Pearl was tired. She'd not only tutored her student, but she had managed to write out a bit of gossip that she had learned earlier... only to have a moral quandary about it and ended up throwing the paper into the hearth. She had never liked gossip before but Rose had spoken to her about several people and she found herself wondering what was true and what wasn't. She sat in the parlor and stared off whilst thinking about these things. Unfortunately, there was nothing else to do. Tilly came out of the kitchen and Pearl gave a start. "You can have the rest of the afternoon off, Tilly. Why don't you go enjoy yourself for a time? I will be fine." She did, after all, know how to use a stove.

After Tilly took off, Pearl stood up and puttered about her house, then decided she would bake something. She hummed as she put a batch of scones together, put those in the oven, and began to set her table for tea.

The familiar sound of a creaky wagon and hooves came up. Pony had been so annoyed and while he tried to enjoy sleeping in the cart, he needed to see someone to talk to. He hadn't been able to make friends with anyone except one person. He knew it was because he had been so busy and not because he perhaps was less charming than he believed himself to be.

The man leaned against the door frame, letting his head rest on it as he remained exhausted, even this many days later. He told himself he just wanted to see someone to talk to and not that he yearned for a sympathetic ear and someone to be on his side for once. His hand knocked on the door briefly, trying not to be too loud. The last thing he needed was to be lectured by a maid.

It wasn't the maid that opened the door, but a surprised Pearl with a dusting of flour on her cheek and forehead. The smell of the scones would probably blast him in the face once the door opened. Now with the lecture she had all but received from Rose a few days before about letting men kiss and stuff, she was still a little out of sorts with her behavior toward Pony the last time they had seen one another. Her cheeks grew red and she said, "Hello. Why don't you come in and sit down?" He was still her friend, so she would invite him in regardless of what the other girl had said. "I was just about to put tea on and my scones are about to come out of the oven. You arrived at a good time."

Pony smiled as he took note of her cute face with the little bit of flour, but had to resist brushing it away. "Sorry, I didn't mean to distract you.." He followed her in and took a seat. "Thank you, I don't want to intrude though. Where is that other woman?" The scones smelled heavenly but he was nervous about the woman coming in and bothering their talk. Pearl seemed a little distant, but he hadn't seen her regularly in a little while after Karen had her children so he'd been working harder with more travelling.

"Sorry I haven't been by. I hope you good, you look great. I just.. came by. I sort of walked out on my sister and been staying in Jenny's cart. I felt like I needed to speak to someone and.. well.. there's nobody better than you, Pearl. I hope you don't mind..."

"Tilly?" she asked, "I gave her the rest of the day off. She won't be by any time soon. You're not intruding on anything and it is always good to see you." She stood back and allowed him to come in, closing the door behind him and offering to take his coat so he didn't have to wear it while warming up with tea and scones. He looked nervous for some reason and she wondered why, but she wisely didn't ask.

"No, no, it really is good to see you, Pony. And you are more than welcome to talk to me, you know that." Assuming he'd handed her his coat, she placed it on a peg and then led him into her kitchen. The tea was only set for one, but she quickly remedied that with those dainty cups her father had gifted her and were out of place with the hodge-podge of stuff she had about the place to decorate.

Pony let her have his coat and nodded. "Thank you, you're so kind. I just.. " He sighed and ran his fingers through his hair before following her and sitting down. He let her make his tea and waited until she joined him before having a sip. "I'm not a woman but I thought i was a half decent brother. I spent all my life trying to keep my sister safe. " He hung his head. "And I know I mentioned her before but, she is so ridiculous and.. I hate to say it but she is acting shameful to me. Enough that I don't want to see her." He put his face in his hands and sighed heavily.

"Shameful how?" she asked softly, sitting and drinking a little bit of her tea. Then she remembered the scones and got up long enough to pull those out of the oven to cool before she sat down again. "What has she done that has you bothered so much?"

Pony sighed as he watched her get the scones to make sure she didn't want help though he knew she could handle herself. "She.. has been seeing a man. She has twins and I thought she was working with washing or tailoring or something to help with money, even though her husband should have left her enough. How is she finding the time to go out and meet men enough to be falling in love with one? And it hasn't even been a year since her husband passed. I hated him and good riddance, but it makes her look bad to move so quickly. Doesn't even take a minute in her life to think that maybe she should rethink what she thinks is love if it can be forgotten so often. Makes it not surprising she can treat her own brother as just an obstacle to finding a new man to draw in and keep leaving her kids with a neighbor." He huffed as he sipped the tea and winced at the heat.

Oh shit... The curse echoed through her mind as she realized that his sister was the widow being gossiped about. She carefully set her teacup back on the saucer and listened to him as he spoke. Irritation welled up within her as he was basically saying she shouldn't have even a moment to herself... or with a man in this case. "I see," she said with a strained voice. She realized her mistake. She hadn't had much time to get to know Pony either and she had nearly let him... well... that was beside the point. "Pony? Where were you, then, if you don't know how she has time to do anything besides being alone and a mother?" In fact, this downright made her mad! "Did you leave her with the babies alone? Don't you know that being a woman alone in the first months of motherhood is probably the hardest thing she is going through right now?"

Pony looked at her confused, the room had completely changed. "What? I was working. I had wanted to be there to help her, but I still have to sell my medicines. I didn't get an easy way out of work. That's why I was happy she was getting help from the neighbor. Are you saying I should have been home to watch the twins while she was out meeting that clocksmith?!" He wasn't trying to raise his voice, he was though quickly getting defensive at the way she sounded like she was accusing him.