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inclined to believe Dr. Brown’s Conservation of Reality theory.”
    “In minor matters, yes, but something like that would have to change the future—our past—in a big way.” Dismayed, Giles ran his fingers through his hair.
    “You think I might succeed in winning the vote for women a century early? I’m flattered by your confidence in me. More likely my efforts would fizzle out and not make the slightest difference, but you needn’t worry, I don’t intend to try. I told Emily it would probably cause one of your paradoxes.”
    He sighed in relief. “So you were just teasing. I might have guessed. All the same, the longer we stay, the more likely something will go wrong. I must get back to work. Cousin Emily, will you take me to see the lightning rods on the stables? Don’t worry, Jodie,” he forestalled her protest with a grin. “We’ll say that as a fellow-countryman and fellow-scientist of Ben Franklin’s, I’m eager to see how the English have improved upon his invention.”
    Emily was glad to be distracted from her woes. As she and Giles left, the elderly butler came in with a tray of refreshments. Jodie eyed the tea and cakes hungrily. Since a snack lunch in Oxford yesterday, if yesterday was the right word, she had eaten nothing but what Emily had managed to smuggle up to them.
    However, it was a long time since she had used the chamber pot in the night nursery.
    “I don’t suppose there’s a water closet at Waterstock Manor?” she asked Charlotte without much hope. Probably the thrifty Faringdales considered such a luxury an unnecessary extravagance.
    “My father-in-law had Burmah water closets installed years ago, two for the family and one for the servants. Shall I show you the way?”
    At first glance the water closet looked like a superior outhouse—a polished wooden bench with a hole in it. However, underneath the bench was a porcelain bowl, and overhead hung a metal water tank for flushing just like the one in Jodie’s Oxford digs two hundred years in the future.
    Charlotte also showed her the separate bathroom, complete with shower bath. “Just tell Matty or Dinah when you want to bathe, so that the boiler can be stoked,” she said.
    “Heavenly!” Remembering last evening, Jodie giggled. “Giles will be thrilled to death. He had no appreciation of the historical significance of the chamber pot.”
    They returned to the drawing room and settled down for a comfortable cose.
    “I like the way you joke with Cousin Giles,” Charlotte said wistfully, as she poured the tea. “You must have known him a long time.”
    Jodie felt her cheeks grow warm. “As a matter of fact, I only met him yesterday. People in our time, especially Americans, tend to be much more free and easy with new acquaintances than here and now. Not that I would have accepted a ride with any man, even in England. I liked him right away, and felt I could trust him.”
    “He seems to be a…a great-grandson to be proud of. All the same, even though you are posing as his sister, I beg you will be careful how you behave with him. It seems young ladies in the future have little care for their reputations, but if you are going to be with us for some time, I should not like to see yours besmirched.”
    “You’re a dear, Charlotte. With you to teach me, I shall do very well.”
    “I shall do my best. You already speak much more as we do than you did at first.”
    Jodie explained her interest in the Regency period. Charlotte was astonished that Jodie was a serious historian, and fascinated by the notion that her own times were the foundation for a whole genre of romantic novels. She confessed to a weakness for Minerva Press romances.
    “It was Emily’s idea to read Voltaire.” Charlotte sighed. “She is much cleverer than I, but I fear it will do her no good with Lord Thorncrest. Gentlemen do not appreciate intelligence in a female.”
    Discussion of that interesting subject was postponed, as Emily and Giles returned.