Tracy smiled at her adopted daughter. At nineteen, barely a dozen years her junior, Richelle and her daughter, Leyna, had been living with Tracy and her husband for the better part of four years. In that time Richelle had become her second in command in both Grantville Canvas and Outdoor and Kubiak Country Industries. "No. I don't believe it. It sounds too good. It targets Dr Phil too well. And the prospectus is too much flash without enough substance."

"Is there anything we can do to distract Dr Phil?"

Mary Rose Onofrio's question was met by the silence it deserved. Dr Gribbleflotz had been talking about his aluminum pyramid every chance he got for the better part of three years. In that time his dream of an aluminum pyramid with its strategically placed faceted gems had survived dozens of alternative lines of research. What could possibly distract the man from the greatness he expected to realize through investigating theQuinta Essentia of the Human Humors?

He couldn't be sure how it happened. One moment he was walking around a peasant woman with funny white marks on the back of her drab skirt and bodice. The next, he was sent sprawling. He suddenly found himself on the ground; his arms wrapped around the woman, the contents of her basket scattered around them. There was the sound of laughter and running feet. For a moment Phillip's mind was blank. It felt so natural, the warm body wrapped in his arms. With a start he realized what was happening. This was a young woman, and he steered clear of young women. Or more precisely, they seemed to steer clear of him. Phillip couldn't remember the last time he had cuddled or been cuddled by anyone. Hastily he released her. He couldn't meet her eyes and turned to look elsewhere. Loose papers being scatteredby a gentle breeze caught his attention.

"Oh!"

It was the sound of suppressed horror. Phillip had made similar utterances after dropping precious books and paper. Scrambling around on his hands and knees, he started to collect papers before they scattered too far. He turned to pass the papers he had collected to the woman. Their heads crashed together. Stunned, he jerked back. She also had reared back from the contact. A moment later Phillip turned away from her gaze and hastened to his feet.

He helped her to her feet. "Are you all right, Fraulein?"

"Yes, thank you, sir. Those children, someone should teach them better manners. Oh dear."

Phillip watched the young woman reach down for a waxed paper parcel that had been ground into the pavement by someone's boots. When she opened it he could see the squashed remains of what had probably been intended as her midday meal. At the thought of food, Phillip realized it had been a while since he last ate.

"Fraulein, it would please me if you would join me over lunch." The young woman appeared on the point of refusing when he heard deep rumblings. Phillip had known hunger, and he understood pride, besides, he was curious about her. He had noticed the books and papers he had helped retrieve. Judging by the quality of the penmanship on the papers, she was an educated woman.

"Fraulein, it appears I am responsible for destroying your meal. Please allow me to make recompense. A simple meal in the public restaurant of your choice."

"Good sir, I couldn't. It was carelessness on my part. My meal is still fit to eat. A little squashed but the wrapping protected it." Maria Blandina backed away, then turned and ran.

Intrigued Phillip followed. Soon he was able to observe her running into the Countess Katharina the Heroic School next to Lutheran church of St. Martin's. Things were becoming clear. Obviously the young woman was a teacher at Countess Katharina's. That explained the penmanship. A teacher had to be well educated. As for the plain clothes, Dr Gribbleflotz wasn't much of a Lutheran, but he knew enough to understand how the church worked. Most likely the Fraulein was a daughter of the pastor.

Settling down behind my desk at Countess Katharina's, I gave thanks to God for the fine weather of the last few days. The dry conditions meant none of the books or papers had taken any harm. The loud rumbling from my stomach reminded me I hadn't eaten yet. Pulling the waxed paper packet from my basket I peeled the paper away from what was supposed to have been my lunch. I looked at the sorry looking meal, almost unrecognizable after some passerby had stood on it in his heavy boots.

It looked completely unappetizing, but beggars can't be choosers, and I was hungry. I had never been so embarrassed as when my stomach rumbled so loudly just as I refused the nice gentleman's offer of lunch in a restaurant. I can't remember when I last ate in one, and would have loved to accept his invitation.

