“Beg pardon, miss!”
“You are forgiven,” she said, stepping aside with a small smile.
The boy grinned and vanished into the crowd.
Lila continued on, her portfolio tucked beneath her arm.
Henry’s lesson replayed itself in her mind whether she wished it to or not. The careful lift of his fingers. The concentration that gathered in his brow as he searched for thenext note. The small breath he took before striking the key, as though courage could be inhaled if one tried hard enough.
The boy listened.
That was the difference.
Many children learned music. Few listened to it.
She turned onto the wider street leading toward Dover Street, the traffic thickening as the afternoon stretched on. A carriage rattled past close enough that the driver tipped his hat in apology.
“Mind the wheels, Miss Edgewood,” called Mr. Tully from his newspaper stall.
“I always do,” she replied.
He chuckled and returned to stacking the day’s editions.
Familiar faces passed in the slow drift of the neighborhood. A seamstress carrying folded linen. The baker’s daughter with flour still dusting her sleeves. Lila inclined her head where it was expected, exchanged a greeting where politeness required it, and kept moving.
Routine steadied the mind.
It had done so for years.
And yet today something unsettled that quiet order.
She exhaled softly.
“Of course it did,” she said under her breath.
The boy had trusted her.
Not immediately. Not easily. But he had tried.
That small effort had weighed more than any polished performance.
She adjusted the portfolio against her side and continued walking.
Henry Wolfton deserved patience.
That much was simple.
What was not simple was his father.
Lord Wolfton had stood beside the pianoforte with a stillness she had noticed immediately. Not rigid, not impatient. Simply watchful, as though he feared the moment might break if he moved too quickly.
Men of rank rarely learned that kind of restraint.
She had seen enough drawing rooms to know the difference.
Her brow furrowed slightly.
“That is none of your concern,” she told herself quietly.