Page 38 of The Best of Friends
“You’ve come to the right place,” Artemis said. “I am a master strategist.”
Though she knew Artemis was not misrepresenting herself, Daria was still nervous to share her admittedly vague plan. What if it proved foolish or doomed to failure? She would not merely be a little embarrassed; she would also be discouraged. But this was her best chance of discovering how to move forward.
“I so enjoyed hosting the soiree, putting it together, seeing it through, making certain people were enjoying themselves. It was precisely the sort of gathering I love to attend. To find I enjoyed planning and executing it was a pleasant discovery. My parents hold gatherings too. I’m hoping that by pointing out to them that I did a fine job of my most recent solo efforts and did so without unnecessary expense or bother, perhaps they would consider allowing me to remain in the household and even return to London if I can be put to work planning such things for them.”
“You are offering to become part of your parents’ household staff?” Artemis did not appear to like Daria’s approach.
“Not precisely. Many spinster daughters take on the role of assisting their mothers in hostessing and household management roles. I would be doing that.” It was a comedown from being a daughter with prospects who went about in Society with enthusiasm. But she’d left that behind when she’d come to London this Season. “And this arrangement would allow me to keep returning to Town and to avoid moving to my great-aunt’s house. I would get to see the Huntresses and Toss and his friends. I think that would be worth donning a spinster’s cap and being put to work.”
“Without a great deal of time to ponder this, I can’t give you a full and complete assessment of your approach. But I will say this: of the three strategies the Huntresses rely upon, this is not the first, which is a good thing. When one is under threat of forcible relocation, retreat is not usually a good approach.”
Daria nodded.Retreat. Wield a shield. Return fire.Those were the Huntresses’ three strategies that Artemis had taught them for navigating Society and their families. In her difficulties, Daria almost always retreated. Wielding a shield involved redirecting blows and subtly undermining peoples’ incorrect or unflattering assumptions. That required a degree of cleverness she didn’t feel she could claim. Returning fire required, to some degree, an assertiveness that also was not in her nature.
“I can’t imagine which of the other two strategies this is,” Daria said. “I never thought myself able to execute either of them.”
“Oh, Daria, this is wielding a shield at its best. Your parents lobbed at you the barbed threat of sending you into the wilds of who-knows-where in such circumstances as there is no hope of ever returning. You are finding a way to redirect that threat and give them reason to rethink it. You are finding a way of changing a blow into something else. That is a shield and a promising one.”
“Truly?” She wanted to believe that. “I know I’m not the cleverest of the Huntresses, so I’ve never felt quite able to employ the other methods.”
“For one thing,” Artemis said very firmly, “cleverness comes in many forms. Planning a gathering like you did on such short notice with so little cooperation from your household staff requires cleverness, make no mistake.”
“Toss said the evening was an inarguable success.” She couldn’t seem to help the hint of heat that stole over her cheeks when she spoke of him. “He has told me a few times that he thinks I am brilliant. He’s the only one who has ever said that. With him, I don’t feel as stupid as I often do.”
“Which brings me to mysecondly.” Artemis hooked an arm through Daria’s and walked with her out of the room. “I am an excellent judge of character, which is why I eventually realized how wonderful my Charlie is, even though he worked very hard to make certain I didn’t know that. I have not once thought you stupid. You aren’t academic. I can’t imagine you sitting down in front of a mountain of books on some dry subject and enjoying it simply for the sake of learning what was in it.”
Daria shuddered a little bit dramatically. She couldn’t imagine herself doing that either.
“You found ways to navigate your family, which is no small feat. Of all the Huntresses, you managed to form friendships with Charlie’s friends the easiest at the house party. And of all the Huntresses, you are the one who understood the quickest my efforts at rescuing you all those years ago. None of those things could be accomplished by someone who was in any way stupid.”
“Self-preservation hardly counts as intelligence.”
“Only according to those who never had to save themselves. You needn’t be a mathematician or orator or academic in order to be intelligent, Daria. And if Thomas Comstock has intelligence enough to recognize your brilliance, then his is an association worth keeping.”
“He is very...” Daria didn’t know how to finish that, but not because she hadn’t any good descriptors for him. She had plenty, and the list grew every time she was with him. But ever since watching him leave the night before and feeling something in her heart break a little, she’d come to realize that her feelings for him had grown more tender and personal than she’d realized. This newfound connection felt fragile.Shefelt fragile where this topic was concerned.
“Only tell me this, Daria.” Artemis looked absolutely fearsome. “Are you stumbling over your words now because Toss has been unkind and you are hurting?”
“Good heavens, no.”
Artemis’s expression relaxed once more. “Then I am perfectly willing to wait for you to decide how you mean to finish that sentence. We can wait all day if need be.”
“I suppose we will have to return to your room and lock ourselves away while I search for and you wait for an elusive word,” Daria said with a little tip of her shoulder.
“You’ll think better on your feet.” Artemis made a show of tugging Daria to the stairs as if desperate not to be locked away.
“I believe I have discovered the threat most likely to motivate you: captivity.”
It was Artemis’s turn to shudder dramatically, which set them both laughing. The sound joined with the distant notes of music being played on the pianoforte. Toss’s instrument. But Daria forced herself not to grow hopeful.
“Are we bound for somewhere in particular?” Daria asked, avoiding asking if they werelookingfor someonein particular.
“I am searching for Charlie,” Artemis said.
It was a person they were looking for, after all, just not the person she quietly hoped for.
“He hasn’t the first idea what is fashionable and what isn’t,” Artemis said, “but he thinks I’m a genius, and I never miss an opportunity to hear him say as much.”
“We’re going to show off the dress?”