However, if Stepmama ever heard that Pastor Kastenmayer's younger daughter had been seen eating in a public restaurant with a strange man . . . It had been bad enough a year ago when Andrea had a meal in a public restaurant with the up-timer she later married. He seemed a nice man. Not too old, and although the colors and style of his clothes didn't really suit him, they were well made. I have to blush when I remember the feel of his arms around me. It felt so comfortable, even for just a moment.

Phillip was unable to settle down that night. Every time he started to drop off to sleep a pair of sparkling eyes greeted him. The next day, while getting dressed, he thought about what he had to do. Somehow he would make time to see the young woman.

His eyes dropped to the knees of his trousers and his gleaming shoes. Last night the valet had had to clean them. He was proud of the way he dressed, and to have been walking around Rudolstadt with soiled knees and dirty shoes would normally have made him ill with embarrassment. He was surprised at his feeling of contentment.

He pulled his pocket watch from its pocket and checked the time. Yes, he should have plenty of time.

He stood on the corner, waiting. A rowdy mob of young children had assembled outside Countess Katharina the Heroic School. Then, the moment he had been waiting for. The teacher, the young woman of the previous day, arrived. Phillip let his eyes feast on her. She was ordering the mass of young children into lines. Phillip expected the other teachers to assist her, but they went straight into the rooms where the older children were waiting, leaving her to manage all of the youngsters on her own. Phillip was simply amazed. The redoubtable Frau Mittelhausen was complaining bitterly about dealing with a few young apprentices at HDG Enterprizes back in Jena. Maybe she should take lessons from this teacher. An idea bubbled to the surface. Maybe he could offer the young woman a job helping Frau Mittelhausen run the household. Surely the pay and conditions would be much better than what she was receiving.

Phillip was ready and waiting when the children poured out of the school. Picnic basket in hand, he approached Maria Blandina. "Fraulein, you left so suddenly yesterday that we failed to introduce ourselves. I am Phillip Theophrastus Gribbleflotz, an alchemist at HDG Enterprizes in Jena, and I would like to invite you to join me in sampling the delicacies my hotel prepared." He lifted the basket and stood waiting expectantly, the cloth covering the food pulled away to let Maria Blandina see inside it.

Maria Blandina stared at Dr Gribbleflotz. Already the smells emerging from the basket were pulling at her senses. After a quick look around to see who might be watching, and to check that Stepmama wasn't one of them, she introduced herself. "I am Maria Blandina Kastenmayer, a teacher at Countess Katharina the Heroic School, and I would be delighted to share the contents of your basket."

I had to hurry back to class. The time had passed so quickly. Phillip asked if he could walk me home after school ended for the day. I told him yes. We had talked a little about each other. I now knew he was in Rudolstadt on business for the company that employed him. The company made products aimed at the up-timer market. I had been forced to smother my laughter at the way Phillip proudly named some of the products, Gribbleflotz this and Gribbleflotz that. It was as if he felt, because he had the same name as their inventor, that he had some sort of reflected glory. And maybe there was, because most people find jobs for their relatives. It is a harmless conceit, a bit like the way Papa always manages to insert intoconversations that Mama, his first wife, had been a Selfisch, a sister to the Selfisch of the respected Rudolstadt law firm of Hardegg, Selfisch, and Krapp.

Phillip was distracted, his mind concentrating on his recent luncheon date, rather than where he was going. Maria Blandina Kastenmayer, such a pretty name. And she seemed to actually like him. He had arranged to walk her to work the next day. He still wanted to take her back Jena. But what if she said no to working for him? He would be too embarrassed to continue seeing her.

Sunday. After Church Lunch, Drahuta Property Belle Drahuta tapped the aluminum company prospectus. "What are we going to do about Dr Phil?"

Erin Zaleski lowered her coffee cup. "About the only thing we can do is find something to distract him while our husbands scare off these con men."

