The Reason a Piano Tuner Ended Up at the Duke's Mansion novel · Chapter 16 of 24
Chapter 16: Play It for Me
I dined at the Dowager's right hand and ate nothing, and the six young women watched me over their forks all night.
At midnight I let myself into the music room with my key.
He was already there.
He stood by the cold hearth in his shirtsleeves with a single candle and his coat over one arm.
"I've never heard it played," he said.
"You were in the room for a week."
"I've heard you tune it. I've never heard it played whole."
He nodded at the bench.
"Play it for me."
"What?"
"Anything. The thing my father played. I don't know the name."
"Was it a hymn?"
"It had four verses and a lot of loud chords at the end."
I sat down.
The candle threw the shadow of my hands across the keys.
I knew what he meant before I put them down, because every man in England who plays badly plays the same hymn.
I played the first line softly.
The middle of the Broadwood answered, and the sound went up into the high ceiling and stayed there.
I heard him draw in a breath.
I played the second verse.
I played the third with the loud chords he had remembered, and my wrists rang with them.
In the fourth verse I felt him come up behind me.
He did not touch me.
He stood close enough that I could feel the warmth of his chest through my back, and the hymn went on.
When the last chord died he put his hands on my shoulders.
"Thank you," he said, roughly.
"It's only a hymn."
"It is the first time this room has been used for what it was built for."
The rest of this chapter is part of the paid portion of the series. Chapters 1–12 of The Reason a Piano Tuner Ended Up at the Duke's Mansion are free to read — start from the beginning, then unlock the rest with coins in the app.
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