"And it's a good thing too." Far too many girls of her birth seemed to care more about their appearance and superficial charms than about the qualities that really mattered, and spent all their time and energy developing the former rather than the latter. They could not be fully blamed, he supposed. For it was society that impressed upon them that being decoration was their only worth. "So long as you are aware of the stock others might put into it."

He finished his glass, set it down, and filled up both Pippa's and his own glass. He wasn't aware of the fact that the single glass was already affecting her.