Despite the little nose wrinkle at something, Jemima fancied her first real solo interaction with Clementine was going quite well. She was even making essay-reading sound not too daunting at all.

“Thank you – that would be lovely,” Jemima said happily, at the offer of fetching and lending. She ventured a smile. She wasn’t sure if Clementine just meant about marriage, generally, or: “Oh, does your brother have an interest in essays too?”

The more she appealed to everyone’s interests, surely the better things would go.

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