Rose frowned. She hadn't considered that. She hadn't even considered that if Mr. Meijer was Jewish, so was his brother. Her eyes sparkled. "So... do you think she'll convert? Or he?" She hoped he would. Not that she appreciated Catholics. But Mr. Meijer would hate it.

"I think it would be awfully romantic if he did," she said with a light shrug. Then she threw her hand up over her mouth with a gasp, "I hope they marry before the baby comes! From what I have heard, Uriel Meijer is a very nice man."

"Oh goodness yes. Though no one will believe it was conceived in wedlock now." Even with Alice, people wouldn't believe that. But people would forget about the scandal eventually, if he baby was born in wedlock and had a father to claim it. She hoped the same applied to Uriel Meijer's baby. "I think he's a good man, feeding them bairns. That's what makes it so shocking. What do you think could have driven him to live in sin?"

"Perhaps he fell in love with her after she became his mistress. He seems relatively young, not much older than me from what I have heard. My goodness." She had no room to talk, almost letting Pony have her out of wedlock. Her face pinkened at the memory of his kisses. "They must share passion together."

Rose too blushed a little and frowned angrily. "Well, he should have treated her decently and made her his wife if he wanted to do that."

"How do you know she wasn't the one who initiated?" she asked, setting her tea down and then spreading her fingers. "What if she was the one who... who..?" she gestured wildly and her face went beet red.

Rose too turned crimson. Pearl couldn't know about her history, but in that moment, she felt like the other girl could see into her soul and see all of Rose's dark and embarrassing secrets. She cast her eyes down. "Sorry," she muttered.

"Did you hear about the clocksmith and the widow? I heard she was only widowed just six months ago and she already has her eyes on him. She must be so desperately lonely," she thought out loud.

Rose was glad that Pearl changed the subject. "No?" she said, leaning forward once again with interest. "Perhaps she was destitute because of her husband's death and needs to marry for money?"

"Perhaps," said Pearl speculatively. "I heard her brother is a snake oil salesman, though I haven't caught his name yet. I wonder if he had a hand in this."