July 4th, 1895 — Padmore Park

Noble huffed out a breath and sat down heavily on the bench. He'd wanted to get away from the house, but now that he was away from the house he just felt guilty, like he ought to return to it to do — something. Work more, maybe. He pushed a hand through his hair and looked at his worn pocket watch. Five minutes. He could walk back in five minutes.

He slumped at the bench and worried at his cuticles. He didn't really want to interact with anyone while he was here — it was a dreary summer day, humid with likely rain coming soon — and so of course a woman's handkerchief came blowing lazily towards him. He caught it with a clumsy hand and stood up.

And there she was, the likely owner. Noble held up the cloth. "Yours?"

Matilda Farris Elias Grimstone

  

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set by Lady

This was irritating to the maximum – when the housemaid (a girl half a dozen years older than her, and otherwise quite dull) who was supposed to be chaperoning her on some boring errands around Hogsmeade had waylaid them both in the park, and had shirked her duties to stand about flirting with some gardener she knew instead.

Mattie wasn’t about to protest to losing her company briefly – she was in view, so there was not much of interest she could do here, with or without her – but wandering listlessly about the park alone by herself seemed pathetic at best. She would not say she ever got lonely, but – there was something about envying a housemaid or the gathering weather or this slow week of her summer that had her feeling suddenly put out, restless.

She had spotted the lone occupant of the bench while wandering idly in his direction, though whether she had let the handkerchief fly on purpose or simply because she had been toying with it, she didn’t quite know. “Yes,” Mattie said as she strode after it at a picked-up pace, and reached him as he stood. “Though you look more in want of it than me,” she pointed out nonchalantly – and never mind that it was entirely impolite; she couldn’t resist prodding ever so slightly, because he did look visibly out of sorts. She raised her eyebrows, more in teasing than in any sympathy. “Would you like to keep it?”

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Noble was — not particularly used to being teased by a stranger. Despite himself, and despite the way that things were still feeling oppressive here even if they were less oppressive than they were at home, Noble's mouth twisted just slightly into a bemused smile.

"Are you in the habit of giving strangers your handkerchief?" Noble asked. She was alone, also — he usually did not see girls like this alone. That made her intriguing — even if Noble suspected that she would not be alone for long.

  

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set by Lady

“Just the handsome ones,” Mattie said first purely because she could, with her makeshift chaperone too far away and too preoccupied to overhear. “...No,” she admitted after, once she had properly considered the question, and him, for a moment. “I suppose you’re the first.”

(Some great honour that was, so charitable a gift – a plain folded square of cloth, with a little lace edging.)

“Do you mind if I sit?” It was a public bench, so he could hardly refuse – and so, restless as she was, Mattie flopped down into the space beside where he had just been sitting.

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He was the first to receive a handkerchief, which probably meant nothing. Noble was trying to get used to that, lately, the idea that none of it — the suffering, the sacrifice, the trying — actually meant anything.

"Not at all," Noble said, shifting over on the bench to give her more space, as if she had not already sat down. He still held her handkerchief in one hand, and started folding it carefully into smaller and smaller squares. "I'm Noble Greengrass."

  

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set by Lady

Mattie smiled at the name he gave, but bit her tongue because it didn’t do to laugh at strangers’ names, handsome or not. In any case – “Not strangers now. Matilda Farris,” she said promptly, resisting the urge to follow up by asking him what was wrong. Something was certainly wrong with him, because he was just sitting here and seemed close to sighing, and young people did not usually sit on park benches and look so weary of the world.

Not that she was judging him – she was in a put-upon mood, herself – but she wasn’t sure she wanted to encourage him to explain the reasons. Then she would have to pity him, and she wasn’t terribly interested in that.

He could pity her a little, though, if he liked. “And that’s my housemaid, Anna, attempting to flirt with her new beau.” She waved a hand vaguely down the grassy slope, in case he could see the distant figures, and rolled her eyes. Not that she judged the mission, exactly – she had just loosed a timely handkerchief, after all – but any conversation led by Anna was bound to be inane. “I hope it rains.” She wasn’t sure if she had imagined the stray drop of rain on her brow or not, but the sky looked grey enough to perhaps ruin their fun, if only Mattie willed it hard enough.

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Noble huffed out a laugh, either at the concept of flirting or at her comment about the rain, he was not sure. He squinted, trying to see if he could discern anything about the maid, but of course they were too far off. No wonder Miss Farris was able to talk to him, if her minder was otherwise occupied.

"You might get your wish," Noble said, briefly tilting his head back to look at the gray sky. "You said attempting to flirt. Is there something that makes her particularly poor at it?"

He may as well get amusement at someone's expense out of his day.

  

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set by Lady

“Well, you tell me. Would this work on you?” Mattie answered with a roll of her eyes, before shifting on the bench to better angle herself towards him and affecting her best, joking impression of the housemaid. Which mostly meant gazing at him with absurdly wide eyes, and very little blinking. “Oh, Mr. Greengrass. Noble,” she simpered, drawing out his name as slowly as Anna did anything – for she never seemed capable of finishing a thought on time, never mind an action. She patted, almost stroked, his forearm, and kept her gaze militantly transfixed on him. “Has anyone ever told you that you... have... eyes?”

Anna had actually said that once. Nice eyes, Mattie supposed she had meant, but she was hardly inclined to embellish her reenactment. Because the irony was that Anna’s uninspired approach would probably succeed with the equally doltish gardener, and that would mean she was still doing better than Mattie. Merlin, that rain better come.

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They were being dramatic, but he still admired Miss Farris' nerve, to be doing this with a man she barely knew. Noble couldn't manage to keep his amusement off of his face, despite how dour his mood still was. His eyes lit up, and he reached out to place his hand on her opposite forearm.

"Oh, Miss Farris," Noble replied, equally drawn out. He was only slightly reminded of early stages of his relationship with Daffodil. He was happy to poke fun at people who were dumb and in love. They probably deserved it, especially given the state of his niece.

"No one has told me that I have eyes. Has anyone told you that you have a nose?"

  

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set by Lady