Tracy Kubiak laughed. "Erin, the only thing I can see distracting Dr Phil from those tricksters and their aluminum mine is an improved way of investigating hisQuinta Essentia of the Human Humors." She looked around the room. "Does anybody here know anything that might work?"

Belle shook her head. "I wouldn't know aQuinta Essentia of the Human Humors if it stood up and bit me, Tracy. But are you sure that they are con men?"

"Ted and Jonathan's father aren't sure if it's a con or wishful thinking. They are willing to give them the benefit of the doubt when they claim they will be mining aluminum ore. A lot of potential investors might get confused if you talked about mining bauxite to make aluminum. But they picked up on the problems of processing the ore. The prospectus implies that it's a simple matter of extracting the ore from the ground, isolating the aluminum and melting it to form ingots. Apparently it isn't that easy. It needs some pretty exotic chemicals to process the ore, and it really burns through electricity."

Hidden in a corner, snuggling up together were Jonathan Fortney and Tracy's adopted daughter, Richelle. Normally the self-satisfied smiles on their faces would be aimed at each other, but this time they were looking at the women grouped around the kitchen table. They were listening in on the discussion.

Tracy pointed an accusing finger at them. "Okay, you two. Fess up. What do you know that we don't?"

All eyes turned to Jonathan and Richelle. "It appears that Dr Phil has been a little distracted of late, Mama." Richelle had to use her elbow when Jonathan started to laugh.

Belle glared at Jonathan. "What's so funny about Dr Phil being distracted?"

Imprisoning Richelle's arms so she couldn't strike him again, Jonathan smiled. "Dr Phil is in love."

"In love? With who? What kind of woman is the geek interested in? Some half-naked, painted tart, all tits and no brain, I suppose. It would be just like the man. And what does she see in him? Money bags?"

Richelle waited for Tante Tasha to finish her diatribe. It was a little more extreme than the one she had addressed to Jonathan when he told her that Dr Phil was seeing a young woman.Who could haveimagined Dr Phil being struck by Cupid's arrow at his age? Listening to him talk about the lady had established two things in her mind. Firstly, that she was a very respectable young lady. Pastor's daughters charged with teaching the congregation's young had to be. And secondly, Dr Phil was very unsure of his reception. His lack of confidence around women was crippling the progress of the romance.

"Dr Phil says she is the sweetest, kindest, most enchanting young woman he has ever met, Tante Tasha."

"That wouldn't surprise me at all. How many women would be interested in him? What do we know about her? Who is she? Who is her family? Does she bring a dowry?"

"Dr Phil says Maria Blandina Kastenmayer is the daughter of the pastor at St. Martin's in the Field, just outside the Ring of Fire. And I doubt they are talking dowry, or even marriage. Dr Phil is so lacking in confidence around her he doesn't know how to behave."

"Have either of you two met this young woman?" Tracy asked.

"Jonathan has."

"Well?" Tracy turned her best stare of interrogation, perfected during her time as a NCO with the US Army back up-time, onto Jonathan.

"I managed to get a good look after Dr Phil pointed her out one day. She's a small thing. Youngish, passable looking, but the clothes she wears drain her face of any color and do absolutely nothing for her.

She moves gracefully when she walks. And she looked a little worn. But Dr Phil reckons she's teaching something like eighty young kids at Countess Katharina the Heroic School, so that's not surprising."

There was disbelief at that. Who could possible teach that many children in a single classroom? If true, then she must be a very special young woman indeed. Surely even the redoubtable Veronica Dreeson would tremble at the thought of taking charge of that classroom day after day.

Tracy thought a moment. "I want you both to meet this Maria Blandina. I want anything you can find out about her. This might be our best hope for distracting Dr Gribbleflotz from the aluminum mine, but we don't want him jumping out of the frying pan into the fire."

"How do you suggest we find out about her, Mrs. Kubiak?"

