"It absolutely is!" Rose said. She too took an oatcake. "Well, look at us! Both moved out of the home and looking after ourselves!" As if domestic service was a great life, and not the daily living hell she was desperate to escape. She felt sorry for Alice having to marry a stranger, but if Tobias had asked her, she would have flung herself at him in a whim if that meant she could quit her job. But she preferred to portray it as 'looking after herself'. She nibbled on the oatcake.

[CW: Sexism]

"Indeed. To independence," she said and raised her teacup. "And to being women, yes?" She laughed softly at that and then finished off her oat cake. "At least we are the smarter gender... for the most part. We just have to let the men think otherwise."

[CW: Sexism]

Rose chuckled at the rebelliousness. She raised her cup. "To independence and bein' a women then." Were women smarter. She thought. "Me sister was really smart in school. She could have been a teacher," she reasoned out loud. "And some of me brothers struggled." He face cleared up. "So ye must be right! Women are smarter!"

She laughed softly at that, then said, "Now don't forget to put your pinky up like a refined woman." She demonstrated as she sipped her tea, then she laughed at what her friend said about how it must be true. "Just because we are smart, doesn't mean we make smart descisions," her face was sober by that point.

Rose put her pinky up and ended up nearly dropping her cup. She managed to catch it just in time, though some tea spilled out on the table. "Sorry." She muttered, taking a handkerchief and trying to dry it. She reflected on what Pearl said, meanwhile. Alice had made a pretty dumb decision. And Rose had made her mistakes. But then again, so had father and Simon, and Bram did dumb stuff all the time. "I guess we all to things we end up regretting sometimes," she said.

"Think nothing of it," she said about the spilled tea, she wasn't angry and it wasn't as if there was a table cloth on her table. "And you are right. We all do regretable things at times." She trailed off and thought about how she had let Pony nearly ravish her. Goodness, but she was one to talk. "Sometimes it's those things that cause us to grow, though, whether you are man or woman."

Rose gave her a smile. She liked that way of looking at it and instantly felt better about her mistakes. "Aye, I think you're right."

Unless you were hanged for it. Smile dropped.

"What's the matter?" she asked when she noticed the dropped smile. She too had felt better about things, or at least a few things anyway. Her eyes were sharp on her friend's face with undisguised curiosity and concern. Her mouth turned downward into a matching frown.

Rose shook her head and forced a smile. "Nothing..." she said quietly, and she smiled again. But then she added: "I was just thinkin' that some people make such big mistakes that they don't get second chances..."

"Oh... Is there anyone in particular in your thoughts?" she asked softly. She set her half-empty cup on the table, then smoothed her hands over the fabric of the severe gray skirt of the drab gown she wore that indicated her profession as a tutor. "I am sorry that it caused you to feel bad."