" They're installing a boiler system," Pandora said, flipping through a book. "It's a set of two large copper cylinders filled with water pipes that are heated by gas burners. One never has to wait for the hot water- it comes at once through expansion pipes attached to the top of the boiler."
"Pandora," Kathleen asked suspiciously, "how do you know all that?"
"The master plumber explained it to me."
"Dear," Helen said gently, "it's not seemly for you to converse with a man when you haven't been introduced. Especially a laborer in our home."
"But Helen, he's old. He looks like Father Christmas."
"Age has nothing to do with it," Kathleen said crisply. "Pandora, you promised to abide by the rules."
"I do," Pandora protested, looking chagrined. "I follow all the rules that I can remember."
"How is it that you remember the details of a plumbing system but not basic etiquette?"
"Because plumbing is more interesting. "

― Lisa Kleypas , Cold-Hearted Rake (The Ravenels, #1)