“I do not feel up to the challenge, nor do I wish to submit myself to such torture,” Morgan replied without a hint of humor.

Joan’s laughter echoed in the hall, delicate and delicious. “Why am I not surprised?”

“Apparently, I’m averse to emotion, so I suspect you’re not surprised, as you say.”

“No. I’m not.”

“Ah, the library.” Morgan walked through the open double doors, giving a warning glare to Rowles as he passed. Something felt off about him, Rowles decided. He was wound tighter than usual. Was he truly struggling with his sister marrying? Or was it that she was marrying him? Or perhaps Morgan was tense over wondering if Rowles had told Joan about her parentage.

Of that, they could both be wary.

“Sometimes I think Morgan was born old,” Joan said as she passed Rowles in the library.

“I’ve had the same said about me,” Rowles said by way of reply.

“And yet you haven’t lost your ability to laugh,” she pointed out with a winning smile.

“True,” Rowles conceded.

“What is this?” Joan asked, tipping her head slightly as she studied the gold-colored tube resting on a nearby shelf.

Rowles’s face stretched into a smile. “That is a kaleidoscope.”

“Pardon?” Joan turned to him, her inquisitive eyes dancing.

Rowles lifted the long brass tube from its perch. “Allow me to demonstrate.” He first placed the cool metal cylinder to his eye and then turned toward the window, allowing light to filter through the lenses. He twisted to adjust the picture within and lowered it. “Come.” He motioned to Joan.

She stood beside him and grasped the brass cylinder as he handed it to her. “Place this end near your eye and look through it while you hold the other end to the light,” Rowles whispered, watching with fascination as she followed his instructions. He waited for it, the gasp of wonder that he knew would soon follow.

A moment later, Joan gasped, her lips spreading into a delighted expression of wonder. “Watch this,” Rowles whispered, turning the end that moved the colors as they reflected in the interior mirrors, shifting the design into new ones.

“It’s magnificent,” Joan murmured, distracted by the wonder within.

“It is, isn’t it?”

She lowered the glass and turned to him. “Wherever did you find this?”

“This device was invented by David Brewster. I have a colleague in Cambridge who knew him personally, and he gave this to me when I resigned my position at the college,” Rowles replied.

“What a lovely gift.”

“Indeed. It’s unique, but I expect they will be quite commonplace in the future.”

Joan lifted the kaleidoscope once more and turned the end as Rowles had, then reacted to the wonder. “It’s utterly breathtaking.”

“It is,” Rowles replied in response to his attention on her.