Rose laughed and hooked her elbow with Pearl's. "We'll be old spinsters, then! But we'll be free to fart!" She suddenly got up and picked up a piece of driftwood. Holding it up as if it was a picket, she made a fist with her free hand and threw it up into the air. "Farts for women!"

Her belly hurt from laughing so much. Rose had become her friend after all, and they were talking about the silliest things. "Farts for all," she chimed in.

A younger, chubby, red-haired girl was standing by, looking very confused.
Rose spotted her and suddenly blushed. "Oh! Anne... Erm... I'll come home in a minute. Why don't you go ahead and tell Alice we have a guest for tea."
The girl looked at Pearl shyly, nodded, and ran off.

She sobered up when the younger girl came up to them, and then dissolved in laughter once she was gone. "Do you think she heard us talking about farts? I'd die!"

Rose looked at Pearl, embarrassed. Her sister's look had made her aware of herself once more. "I think she did," she said. But then a smirk crossed her face. "Oh but she would be too embarrassed to ever tell someone!" She put one more piece of driftwood in her basket and she put it on her hip. "Come on. I'll show you my home!"

Pearl giggled and said, "Oh no, social ruin!" And then agreed to follow along to Rose's house for tea.

As they were walking through the streets, Rose started feeling uncomfortable. They probably shouldn't walk too close and show they were friends. What would people think of her if they noticed this class mingling? Pearl's people might think she was looking for money. Rose decided to avoid the main streets and started leading her friend through an endless network of narrow lanes and yards.

The journey was longer than she expected and she had an idea they were taking backroads for a reason. She wondered briefly if her friend was ashamed of her, but then decided not to question it because that would have been a mean assumption to make. Perhaps the girl was simply trying to save Pearl from being scrutinized by the betters, but Pearl didn't really care about their opinion... well... she did... but she was trying not to.

They suddenly came to a stop in one of the yards. It was relatively narrow, with many doors, and steps leading to doors. In the back there was a toilet house, and in the middle, three small girls with dirty aprons were rope-skipping. They stopped when they saw Pearl and stared at her.
"This way." said Rose, and she led her friend up some stone steps. They were eroded from use.
"You have pretty hair!" One of the girls called after Pearl.

Rose led her friend into the cottage. They entered a room that had a kitchener in the fireplace, a table in the middle, a bed in the corner and a room screen at the far end. The latter was decorated with images of women in pretty dresses, boys playing, dogs and cats and other things cut from newspapers and magazines. There was one window, which looked out over the yard. Just below the ceiling, wires had been strung from which items of clothing as well as fishing lines were suspended to dry. It made the room feel cramped. It did indeed smell damp. There was a door on the left, but it was closed.

Two girls were standing by the kitchener, preparing a meal. One was the girl they had encountered at the beach. She blushed when she saw Pearl. The other was older, though younger than Rose.
"These are my sisters: Alice and Anne. Alice, Anne, this is Pearl Carrington."
Both girls looked intimidated now, and Alice attempted a clumsy curtsy. "Pleasure to meet ye, Miss Carrington." she said.

"Oh, thank you," she said to the random who complimented her hair. She followed her friend dutifully until they were in the cottage. She did not seem to silently judge the way the cottage was, nor did she look around in curiosity. Her attention was on the girls and she waved her hand at them, "You needn't curtsy to me, I am not a noble, nor am I better than you. It is lovely to make your acquaintances, Alice, and Anne. You may call me Pearl."