Tracy threw up her arms. "Do I have to do everything for you, Jonathan? Think. Start with Frau Gundelfinger. She usually knows something about everything. Now get, go, get a move on. The pair of you should be outside in the sun."

Belle watched the young couple walked out of the house arm in arm. "When are those two getting married?"

"Soon. Very soon. In fact tomorrow wouldn't be soon enough." Tracy gently shook her head at young love. "They're waiting for Jonathan's term with the Army to finish. Then he can start full time with his father."

"When's that, a couple of months time?" Tracy nodded. "Can they afford to marry? I know you still have Ted's parents' house they can have, and Richelle virtually runs Grantville Canvas and Outdoor these days. But Jonathan can't have saved much on a soldiers' salary, can he?" Tracy had to smile at the family's concerns. Her gaze followed the couple as they gathered up Richelle's daughter, Leyna, and her own children, Justin and Terrie, and took them outside. She waited until they were out of sight. "Do you remember how Bitty put on a performance ofBad, Bad Brillo for Duke Philipp?" At their affirmative she smiled. "Jonathan might not be the smartest man alive, but he had a knack for making the right kind of friends and being in the right place at the right time. He collected a share for helping. With that and what he has earned helping some down-timers . . ." Tracy smiled and shook her head. "No. Money isn't an obstacle."

Several days later "Maria Blandina, there is gossip about you seeing some young man on the sly. What do you have to say for yourself? You know it reflects badly on your papa. Especially after what happened with your sister.

Who is he? Where does he work? Is he Lutheran?"

I waited patiently for Stepmama to finish before answering. "His name is Phillip Theophrastus Gribbleflotz. He has a responsible job with an up-timer firm based in Jena. I don't know if he is Lutheran.

We haven't talked about religion. But I expect he is, since he works in Jena and almost everyone in Jena is Lutheran. It isn't like Grantville."

"What? My information is you have been seeing this man every day for more than a week. How can he have a responsible job in Jena and what is this 'responsible job' that allows him so much time in Rudolstadt?"

"He is an alchemist working in the laboratories at HDG Enterprizes in Jena."

"An alchemist! A charlatan more like. He's probably a laborer barely making a living, and wasting what he does earn on his clothes from what I hear. I hope you haven't visited him in whatever shady boarding house he is staying."

I bravely weathered the hard stare from Stepmama. Phillip had taken me to lunch at the small private hotel where he was staying. It was little more than a boarding house, but not the sort Stepmama was suggesting. The lunch had been respectable, shared with friends of Phillip, a young couple engaged to be married. "He is on vacation, Stepmama. They allow their employees several weeks paid 'vacation' every year."Unlike you and Papa, who expect me to teach and help you every day. "And he is not a charlatan. He does have a respectable job. I have met a young couple who know him and they talked easily about what he was doing in Jena."

"And when, Marina Blandina, were you planning on introducing us to this man? Apparently you have been seeing him for a whole week, and still you haven't chosen to introduce him to your mama and papa.

You didn't even let your papa and me know you were walking out with someone. I had to hear of it from Christiana Selfisch."

I started a little at that. That was definitely bad news. Tante Christiana and Stepmama didn't get on at all.

I didn't want to know just what was said, but it was bound to reflect badly on Stepmama.

"Your Tante Christiana was very happy to see you walking out with a young man." Stepmama stared unblinkingly straight into my eyes. "She asked when the banns would be read." I had to swallow at that.

Marriage was a topic we hadn't touched on. I wasn't really sure that Phillip could afford a wife. "Are we to expect this man to come calling to ask your papa for your hand?"

I'm afraid to say I panicked. I said the first thing that entered my head. "Yes."

It was pleasant to see Stepmama at a loss for words, but I was soon punished for my momentary pleasure. "Then bring him around for dinner tomorrow night. If you are going to marry the man, your papa and I had better meet him."

I stuttered an acknowledgement and ran from the room. What to do? I was going to have to say something to Phillip.

