Page 17 of Her Scandalous Pursuit

“What are those? I’m not familiar with them.” Her first inquiry had come more from a desire to talk to him, but now her curiosity was piqued.

“You know how a kaleidoscope works—there’s a box containing various bits of colored crystals in different sizes and shapes and so forth. It’s connected to the tube, with an eyepiece on the other end.”

She nodded. “Light comes through the box, and mirrors at various angles create the effect.”

“Exactly. What combination kaleidoscopes do is take away the little objects and instead make patterns in the same way, but using objects around you. A flower, for instance, is fractured, creating patterns. As you turn the box, the patterns shift, making it appear entirely different.”

“That’s fascinating.” Thisbe leaned forward a little. “I’d like to see it.”

“I’ll show you,” he offered. “Unfortunately, I don’t have one on me.” His gaze shifted to his hands as he went on. “Perhaps, if you’d like to see it, you could come to the shop, um, after the lecture. I’m sure it’s not the sort of place you would go normally, but there won’t be anyone there.” He glanced up sharply, his face reddening. “That is I meant, you know, you wouldn’t be embarrassed by going into a shop full of men. But I didn’t think—that’s no more proper. I didn’t mean anything untoward. I wasn’t trying to lure you, um, into a...an indelicate situation. I hope you will not—”

His expression was so stricken, so earnest, that Thisbe laid her hand on his arm. “It’s quite all right. I knew what you meant, but you needn’t have any concern in that regard. Anyone who knows me would tell you that I am not easily embarrassed. I am accustomed to the company of men. I have four brothers, after all, and I am often the only female at a lecture.” She smiled, a dimple popping into her cheek, her eyes beginning to twinkle. Good heavens, she thought she was actually flirting.

Apparently he thought so, too, for his eyes gleamed, and his answering grin was as much flirtation as relief. “I’m glad you didn’t take offense.”

“Nor do I think you have wicked designs on my virtue. I hope I am a better judge of character than that. I would very much like to see your shop and your kaleidoscope.”

In fact, she was delighted to have an excuse to extend her time with him, though she wouldn’t tell him that—she was not that bold. Of course, there was the problem of her driver and carriage. She had tried to persuade Thompkins not to pick her up from the lecture, but he’d stubbornly refused. He took his orders from the duke, not her, and even her absentminded father insisted on her taking the carriage on her solitary excursions. But she managed to get Thompkins to agree not to approach her until she hailed him. Thisbe had confidence he would be able to follow unobtrusively, given how successfully he’d done it last time.

“Will your family worry if you’re not home on time?”

“No, they are all occupied with their own interests, and everyone is used to my ways. In any case, I’m well armed.” She reached up and pulled out one of Kyria’s hat pins, holding it up to show him.

“That should certainly discourage any ungentlemanly urges I might have.” He looked at her hat. “I wondered what held it in place. It’s rather small.”

“I told Kyria it was utterly useless,” Thisbe agreed.

“Perhaps so, but it’s charming.”

“Then Kyria is proven right. It is her hat, you see.”

“Kyria is your sister? A friend?”

“Well, both, I’d say. She is younger than I and not like me. She has no interest in science or books, really. In that way, she’s like Theo.”

“Your twin.”

She nodded. “Theo and I are similar in some ways—I guess you’d say in our character. We’re both single-minded and stubborn, and others sometimes—often—say we are too blunt. But he has never liked studies or reading. Theo wants to travel. To explore. He wants to see everything—I want to know everything.”

“What of the others? You said there was another set of twins.”

“Yes. The babies... Although, I guess they are not really babies anymore. They’ll soon be three. Their names are Alexander and Constantine—we call them the Greats.”

“For the emperors?” Desmond laughed.

“Yes, and they can be quite imperious, too. They’re absolute terrors.”

He chuckled. “You sound very fond of these terrors.”

“I am. Fortunately, they’re as lovable as they are lively. It’s fascinating to watch them. They have their own language.”

“You’re joking.”

“No. Really. When they were first learning to speak, even before they started talking to us, they communicated with each other. We had no idea what they were saying. They still do it sometimes, but what is even more eerie is that they’ll just look at each other and then act in concert, as if they had planned it.”

“You think that they can send thoughts to one another...that they pass through the air unheard?”

“It sounds a bit mad, I suppose,” Thisbe admitted.