Page 12 of The Best of Friends
Chapter Five
Toss sat in a sittingroom at Falstone House with Charlie, Newton, and Scott, enjoying tea and ridiculous conversation, both of which they’d indulged in far more times than they could possibly count. It felt almost like being back at Cambridge again, almost like Toss hadn’t been dragged away by a brother who had never bothered to understand him and was unlikely to even try.
“I feel like you should get a point in your game for this plum of a gathering,” Scott said. “From everything I know of your brother, he’ll not allow this when he’s in charge of your social calendar.”
“Ishouldget a point,” Toss said firmly. “And that would mean I would have the lead, at least for the moment. I have no doubt Daria would be both happy for me and insistent that my lead would not last long.”
Charlie laughed lightly. “She’s a good gun, as my brother would say.”
“She most certainly is.” Toss had liked Daria from the very first moment he’d met her. She was sweet-natured, funny, and so wonderfully genuine. Perhaps it was his exhaustion with Laurence, who put such store in appearances and placed very little value on sincerity, that made Toss appreciate it all the more.
He’d thought about Daria often when he’d returned to Cambridge after the house party, often enough to know he was experiencing a bit of calf love. As with all fleeting infatuations, he’d expected it to pass as the months had passed. When he had spotted her participating in the Huntress’s entrance at the Debenham ball, his heart had hiccupped a bit. Not such a fleeting infatuation after all, it seemed.
“You should commandeer a traveling coach and return to Cambridge no matter Laurence the Lout’s feelings on the matter,” Newton said. “That would be worth a dozen points at least.”
“Especially since I haven’t any means of paying for the journey, let alone the schooling.” Toss laughed. “Would I lose points, do you suppose, for doing something utterly foolhardy?”
“Let us hope not,” Charlie said. “Most everything any of us will dream up is destined to be foolhardy.”
Scott snorted. “Speak for yourself, Jonquil. I’m an American, and we are known for making very reasoned and practical decisions.”
That set the lot of them laughing, Scott included.
“As an American,” Charlie said, eyeing Scott far too seriously to actually be in earnest, “what is your opinion on Mr. Thomas Comstock earning significant points by riding a horse through Hyde Park?”
Toss met Newton’s eye and saw as much confused amusement there as he felt. “My brother wouldn’t object to that. He’ll likely insist I do precisely that many times next year.”
In tones of utter innocence, Charlie said, “Did I forget to mention you’d be making your circuit of the park entirely naked?”
“You did forget that.” Toss chuckled.
“As the resident future man of the law,” Newton said, “I feel I must point out that your agreement with Daria was that neither of you would do anything scandalous or illegal, and riding nude through Hyde Park is both.”
“I suspect our future man of the law would suggest instead that you sit in on Mr. Finley’s inheritance trial,” Scott said. “It’s due to begin soon.”
“I would win points for that, but I’d be bored out of my mind.”
“Actually, it promises to be fascinating,” Newton said. “And the whispers I’m hearing about what is necessitating the trial make me think it’ll be shocking in a lot of ways. It isn’t every day someone’s claim to an inheritance is challenged years after the fact with enough credibility to lead to a trial. I—”
Toss made a loud snoring noise and assumed a posture of being bored into a deep sleep. His eyes were closed, so he didn’t know precisely what was thrown at him, though it felt like a crumpled bit of paper. “My apologies,” he said in hasty tones of sleepiness, “that was all just so fascinating.”
“It truly will be,” Newton insisted, though he was clearly not offended by the teasing.
“Gillian and I are attending a concert tomorrow evening,” Scott said. “Charlie’s mother has invited us to join her. We are to be guests of a member of theprestigious Jonquil family.” Scott uttered the last three words in tones of overdone importance. They liked to tease Charlie about how important and significant his family was, something he’d appreciated over the years when he’d not felt particularly important or significant himself. Laughing about that perceived chasm had made it less daunting.
“My brother would consider that a waste of an evening,” Toss acknowledged. “Which actually makes it a perfect choice. I would earn a point in this competition I’ve entered into, and I’d enjoy some wonderful music at the same time.”
“Someday, Toss,” Charlie said, “we’ll be enjoyingyourwonderful music at just such an event.”
Charlie had always believed in him in a way no one else did, a trait he had, from Toss’s experience, inherited from his mother. The dowager Lady Lampton had taken many of her sons’ friends under her wing and offered them kindness and encouragement. Mater, as the dowager was known to those fortunate enough to have been embraced by her, had been a balm to Toss’s soul many times since he’d lost his own mother.
“If only Laurence hadn’t insisted I leave university.” Toss tried not to be constantly angry about that, but he couldn’t entirely shake his frustration.
“There must be other means of learning what remains to be learned.” Scott had known them for only a short time, yet he was as dedicated to their various causes and needs as the rest of the group. “Could not Duke or Fennel send you information from the dons you would have been learning from had you remained?” Duke and Fennel were the two members of their group still attending that venerable institution.
“I suppose I could ask.” But if Laurence knew he’d done so, the miserable rip of a fellow would ring such a peal over Toss’s head. And while it might earn him some points in the delightful diversion he and Daria had invented, it would make life miserable overall. He could only be at war with his brother over so many things at once.
A quick knock at the door preceded it opening and a maid stepping inside and dipping a curtsy. “Miss Narang to see you, Mr. Jonquil.” She stepped back outside, and Rose stepped inside. All the gentlemen stood.
