"Indeed," Jules said pleasantly as she set her own tea cup down. She'd have to clear these things away before Mrs. Abercrombie arrived, but it wasn't yet so close to three that there was any particular hurry. It wasn't as though the sight of used tea cups was likely to offend anyone, even the staunchest member of upper crust society.

"Perhaps so," she agreed as she rose and went to get the woman's coat. She didn't know whether they would meet again or not, actually — the workings of fate were a bit beyond her scope, after all. It had been important that Miss Smith come to the House of Lytton this afternoon, she knew, or else it wouldn't have happened — but whether the message from the universe was that the two of them ought to meet and become friends, or whether Miss Smith's dress hem was due for repair and this was merely a method of reminding her, it wasn't for Juliana to say. Anything was possible.

"You needn't bother about trying to be more eloquent," she said as she returned the coat. "I enjoyed our unexpected chat. Though if we do meet again, perhaps you can tell me more about archaeology," she suggested. "I didn't even ask if you'd published anything I might have read, and now, looking back, I think it was probably quite rude of me — but it was an oversight on my part, you'll have to believe, not an intentional slight." She smiled brightly at Miss Smith. "Until then!"