Characters · 12 characters
Characters: the roster read one detail at a time
The society pages have always sorted a room by small, visible facts: who wore green, who arrived late, who slipped away before the speeches. The Society's index is a gentler version of the same habit. Each character gathers the companions who share one detail Cressida has confirmed in person, the colour of a woman's hair, the line of her figure, the stage of life she has reached, and nothing that must be taken on trust.
There are twelve characters across the whole roster, and every companion belongs to three or four of them at once. Michelle is filed under dark hair, height, a curving figure and her late twenties; Sonya under dark hair, a petite frame, an athletic build and her thirties. Read them as doors into the same house rather than separate rooms. Origin and background are never characters here, and never will be.
At 21:00
Characters
Browse by a detail you already have in mind, drawn only from published facts.
12 characters
Grouped from the published facts alone: colouring, figure and age band. Nothing here is guessed.
How a detail becomes a character
Each one starts as a line in Cressida's notebook, written at the first meeting with a new companion: height measured on the day, colouring noted in daylight, age confirmed from documents. Nothing is taken from a photograph alone, and nothing is guessed. When a set of photographs is renewed, the line is checked again. If a detail changes, the name moves quietly from one character to another, much as a guest is moved along a seating plan when the numbers shift.
The limits of an index
An index can say who is blonde. It cannot say which blonde laughs loudest, or whether a raven haired companion would choose a jazz cellar over three hours of opera. For that, read the profiles, or turn to the occasions, where each kind of evening names the companions who suit it best.
Every character keeps the same tariff, from £600, stated here once and not repeated on the pages that follow. When a name stands out, a single message to Cressida by WhatsApp or Telegram, naming the evening and the hotel, is all it takes, and she answers at whatever hour you write.
Browse, then write
Name the companion you prefer, or describe the evening and let Cressida choose from the roster.