just speaking about it.
Daphne sat back as well, eyeing Phoebe curiously. “Charming, you say? I suppose there is as much a chance of him being young and handsome as there is of him being fifty and married.” She tugged restlessly on one of her red-brown. “Excitement and mystery are all well and good, I suppose. But you are taking care, aren’t you? Not to be discovered?”
“I will not be discovered.” Phoebe sat up at once. “I have been very discreet, as has the gentleman. He has never even approached me—”
“That you know of,” Daphne corrected. Then she tapped the paper with one finger. “What about this Mr. Fenwick? It sounds as though your gentleman likes him. Did you enjoy his company at the play?”
Phoebe waved a hand dismissively. “I always enjoy Griffin’s—Mr. Fenwick’s company.”
Daphne’s eyes lit up at Phoebe’s slip of the tongue. “Griffin. That is his given name, yes?” Phoebe narrowed her eyes, but Daphne kept talking. “It seems to me that if your anonymous friend pointed you toward Mr. Fenwick, and Mr. Fenwick seems to like spending time with you, you ought to pay more attention to him than to someone who will not even tell you his real name.” Daphne nodded once, firmly, to punctuate her argument.
With a sigh, Phoebe accepted the letter from her friend’s hand and turned it over in her own. The rampant lion glared up at her from the red wax seal.
“I do enjoy Mr. Fenwick’s company. Last evening, at the theater, he was so attentive and kind.” Without thinking, she reached up to touch the tip of her nose, but hastily lowered her hand again to her lap. “But he as good as told me that he has no interest in marriage at present.”
Daphne pursed her lips and narrowed her eyes at Phoebe. “I am certain most men say that up until the moment they meet the lady who interests them above all others. It is rather like showing one’s hand in a game of Whist. He does not wish you to know whether he holds a trump or a useless deuce.”
A laugh burst from Phoebe, and it only took Daphne a moment to join in with her own giggles. Phoebe shook a finger at her friend. “Your mother would not at all like your Whist metaphor.”
Daphne’s cheeks colored, but her eyes danced. “I know. But I trust you will not tell her.” She relaxed, and fixed Phoebe with a look of concern. “You are one of my dearest friends. I want you to be happy, but I also want you to be careful. Perhaps you ought to suggest a meeting. Nothing clandestine. Just a walk in the park where you both sit on the same bench or carry the same book. You would not even have to speak. But you would see him and know at once whether there is more there than a friendship.”
The wisdom in her friend’s suggestion rendered Phoebe silent for several moments as she thought it over.
“And,” Daphne added with a crooked smile, “perhaps give this Mr. Fenwick a chance. Since he was so ‘attentive and kind’ last evening.’”
“Perhaps I will.” Phoebe turned the note in her hands over again, hiding the lion from sight. “Now. I want to hear more about you. What plans have you this coming week? Perhaps we can contrive to attend the same parties for once.”
Chapter 10
Out of Sorts
Since the night of the play, Griffin had exchanged several notes with Phoebe. The first she had obviously written after their evening together as it was full of her thoughts on the play and nothing else. She did not ask for more hints, which was a relief. But she also did not mention the name Griffin Fenwick again.
He wrote a response, concluding his thoughts on the play, and then sharing thoughts on a book he had read. Of course, Griffin mentioned it in the anonymous letter because he had seen the book upon the table in her house when he had visited. It was the book she had put the anonymous letter inside. The second volume of a novel called Sense and Sensibility.
They exchanged a note each on the subject of the book, Griffin smiling over every word she penned, before he finally went somewhat mad.
Griffin needed to see Phoebe again. In person. And he had not been able to think of another excuse for arriving at her door, unless he finally admitted his interest in courtship.
“That would be the reasonable thing to do,”