Page 43 of The Best of Friends
Her lips pursed the way he’d noticed they did when she was puzzling over something. “Does your brother not allow you use of your own pianoforte?”
“No, he does not.” Toss didn’t think now was the time to explain how truly horrid Laurence was lately.
Daria squared her shoulders. “Well, I am feeling very brave today. Perhaps I will march myself over to your brother’s house and tell him just what a loathsome person he is being.”
Toss slipped his hand around hers. All felt right again, even if only for that moment. “What has you feeling so brave, Daria?”
“I told my parents that I ought to be permitted to plan another gathering at our house since the soiree was a triumph. At first they objected, but in the end, they agreed. And I can remain in London until it is held. And better still, if I do a good job, I think it will convince them that I ought to remain at home and come to Town for the Season in the future in order to plan such things. I wouldn’t be relegated to Great-Aunt Theodosia’s house where I’d be all alone.”
He pressed a kiss to her hand, which he’d also discovered the day before was very much to his liking. “Congratulations. You were not only brave, but you were also successful.”
Her wide smile lit her entire face. “A wise person once told me I was brilliant. I simply decided to believe him.”
“Whoever told you that was wise indeed.”
She laughed. “It wasyou, Toss.”
He laughed as well. “As I said, very, verywise.”
Daria moved so she was standing beside him, her hand still in his. “I can tell you are on your way out, and I don’t mean to keep you.” She walked with him toward the door of the music room. “But I am glad I got to tell you how courageous I was today. I knew you’d be proud of me.”
“And deeply happy for you as well. Also relieved to know you’ll be here for weeks yet. London wouldn’t be the same without you.”
She looked up into his eyes, a blush of pleasure pinking her cheeks. London wouldn’t be the same without her nearby. But he knewhewouldn’t be the same either. Yet he needed to be more circumspect. His tender feelings for her would soon be obvious to everyone if he wasn’t careful. But he’d already had the horrifying realization of the misery Laurence would cause her, assuming Laurence even proved willing to abandon his plans to choose Toss’s eventual match.
Toss could only fight so many battles at once. And he did not wish for Daria to be pulled into any of them.
And that thought remained with him all the way to his club, where he had arranged a meeting with Mr. Fortier, just as the Duke of Kielder had suggested.
He made his way to the reading room and found the tall and elegant Frenchman waiting for him. Mr. Fortier greeted him warmly, and they took adjacent seats in a quiet corner of the room.
“Thank you for granting me a bit of your time,” Toss said.
“I would have regardless, but I confess I was particularly intrigued to hear that it was His Grace who suggested you reach out to me.”
Toss nodded. “I was not aware the two of you were well acquainted, but he seemed entirely confident that you would prove helpful in a very specific matter.”
Mr. Fortier offered a serene and sedate smile, not unlike those Toss had often seen the vicar of his home parish wear over the years. There was a reassuring peacefulness to Mr. Fortier. “The duke and I are not of the same generation, but His Grace has a deep connection to the group of gentlemen you met at Lord Aldric’s home during the poetry night. His Grace’s early years and our youthful years are intertwined in rather entertaining ways.”
“Mr. Layton indicated you all were friends of very long standing.”
“We’ve known each other since our school days, and I will save you the trouble of stumbling over any attempts to observe how very long ago that must have been without causing offense. It has, indeed, been decades.”
Toss liked Mr. Fortier more the longer he knew him. “I’ve been fortunate enough to gain very close friends myself. I hope that decades from now, I can say that we are all still friends.”
“I hope so as well.” There was a sincerity in his words that touched Toss. “What is the matter on which His Grace suggested you speak with me?”
Toss had told so few people any details about this aspect of his life that he couldn’t help feeling nervous. He wasn’t ashamed of his music, nor was he ashamed of his talent and interest, but he’d encountered enough difficulty in this area, especially lately, to give him pause. “Whilst at Cambridge, I studied music composition. I believe I’ve a knack for it. I know I have a love for it. I’d hoped that at the end of my time at university, I would leave with the tools and contacts and knowledge I needed to pursue a vocation in that area, as much of a vocation as a gentleman is permitted, at least.”
Mr. Fortier listened, watching him intently with a look that told Toss in an instant that the man understood the conflicting feelings he was trying to express.
“My brother has never approved of my musical pursuits, and to that end, he refused to pay for my final term at Cambridge and instead exercised the power he has over me and brought me here to London for the Season to begin molding me into the gentleman he wishes I were.” It was tempting to get up and pace, but he didn’t particularly want the conversation to be spread throughout the entire club. “Without that conclusion to my education, without the connections it would give me, I’m not certain how to proceed. I would very much like to continue my efforts and my compositions and perhaps even earn an income from it. My brother’s disapproval is a significant obstacle. My father’s will does not guarantee me any income from the estate, and I live quite literally on the charity of my brother. Antagonizing him means being penniless, without a home, which isn’t a great option. His animosity toward my music has grown since he pulled me from Cambridge. Despite having told me that I would be permitted to do what I chose and enjoy myself in this, my first Season, he’s taken exception to my inclusion of music in my activities.”
“In what way has he expressed his disapproval?” Mr. Fortier asked.
“He had my pianoforte removed from the house and sold. I’ve hidden all my musical notation, as I very much fear he would destroy them if he found them.”
“I’m sorry to hear that,” Mr. Fortier said with very real understanding. “I spent far too many years of my life hiding my poems and fearing what would happen if my brother discovered them. It is difficult to feel free to create when one also must hide that creation.”
