"Thank Merlin for small miracles, I suppose." Elsie passed him a small smile and a little shrug. She could be pretty elusive when she wanted to be; years of practice after all. In being such a petite, unassuming figure, Elsie had always been able to melt into the shadows and stay out of the limelight. It was more of a survival skill at this point. Her self-preservation skills were subtle, but critical.

Being able to sympathize with having somebody watching your every move, Elsie would, no doubt face similar critique if she were to arrive home too early. Her mother should have come to expect it from her by now, but Stella must have still been holding out some kind of hope that Elsie would start to enjoy things like this at some point. She wouldn't. Elsie paused to wonder if Mr. Adlard's sister had been in school with her at some point. She thought she remembered a Ravenclaw with the last name maybe a year or two behind her, but she was pretty terrible with things like that.

"Oh, I have a little while yet. I'm afraid my mother would rather act along the same lines as your sisters if I were to leave too early. I'll be glad for the company though." At least if she were seen speaking to a gentleman that had to count right? Mr. Adlard would have to suffer through a hopefully-less-painful situation than last time, but for all intents and purposes she had fulfilled her duty of being social in some aspect. Thankfully he didn't seem to mind, though he could just be incredibly polite, especially after what she'd put him through at the library this winter.