Fortunately for Torie, Basil seemed in an amenable mood to give her the information she wanted. With each virtue of Mr. Alderton's that was shared, Torie felt the knot of anxiety in the pit of her stomach unwind until she no longer felt any unease over the whole thing. Her evening at the masque had been embarrassing certainly, but thankfully it seemed she hadn't left a negative impression on Mr. Alderton. Or at the very least, if she had, Anthony was not the kind to speak unkindly about such situations.

"He was quite gallant." Torie agreed with Basil, taking another, more relaxed sip of her cider. The quip about a croquet game was quite similar to one Anthony had made as they'd meandered to find he mother at the party. "I heard it was Poppy who was the competitive one." She laughed quietly. Torie was hoping her continued friendship with Poppy would eventually earn her an invitation to a game of croquet next summer. Pall mall was a game she had only played a time or two at her time in the Pendergast garden, but aside from that, she was entirely unfamiliar with it.

In was only the nature of their friendship that had Torie nearly snorting into her cider at Basil's teasing. "I can assure you, my dear friend, that he is that handsome." Those stunning blue eyes and chestnut curls. Torie, though not usually one to get ahead of herself, had found him infiltrating her dreams on more than on occasion as of late. If she were being honest with herself, Anthony Alderton was everything she wanted in a husband and she would be lying if she hadn't thought there might be something there. He was a successful first son in a wealthy family. Though she was fairly certain that branch of the family were halfbloods, that did not altogether matter to Torie. It might matter to her mother, but not her. "Your family certainly keeps inheriting some good looks." The lot of them were all quite attractive.

"And it was because of a rat that I swooned, a very large, very ugly rat! That masque had far too many gruesome details. It was fun, but almost too much." Torie shuddered at the thought of the thing being tangled in the skirts of her beautiful ballgown. "Mr. Alderton kept me from hurting myself, it was very chivalrous of him indeed." He had handled her incredibly gently, been so patient and kind!