Several days had passed since they had their pleasant outing, in the time between then and now Josie and Gregory found they rather enjoyed spending their free time together. It was a pleasant experience for both of them and a very welcome one. And Violet enjoyed the fact that Josie did not expect him to carry on a conversation when he would rather be silent. Many other girls hounded him relentlessly about that fact and assumed that his silence meant he did not enjoy their company. In this regard Josie was very different.

The day had already been unusually hot even for summer and they had retreated out into the far corner of the courtyard where a few trees offered some small amount of shade. It was hot enough that Gregory had to discard his usual cloak and let the breeze hot his face to stay cool. As for Josie she had her long blonde hair pulled into a bun at the nape of her neck, otherwise it would cling to her already sweating shoulders.

In addition to enjoying each other's company Gregory had found a very willing muse. For the last few days all of his sketches had featured her in one way or another. And now she sat again being as still as possible as Gregory furiously sketched a new portrait. She sat immobile on a park bench with her knees drawn tightly up to her chin and her gaze fixed firmly on the distance in a look that meant she was lost somewhere deep in her own thoughts. Josie was wearing the lightest dress she owned, a simple cotton dress that was a very light pink, but still it seemed far too hot for the weather.

Gregory wiped away sweat from his own brow but otherwise did not move from his sketch. He knew the position that she was holding might be too hard for her to hold too long, and though she was in the direct sun she did not complain but held her position and simply waited for him to tell her he was finished.

With a final flourish he did finish. As he gave it a quick glance over he added a little shading to the rose bushes he had added, there were actually none around but roses always seemed to suit Josie so he added them to whatever he was working on if she was the main subject.

He stood up and stretched, feeling his muscles work after having sat far too long immobile and they protested by sending some dull pain along his legs and thighs. He gave them a brief massage before moving to the bench and sitting beside Josie, proudly showing her his new sketch. Gregory was actually quite proud of it, he had found that his own work was improving over the last few weeks. Even though he was an accomplished artist it gave him pleasure to know his skill could increase even now.

Josie delicately and politely took the sketch and smiled at what she saw, "You're such an excellent artist Gregory, I think that if you had a canvas large enough you could paint the entire world one it," She said as she handed it back to him.

The compliment gave him a small rush of joy. And he would probably in fact paint the entire world on canvas if he could as long as Josie was in the painting somewhere.

He studied the sketch a little more intently than set it aside and looked at Josie, who at the moment was looking off into the distance. He turned and looked as well, and upon not seeing anything of interest, concluded that she must be lost in her own thoughts. He sat there in silence for a few moments before he turned back to her.

"Is everything alright? You seem to be preoccupied with something." He glanced back down embarrassed, hoping that he was not infringing upon her private thoughts or feelings. But she was usually very talkative and active and this was a change of character for her.

She looked over and gave a wide smile that still didn't do anything to dissuade his feelings that something was wrong. Josie gave a sigh and pulled out a small sheet of paper from the pocket in her dress.

"Do you remember when we went to the bookshop and he gave me this piece of paper? I was thinking about getting in touch with that business partner of my fathers, I can't help but be curious about that man." She tucked the piece of paper back into her pocket and looked at him.

Gregory tilted his head at her as he thought, "I don't think that contacting him would hurt anything, but do you think that it would do any good?" He picked up the sketch again and absent mindedly started to darken a few lines on the paper. It didn't really need it but it gave him something to do with his hands.

Josie shook her head and the movement of her hair caught his attention and he stopped his shading to look at her again. "I never liked any of my dad's business partners, but there are some that I never even got to meet, and surely some of them must have been decent. I think that maybe this particular man might just want to pay his condolences after my fathers' death. I think I'll write this man and ask if he still wants to meet me. I don't think it would really be a problem."

"When you do I can be there with you, if you don't want to be alone with a man that you don't know." Gregory offered her, feeling particularly bold at the statement, though he wasn't sure how much of a comfort he would be.

What he was really worried about was that this man might be trying to extort money from Josie. He didn't trust greed in human beings, and there were people out there who would try to squeeze the last bit of money from even the poorest person. He thought perhaps that he was just being paranoid, but it was better to be safe than sorry.