Poppy grinned. “I call it—I call it—”
“Let’s just call it rebellion,” Jemma said dryly. “Would it be fair to say, Poppy, that in the process of leaving your husband, you have also left your mother?”
“That’s just how I see it,” Poppy said, leaning back and opening the sack containing her cherry stone. “Tomorrow I intend to visit France & Banting. By all accounts they make delightful curiosity cabinets.”
“There are cabinets built for cherry pits?” Jemma asked incredulously.
“Haven’t you ever seen a curiosity cabinet? The King of Sweden’s was displayed at the LeverianMuseum last year, and I told my mother I was visiting the poor but I went to the museum instead.”
“Quite a mutiny,” Jemma said dryly. “I trust she didn’t discover your perfidy?”
“Thankfully no. And you may be as sharp as you please, Jemma, but I assure you that it is hard to withstand my mother’s will.”
“I can only imagine,” Jemma said. “Luckily, she’s never shown me the faintest interest.”
“That,” Poppy said candidly, “is one of the reasons why I am so grateful that you took me in. My mother’s concern for her reputation is such that she cannot visit me, no matter how she may wish to do so.”
“I knew that my reputation would come in handy for something. You should hear Beaumont complain about how that same reputation is ruining his chances for this and that in Parliament. I shall have to inform him that it is actually of ser vice in keeping away mothers and other marauding armies.”
“I think I shall request a cabinet of oak and ebony. I love the combination of black and brown woods.”
“Hmmm,” Jemma said. She had taken out her Queen and was examining her again. In truth, she was a delicious chess piece. Her gown frothed in the back like the curve of an ocean wave crashing on the shore.
“Mr. Grudner said that your piece came from Lord Strange, didn’t he? His is one of the curiosity collections that I would love to see.”
“It’s such a shame about Strange,” Jemma said. “Even I couldn’t visit Fonthill, his estate, of course. Why, why do you suppose that he broke up the set and sold the Queen? It’s such a cruel thing to do.”
“Why couldn’t you visit Fonthill? I mean to.”
“His reputation is ten times blacker than mine. The man has scandalized people who think of me as angelic.”
Poppy leaned back. “I mean to see his collection. And I want to go to the AshmoleonMuseum as well. And to the Royal Society. Mother never allowed me to go to their meetings, even though they regularly allow ladies to attend.”
Jemma blinked at her. Poppy’s face was as charming as ever, but Jemma suddenly realized that there was nothing soft about Poppy’s jaw, and that her smile was as determined as it was sweet.
“Miss Tatlock is the secretary of the Ladies’ Auxiliary of the Royal Society,” she offered.
“You mean that young woman who flirts with your husband?”
“I think of her as Miss Fetlock,” Jemma said. “It is an affectionate name, you understand.”
Poppy smiled at her. “I wish I could think up a mean name for Louise, but I’m too fond of her.”
“There we differ. I have no liking whatsoever for Miss Fetlock, though I am the first to admit that my dislike is extremely unfair. As far as I know, she adores Beaumont from afar and he certainly would never risk his precious reputation to do more than converse with the poor woman.”
“Then we must direct her attentions in some other direction,” Poppy said firmly. “As it happens, I know a delightful young scientist, Dr. Loudan.”
“She couldn’t marry just any young man from Oxford, no matter how intelligent he was,” Jemma said. “She’s caught in the bounds of propriety, you know. One of those.Poor but a peer.”
“He’s the Honorable George Loudan,” Poppy said. “And he stands to be Viscount Howitt someday.”