"Eh, I'm sorry to hear you was sick, miss." Rose said. "Ye shouldn't swim in the sea when it's like this. It's far too cold." Rose couldn't imagine how anyone could come up with the idea to do so in this weather. Even on the beach, she was shivering now that she was sitting still. "I wasn't lookin' for fossils. It was just a lucky find." She put the fossil in her basket and climbed off from the rock she had been sitting on. Then she took her basket on her hip. "I was lookin' for driftwood. But that's hardly work for yerself, miss." She was a lady after all.

"It was my own fault, Rose," she said with a shrug. When the girl brought up that she wasn't looking for fossils, but for driftwood, Pearl gave a smile. "Oh, please... I am independent, remember? I do what I want now." She chuckled, it was true... Within reason anyways. "Besides, it would give me something to do besides laying in bed feeling sorry for my lot in life at the moment. With the illness, I mean."

Rose felt a little uncomfortable to have the girl help, sensing the impropriety of it, for which she was afraid she would be held accountable. But she had no real friends - she had been away for two years, and her closest friend Ruth had gotten married and moved away in the mean time - and she often felt alone now that she was not living with her family once again. She was desperate for some friendly company, and so she gave the other girl a small smile. "If ye insist, miss. But ye mustn't exert yerself too much and get sick again." She added, and she stooped down to pick up some wood.

"Oh, please call me Pearl," she insisted as well. "We are friends, aren't we?" At least she was assuming so after the girl spent time with her in her kitchen and they shared gossip like schoolgirls. Pearl considered Rose her friend... after all, she hardly had anyone to talk to that wasn't a sibling. She also knew she could use a friend no matter what the circumstances of class would bring, especially after talking to that pompous old fossil she had muttered about earlier. Was she being salty? Yes... yes she was.

She would not have presumed to be friends with the girl. They were from too different worlds after all. It seemed arrogant for a girl like herself to assume that a lady like Pearl would want to be her friend. Admittedly, Simon had once had a wealthy friend. He had even invited him over for dinner. Well, that had been something different than what it had looked like on the surface, she had later learned. Again, Rose felt that there was some important thought begging to be thought in her head, but she just couldn't reach it. Indeed, she frowned a little.

But then her face relaxed, and she blushed a little. "I'd be honoured to be your friend, m- Pearl." She hadn't had a friend in a long time and it made her feel warm.

"Then it is settled. We shall be good friends." She grinned at the other girl and picked her way closer. She had assumed they were friends when they were in her kitchen.

Rose gave her a wide smile. She picked up a piece of wood and put it in her basket. "You're not like t' other ladies." She commented. "Most like their grand houses and comfortable lives... And they certainly wouldn't be seen fraternizing with... well, our sort, no offence." She realized that she might sound rude and quickly corrected herself. "Well, t' ones I met, only. I could be wrong, of course." She blushed. "I don't know much."

"Oh, it all makes me ill to see the greed in my sister. I could never be a spoiled and pompous woman like her. And my brothers... Especially the oldest of all of us... why, tis all unseemly." She gestured widely and then lowered her voice, "I like working for my meals. There is a sense of accomplishment. I tried to explain that to some but they would not hear of it. Why, I do believe I was judged for wanting to be normal. Can you believe that? I would rather consort with those who work the land than my own 'class.'"

It was a relief to find that the other girl had taken no offense. Her words made little sense to Rose, who would love not to work for her food. But she was glad the girl was not mad. Rose smiled. "Well, ye'r more than welcome to come back to our place if ye like t' ordinary. Ye can join us for tea." After all, they often invited people over for a meal. Rose was certain father wouldn't mind.

"I would love to," she said honestly. It had been some time since someone invited her for tea. "I'm afraid I won't be getting many invitations in the future for tea otherwise since I am no longer fit for polite society." She said this flatly. "I'm already getting judgment for my choices. Such is life, though, yes?" She wanted very much to knock the baron off of his high horse and to humble him. "Ahem, oh look... There is some driftwood right there." She pointed.