"What did you think dances were for, if not for the company?" He tilts his head, eyes bright and curious. "Let me guess. Your father let you learn gunnery in the hopes you'd be going to hunting parties and making political alliances. Dances, the domain of debutantes, would be for making alliances of marriage -- meeting pretty young girls from good families, the kind of company you like the least. You like raucous men who can fill a room with conversation." He nods over in Grantaire's direction. "Or philosophical men who can discourse on the new sciences and let you listen."