I walked up to Delmonte's at 6:30 precisely. Joanna had kitted me out admirably in a cream-coloured, aesthetic-style  dress. The simplicity of the garment meant that its long wait in a bag had done it no harm, and the freely-flowing skirt meant plenty of room for concealment of a weapon, even though the neckline was low-cut. 

Theo von Hentzau was already standing in the doorway, apparently in an intense tête-à-tête with the head waiter. I noted that I was not the only one to have dressed for dinner. Theo was formally attired in deep blue dress suit, tailcoat and all, with a charcoal grey waistcoat. He had even managed to partially tame his unruly curls with a great deal of hair pomade. Catching sight of my approach, Theo bowed, and waved me over.

"This is the young lady I was telling you about, Martins," Theo told the man.

"Mr. von Hentzau -" the waiter looked momentarily at Theo, as if for some sort of confirmation. Apparently satisfied, he continued, "Mr. von Hentzau has told us that you had a most unfortunate experience today. Of course, he also told us that you had need to borrow some articles of dinner wear, which I can see is not the case."

I felt myself blushing at the humiliating thought of the restaurant having to supply me with clothing.

"Do not look so serious, Miss Auber!" Theo protested, "It was only that your dress was torn, and there was no way to tell how long the police might require your company!"

He looked so innocent and unassuming that I could not believe the humiliation was intentional. I took his proffered hand, and allowed myself to be ushered into the restaurant.

Despite the fact that the hour was unfashionably early, Delmonte's was full of patrons. Many of them likely had tickets to the theatre for later on in the evening, and wanted to get their dinner in before the show. Delmonte's was the perfect place for them. The table linens were immaculately white, there was more starch in the waiters' shirts than in three kilos of potatoes, and the food was, according to reputation, to die for – an ideal location to see and be seen while wearing one's best theatre-going clothes.

I admired the other customers, and the table linens, but it was something else which delighted me. Delmonte's still had the mechanical orchestra in those days – thirty gleaming brass animals, each different, painted here and there with snatches of bright colour, each wielding its own musical instrument. The full orchestra would not be used until a few hours later, but that did not mean that all was silent. Two of the figures, a rabbit with a violin and a baboon playing the viola da gamba, were delighting the patrons with something charmingly baroque.

Mr. Martins showed us to a large table in a quiet corner, and told us that our own waiter for the evening would be with us shortly. We took our seats, Theo von Hentzau smiling, and I nervous. I could not, of course, ask him directly about the Archduke, or about Simpelstur. Instead, I let him prattle on about Hollandaise sauce (had I tried Ouefs à la Benedick?) , wine (surely the '84 was in stock?), and whether or not I would do him the honour of remaining for the dancing later in the evening (were I to stay, it would be not only a great honour but, moreover, a pleasure!).

It was at this moment that a waiter hovered over our shoulders. I was, at first, only conscious of his black dress coat and white apron - but then he spoke.

"If I could suggest -" he began, only to break, off, sputtering, "What are you doing here?"

I looked up to find I was staring into the surprised face of Gabriel Dantès. 

Before I could reply, Theo von Hentzau calmly spoke. "Fancy running into you here, Gabe."

I couldn't find any good videos of delightful, charming, musical, mechanical animals, so instead I give you a slightly-creepy, intricately-made, musical, mechanical Marie Antoinette. I understand the automaton's wig was made from Marie Antoinette's real hair, which is fascinating, but . . . creepy. I assure you, the mechanical orchestra animals are delightful -Delightful! - despite employing similar technology.