Dr Gribbleflotz smiled at his guests. The up-timer Jonathan Fortney was watching his fiance, Richelle Kubiak, playing with her daughter. Phillip recognized the look in his eyes. He had been seeing that same look in the mirror these last couple of days. The quiet contentment and air of rightness between the three settled it for Phillip.

"I intend asking Fraulein Kastenmayer to marry me." He carefully watched to see the reaction of the young couple. He didn't go unrewarded.

Richelle turned and smiled at Jonathan and then at Phillip. "That's very nice, Dr Gribbleflotz. She is a delightful young woman, and not without connections."

Jonathan snorted at Richelle's response. It was considerably different from what Richelle and the Kubiak Country ladies had originally thought.

"But, Salome dear, it really is time Maria Blandina married. We can't expect her to stay unmarried and teaching at Countess Katharina the Heroic School forever. And it reflects badly on me that I have been able to find husbands for seven dowerless young women of the parish, but failed to find a husband for my own daughter."

"Husband, if Maria Blandina marries, who is going to teach the children of Countess Katharina the Heroic? The parish will be forced to pay a teacher. No, two teachers. The parish will never find another teacher willing to teach such a big class. Although Maria Blandina managed quite well on her own."

"Dear, that is a problem for the parish. They can not have expected Maria Blandina to stay unmarried.

And besides, her prospective husband works in Jena, you say?" At Salome's nod, Pastor Kastenmeyer continued. "But, that is wonderful. Just think. Maria Blandina will have a house in Jena. Her brothers will be able to stay with her while they attend the university at Jena. The savings on room and board will be enough to ensure the education of all our children."

Salome was silenced. She had worried endlessly about how they were to support and educate her boys on a parish pastor's salary. Things had been extremely tight even with just the three eldest at the university in Jena. What they would be like as the other four grew didn't bear thinking about. If Maria Blandina and her husband could provide room and board for her brothers, things would be a lot easier.

* * * Phillip waited nervously for Maria Blandina outside Countess Katharina's. When she followed the children out of the school, his heart started racing. She came out in a rush, throwing herself into his arms.

"Oh Phillip. I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry."

Startled, but pleasantly surprised and heartened at the unexpected display of affection, Phillip wrapped his arms around her in an attempt to comfort her. "What is the matter, my dearest?"

"I'm so sorry, Phillip. But Stepmama heard that I've been seeing you, and demanded to know if you were going to ask Papa's for permission to marry me. I panicked and said yes. Stepmama said I was to bring you to dinner tonight so you could ask Papa's permission." Maria Blandina had tears in her eyes. It sounded like she was begging his forgiveness.

Phillip looked down into the tear filled eyes. "Would it be so hard to marry me, Maria Blandina?"

"Oh no! I would love to be your wife. But it is so soon. And can you afford a wife?"

Phillip crushed her against his chest. "I am sure I can afford a wife, Maria Blandina." He put his hands down to her shoulders and pushed her far enough away that he could see her face. "Maria Blandina Kastenmayer, would you do me the honor of being my wife?"

"Oh, Phillip."

Phillip Theophrastus Gribbleflotz, pretender to the title of Doctor, dried his clammy hands on his trousers before entering Pastor Kastenmayer's study. Once there, he was confronted by the collar and vestments of the church he had avoided on all but the most compulsory of occasions for a quarter of a century. He felt a bit guilty when he passed over the character references the Kubiak Country folks had obtained.

There was one from the management of HDG Enterprizes and one from Hardegg, Selfisch and Krapp.

Between them, they established the important facts. That Phillip Theophrastus Gribbleflotz had held a position of responsibility with HDG Enterpizes for nearly four years, that he could afford a wife and family, and that he had no significant outstanding debts. While Pastor Kastenmayer read the references, Phillip thought a little bit about the fur coat he had ordered. The furrier would have to wait on his next dividend from the company before he could pay for that. Then he smiled, imagining the reactions when he and Maria Blandina attended important events wearing matching fur coats. Yes. He was sure the furrier would be happy to accept such an order.