of long standing. Thea, 165 cm with caramel blonde hair, chooses Kiku, the calm Japanese room on Half Moon Street. Rosa, 160 cm, prefers tea at Fortnum & Mason to anywhere grand. Cindy, 168 cm, wants the tall windows at Hide, looking over the park. Milena, 175 cm, holds the corner of Dukes Bar before supper.
Nora, 166 cm and honey blonde, reads the windows of the Burlington Arcade and sketches one detail before anything else. Vanessa, 173 cm, holds out paper strips at Floris and asks which you prefer. Tina, 158 cm and the smallest of the fourteen, takes a stool at Bar Américain and adds a recipe to her notebook. Samanta, 174 cm, saves her one drink for the Donovan Bar, the dark room inside Brown's on Albemarle Street, and can name every hotel that has come close to it.
Karolina at the piano and Samanta at the violin, scales first. Patricia with a watercolour each morning. Liana at pilates and among her roses. Milena at the potter's wheel, Laura in the saddle, Cindy and Michelle crewing on boats through the summer, Thea on the Chiltern paths. Rosa at the oven, Nora and Tina at the drawing board, Vanessa with a new word a day, Danielle with a slim book of poems in her coat. None of it is performed for company. All of it shows, in the patience each brings to a long evening.
The early twenties page moves at a brisker pace. Thirties and beyond is calmer. This one sits between them. Within it, three of the fourteen are blondes, Cindy, Nora and Thea, and six are slim and slender. Five, Danielle, Michelle, Milena, Rosa and Thea, also appear on the curvaceous page, and six stand among the statuesque.
For the overnight engagement, dinner to breakfast at £3,000: Danielle, Patricia or Michelle. For extended engagements, priced from £6,000 for a weekend: Laura, Nora or Thea. For a single hour at your hotel: any of the fourteen, at £600. Rates shows each step between, and booking reaches Octavia.
Mention the companion who caught your eye, or describe the evening instead. Octavia knows who is free tonight and who suits a long table.