Chapter 12 #2
“The lemon balm and lavender, please. And have Mrs. Smith put extra cakes on the tray.” She had noticed in their previous meetings that Mr. Evans had quite the penchant for sweets.
Kitty left, and in her place, Bram wandered through the door.
He rubbed his head on Agnes’s skirts in greeting and then sat by her side.
“I’ve brought some sweets for you as well.” Mr. Evans extended a familiar box, the purple bow immediately recognizable. Bram hissed at his outstretched hand.
“For me?” Agnes asked as though she weren’t the only person in the room. He certainly wasn’t offering them to her feline companion. Mr. Evans nodded and placed the box in her open palms. He didn’t let go.
Agnes could feel the lustrous smile shape her face.
Richard had brought her gifts. Technically everything she had here in her home had been a generous offering from her late husband, as Agnes had come into the marriage with no finances of her own.
But since she had been widowed, she had prepared herself to do without these small niceties.
Perhaps that was overly dramatic. She still had people who cared about her. Nora and Louisa were better friends than most people would ever wish to have, and if she really needed help, she knew that Ida would pull through.
Both of them still held onto the box when Harry interrupted the silent moment. “I believe I met a friend of yours.” His blush turned from pink to a deep red, and he let go.
Her stomach stopped somersaulting and dropped instead, crashing against unrecognizable feelings. Was Mr. Evans smitten with Nora?
Her friend was playful and charming, not to mention beautiful. What man wouldn’t be affected by her dazzling charisma and witty conversation? Nora was a woman confident in her own skin, and even more confident when she was in her shop, surrounded by the evidence of her success and hard work.
Agnes tightened her smile and nodded. “Yes, I’m sure you did. Nora is one of my dearest friends. I recognized the box immediately.”
“She helped me choose these for you. I told her about your teas and she gave suggestions.”
The sour feeling on her tongue turned more acidic as she imagined him leaning over the chocolate counter with Nora, his eyes closed with bliss as he tried her sweets.
She was being ridiculous. Nora was so immersed in love from her husband, she would never even notice the admiration from another. Although, that didn’t mean that Mr. Evans couldn’t appreciate the attractive woman.
“Nora’s chocolates are delectable. If you don’t mind, I will open these and we can enjoy them together with tea.”
She pushed her jealousy aside. Mr. Evans was here, sitting with her in her home. If she made a good impression, he would leave York remembering his time here and not at the confectionary shop. He had called on her, after all.
“Are you here in York to sightsee?”
His mouth opened, but then he clamped it shut. It was not displeasing to watch his face as he worked through his thoughts, so she would allow him all the time he needed. He was quite handsome. Agnes had noticed that before, but now she was savoring the time she had to admire it, politely.
“As a matter of fact, my intention was to visit you. I wanted to thank you for your tincture.”
“Oh.” Kitty’s arrival with the tea tray prevented Agnes from inquiring further on the topic.
“I’ll pour, Kitty. Thank you.”
Her maid hesitated and then took a few timid steps toward the door. Perhaps it was improper for her to sit here with Mr. Evans unchaperoned. This was her home, though, and no one but the staff would know. Regardless, Kitty had left the door ajar in her departure.
Agnes poured the tea and reveled in the delight on Mr. Evans’s face as he inhaled the fragrance. She opened the box of chocolates. Nora knew her tastes well, so she wasn’t surprised to see that the chocolates had been well selected. Agnes held the box out for Mr. Evans to choose.
“I don’t even remember which flavor is which anymore.” He looked at the box indecisively while his hand floated back and forth over the rows of confections.
Agnes had learned to tell them apart by their shape and the designs Nora drizzled on top. “Here,” she said, pointing to a square chocolate with a scalloped design, “these are rosemary and orange—one of my favorites.”
It was her turn to lead the conversation, as he had taken the responsibility during their last meeting in London. “What hobbies do you enjoy when you are not working as an accountant?”
“I study moths.” He blurted the answer without hesitation, like it was already a fact known to her but then drew back in shyness. It was an interesting hobby, yet Agnes wasn’t sure how to respond. She had encountered hobby naturalists before, but they often studied the spectacular, not the mundane.
“Really? And how do you study them? In books?”
“No, well, sometimes I do if they are a foreign species. But I prefer to see them alive, up close. Therefore, I have a particular interest in the English varieties so I may observe them on outdoor walks in their natural habitat. I also collect the larvae and bring them to my study, so I may document their transformations.” As he spoke, his face remained serious, but his eyes sparkled with fascination.
“Why?”
“Hmm?”
“Why moths?” She had evidently surprised him.
He stared through the window, stroking the end of his mustache.
Watching the gentle caresses of his fingers caused heat to bloom in her core, a heat that reminded her of the men in snug trousers who had often visited Richard.
She refilled Mr. Evans’s teacup to distract herself.
“I suppose there are two reasons. The first is rather practical. My days are spent in my office, so I take my nature hikes after nightfall. Most species are nocturnal. But I also prefer studying moths over other winged creatures because they are often overlooked. They’re a rather plain creature, and most people don’t give them much thought.
But I see them, and I think they’re special in their own right.
” He finished speaking, and his eyes flashed to hers for just a moment before he looked away again.
She pondered his words, wondering if he felt a kinship to moths. The enthusiasm in his voice suggested his admiration of moths was a personal one. Yet she couldn’t make sense of that. How could he feel overlooked?
Mr. Evans was a successful man, and according to Richard, one of the most respected accountants in London. He was in good health, charming, and his kind blue eyes would catch anyone’s attention, especially women’s. It was a mystery that he didn’t have a wife, even with his nervous tendencies.
No, she couldn’t leave it alone. She refused to allow Mr. Evans to think that he deserved to be overlooked. “I often see things that people seem to miss.”
There was silence in the room, a charged one. They held each other’s gaze, and she wouldn’t break it until he understood his own splendor. Eventually, he broke eye contact, severing the thread that bound them together, and nervously reached for another chocolate.
It was her fault in creating the disquiet that followed. She had been too bold, too forceful. Agnes racked her mind for a safe topic to discuss, one that wouldn’t cause Mr. Evans to shy away.
“I enjoy nature hikes as well. I love to walk out in the country with a basket and a pair of garden scissors and just forage. See what nature has on offer that day. Just as a chef strolls through a market for inspiration, I ramble through the greenery.”
Agnes was not completely ignorant of the rules of propriety, but her next question leapt from her heart to her mouth before she could stop it. “Would you like to go with me?”
“On a nature hike? We could arrange that.” His words carried an optimism that encouraged her next impulse.
“How about right now? I’ll call the carriage. I know it’s too early in the day to see moths, but we can gather some of the foliage your larvae need. There are some herbs I need to collect as well. I know you’re hardly dressed for—”
“Yes. Let’s go.”