(02-15-2021, 03:45 AM)Pearl Carrington Wrote: "I wish you wouldn't feel you must be in order to talk to me, Mister Blacke," she said gently. "I am not of noble birth. My father is a merchant." Why did men feel they had to live up to status to be with someone like her? She wondered this with a near shake of her head. Pearl saw his face fall and she reached out to touch his arm. "Please don't... You needn't be anything other than yourself around me."

Joe did notice and felt Pearl touch his arm.  Her touch was gentle, warm, and most welcome.

“I don’t mean to put on airs, but you, - merchant or nought - are from one of the richest families in town.  People can be cruel and bitter and they talk. I wouldn’t want them to say unkind things about you or anyone falsely.”  

He hesitated for a moment, but he looked at her and remembered her fierce determination from the other night.  She might think less of him for being soft, but he felt he could trust her.  

"You see, it’s just that no lass has been interested in me before. Certainly nowt one like you.  Me. Joe. The railway man; son of a railway man; grandson of a coxs’n. If you want to know me for me, then -" he paused.  "Hello, I'm Joe."