Reuben had been invited, although he had no idea why. The closest he had ever been to a gathering of this sort was once, at Judge Burnbridge's house, when he had stayed late to help Fabian with his Latin, and by the time he left the Judge's dinner guests were already enjoying pre-dinner drinks. He had left by the servant's door, not wishing to intrude.
Here, now, he felt like an intruder. Without his cassock, he seemed to have no identity, and so he stayed close to the drinks table, topping up his courage, lest he was spoken to.
Spotting Sebastian, however, sapped everything from him; the colour from his face and the breath from his lungs, causing him to choke on his wine. Drawing attention to himself was the last thing he wanted to do, but the coughing fit seemed to be drawing a lot of attention from the guests.