Page 42 of Snapdragons
Lord Aldric nodded. “Allow me to quickly, seeing as we are running out of time to choose a performance, tell you something about Niles Greenberry. He is stronger than he often seems, more capable than he is often given credit for, and more deserving of sincere connections than he is generally afforded. Making him think he is cared about when he is merely convenient would be even more cruel than you likely realize.”
Was she being warned not to hurt Niles? Had no one warned him not to mistreat her? Had anyone thought how his refusal to even face her in Cornwall, leaving her to pick up those pieces, would hurt and humiliate her?
But those defiant thoughts quickly ebbed. He hadn’t acted as he ought, but she didn’t begrudge him that. Perhaps someday, she would understand his reasons. For now, she would be content with simply understandinghim.
“No matter that he lied to and abandoned me and has not yet offered an explanation or an apology,” she said, perhaps not as entirely magnanimous about that as she had insisted to herselfthat she was, “I do think he is deserving of sincerity, as you have said. And I cannot imagine anyone who truly knows him thinks he lacks capability or strength. No doubt, people make such a grave error in judgment because he is quiet, which is utter ridiculousness. Being quiet does not make a person weak. I saw him rush to the rescue of the poor young man who fell in the lake. He can ride as well as I can, which is, I assure you, impressive. And he verbally spars with the lot of you with ease, which I suspect is a rare enough thing. Strong, capable, and deserving—I challenge anyone to say otherwise.”
Lord Aldric responded to her vehement declaration with nothing more than a dip of his head. “And what would be your reaction if you learned that someone was lying to him?”
“Who is lying to him?” She looked around the room. Certainly no one here would do so.
“Lying holds, perhaps, too harsh a connotation.Misleadingormanipulatinghits a little closer to the mark.”
Penelope shook her head firmly. “That would be a horrible thing.”
“I agree.” The edge that had crept into his voice a mere moment ago was gone. “Now, what is it we are going to do when our turn to perform arrives?” She didn’t think he was now pretending to be on friendly terms with her. He had warned her against hurting his friend, but he didn’t seem to truly think ill of her.
She was so very confused.
“We could list theEnglishcounties in alphabetical order,” he suggested.
“I wouldn’t be much help. I don’t know all the English counties.” With a little effort, she kept her tone light. The confusion she felt was beginning to inch toward something uncomfortably close to guilt.
“We could attempt to place everyone here in order of age, fromyoungest to oldest.” Lord Aldric apparently liked lists.
She did as well, truth be told. Perhaps not quite as much as he did but enough to agree to this easily performed “talent.”
They had mere moments to confer before the group was assembled once more and the second round of performances began.
Lord Jonquil and Violet performed a rather silly rendition of a nursery rhyme. Mr. Layton and Nicolette performed a portion of the allemande. Mr. Barrington and Liam recited the declension of several words in Latin, which caused Lord Jonquil to insist he was reliving the horrors of his early education, which, in turn, led the Gents in the room to laugh in shared misery at having been required to learn the language.Liam laughed along with them and beamed at having found something they inarguably had in common.
Niles and Mr. Fortier were next. They announced their performance as a feat of agility.
Mr. Fortier invited Lord Jonquil and Lord Aldric to join them at the front of the group, which they did. In turn, he challenged them to attempt to catch a wood-cased pencil he held above their hand, perpendicular to the ground, by closing their hand around it before it dropped below their grasp.
Both gentlemen tried.
Both failed quite spectacularly.
“Now, assembled friends,” Mr. Fortier said, “I will do the same with Puppy, buthewill catch it.”
The Gents were quick to toss out words of teasing doubt. Liam didn’t seem to know if joining in their taunting would be considered uncouth or presumptuous.
The trick was undertaken, and Niles did catch the pencil. It was repeated three more times, and he was successful twice more.
As the applause for this display sounded, Lord Aldric and Penelope were invited to the front. Lord Aldric explained theirperformance. Everyone looked both intrigued and interested in hearing what their guesses of everyone’s ages were.
Lord Aldric, of course, knew the ages of the Gents. The ladies, he’d been a little less sure of. Penelope was able to provide her and Liam’s ages. In the end, the only true demonstration they were providing was whether or not they could guess Violet’s and Nicolette’s ages.
“Lucas. Henri. Niles. Myself. Digby. Kes.” Lord Aldric saw them through the Gents portion. Next came the tricky bit.
They’d thought it best if Penelope guessed the ladies’ ages, as it would be seen as less of a slight if an incorrect guess came from her, so she took on the remainder of the list. “Myself. Nicolette. Liam. Violet.”
A quick conference among the audience indicated they had guessed all positions correctly. The congratulations would have led Penelope to make as grand and deep a bow as she had after the scales on the pianoforte, if not for the briefest of moments when she met Niles’s eye. Wariness flickered there in the moment before he settled into a smile. Wariness and hesitation.
Making him think he is cared about when he is merely convenient would be even more cruel than you likely realize.
Misleading.
