Chapter 9

The house was empty except for the four of them. Ettie was a gracious hostess, offering her room to the ladies to refresh themselves and then giving in to Ruby's request to visit her collection of illicit works while waiting for Meyers to come back. Julia put her arm through William's and steered him along also, amused at his resistance on the way.

Ettie's salon was quite impressive; Julia noticed it was graced with a full sized copy of Jean-Léon Gérôme's, Selling Slaves in Rome, as well as Le Déjeuner sur l'herbe, by Édouard Manet and Fête champêtre, currently attributed to Titian. The copies were well-made and elegant, and William went over to them one at a time to admire the brush strokes unselfconsciously.

Ettie brought out some books for Ruby to see, explaining about how she collected them and got them into the country with Meyers' help, bypassing customs in the same diplomatic train in which William was smuggled into the States. Julia found a collection of medical texts, sex manuals in effect, and was intrigued.

"Miss Weston, you have quite a collection here—most of these are famous and quite banned, I believe. You have Every Woman's Bookby Richard Carlile. Ruby, have you seen this?" She brought it over to her sister. "It was written for women, so why you have it here for men to look at, Miss Weston, I cannot imagine. This book says that "every healthy woman feels the passion of love" which is very different from the prevailing notion that women only put up with sex because of the prospect of motherhood. Carlile labeled sexuality as a virtue, not a vice. He saw love as a desire for physical and sexual gratification and believed that the Christian Church encourages prostitution and self-pleasuring by discouraging sexual intercourse."

She looked at William, who had gone back to studying the paintings, rather pointedly now, she thought. Other books caught her eye and she started listing them. "Sexual Health, by Henry Hanchett. Or What a Young Husband Ought to Know bySylvanus Stall. Mrs Duffey's book, The Relations of the Sexes which tries to say that conjugal activities between men and women get essentially boring quickly."

William could not help but turn around. "Julia, how is it you are so, um, informed about this?"

Before she could answer, Ruby held one up. "Hints on Matrimony by a Practical Man. I have heard of this one. It recommends not being too optimistic about conjugal relations, but at least asks the men to continue courting their wives right through marriage." Ruby looked at her sister and the detective and wondered once again what was going on in their relationship. In the carriage, the detective certainly looked at Julia for the briefest of moment with undisguised longing, before he shut his face into a mask.

"I have many kinds of books," Ettie said, "even novels that were at one time or other banned in some jurisdiction, or by the Catholic Church."

All three looked at William, exactly what he had been trying to ward off. He answered calmly, "I do not need to defend my faith, ladies. The Church is not infallible. I will remind you that Galileo's work was banned and then science and the Church both caught up with the times. I have never let someone else dictate my conscience, and I have actually enjoyed reading a banned book or two." He smiled directly at them and noticed this time the ladies looked away before he did. Why is it that people assume I am a prude or naïve, just because I am a Roman Catholic, modest or respectful, have morals or observe the social conventions of a gentleman? At times he was quite annoyed by this, although he had to admit Julia forced him to be more open-minded as the years passed between them. He generally counted that as a good thing.

Ettie continued her tour of the library. "There is the poetry of Walt Whitman, Mr Wilde, Mr Twain, Lord Byron, as well as books specifically designed for arousal. May I recommend

My Secret Life by "Walter", which is essentially the pornographic adventures of a young man through the sex haunts of London?" She pointed to a row of books on a shelf. "The Perfumed Garden, theFortunes and misfortunes of the famous Moll Flanders…"

Ettie reached to another shelf and handed a set of chapbooks to Ruby. "These are most popular right now."

William peered over her shoulder. "I have seen this sort of thing before. Titillating stories," he was quick to add, "mostly harmless. I encountered them on a case I worked on…"

This time Julia read the titles. "Ida B's Delighted Dreams, Julia's Joyful Belles, or The Naughty Knight Nights…"

"Venus and Voltaire, what a juxtaposition! Awesome Annie MacFanny, Beautiful Barbara's Burlesque…" Ruby added, as she chose one to flip through. "The alliteration must be a tip off to the contents of the books?" she guessed.

"William, you might like Laetitia's Lovely Legs or Katherine's Tiger Girls," Ettie offered with a wide-eyed look.He kept his hands firmly laced behind his back.

"Oh, my," Julia and Ruby declared nearly in unison, each scanning their own pages.

Ruby said, "I am not so sure about the harmless part. This one is called the Seven Sensual Sins and seems pretty explicit to me." Ruby showed her chapbook to Julia and they both read and giggled as William become more uncomfortable.He did not like the objectification of women found in most pornography, and he did not need assistance in that area: his own imagination supplied plenty of sensual fodder.

"Mine too," said Julia. "Miss Weston, do most men like this sort of thing?"

Ettie thought about it for a minute. "I think it depends on the man. I will say it is the girls who actually like the chapbooks the best." She leaned forward, eyes edging towards William. "I like a good story or two myself!" and with that all three women laughed.

He managed to interrupt long enough to invite Julia to find supper with him later, and she agreed to accompany him back to the Exhibition tonight to see the lights.

William took the opportunity and excused himself to go his room before he got roped into anything else, as Ettie and Ruby, becoming instant friends, made plans to spend the rest of the afternoon together. As he walked up the stairs, the women continued perusal of the collection and he was trying to weigh if it was better to leave them without him being there or not…