Page 134 of A Question of Character

“Yes.”

She nodded thoughtfully.

“And during those years people may change.”

“So may they perfect deception.”

He began pacing.

“I should have known he was lying in wait.”

Elizabeth watched him.

“Is it possible...”

He stopped.

“...that this is all some great misunderstanding?”

He laughed bitterly. “A misunderstanding?”

“I cannot help feeling we lack some vital piece of information.”

“Sometimes matters are straightforward, Elizabeth.”

“Sometimes.”

She offered no further argument.

Perhaps because she recognized he would not yield.

Perhaps because she herself remained uncertain.

Either possibility exhausted him.

He drew a slow breath.

“I wish to speak of something else.”

Relief flickered across her face.

“Very well.”

“How did my interview with your father become the least interesting conversation either of us has had today?”

She smiled.

“I wondered the same.”

He reached for both her hands.

She offered them willingly.

The simple trust of the gesture eased something inside him.

“Miss Elizabeth Bennet.”

She laughed.