Hearing the numbers made him shrink. There was getting lost in work, and then there was running away into it.

He did not have to wonder which route he had taken.

“I am only twenty-six,” he tried not to bristle (and failed). “Plenty of time to find a woman. Where does Samuel go to school?”

"And I was married at twenty" she tisked playfully, but there was a hint of worry in it. What if he never married? She would hate for him to be lonely for the rest of his life. "A boarding school outside of London."

“Of course you were,” he sighed with an amused look. “You are so beautiful, it is difficult to keep the men away from you.”

Could she hear the note of envy? … Naaah.

"Sadly for them there was only one for me" she smiled happily before looking at him with her big sister look. "Are you happy?"

Pfeh! Was he happy? What sort of nonsense was that? He hoped her husband was ugly.

… But also that his nieces and nephews got Penina’s looks. He was bitter, not cruel.

“Of course I am happy,” he huffed with a jut of his chin.

So happy, he would even deign visit! Humph!

“When should I stop by?”

Penina gave him a soft smile, not believing him in the slightest. “How about next Monday night?”

Did he have to?

“Monday is perfect,” he said with a pinched smile.

"Perfect" she replied with a knowing smile. "Do you come here often?"

“Not often enough to buy,” he shrugged. “But often enough to...” stinkeye the guys at the molly house? occasionally strike up a correspondence with a boy he will write for a while before getting bored of it? catch some working cad’s rolled up sleeves, get a hankering to go slumming again and then leave promptly? “... enjoy the weather. Do you?”

“It our first time here” she replied. “Although once Harrison works outs there really isn’t any treasure we will probably be on the move again.”