"You're the very picture of eloquence today, aren't you?" he returned, rolling his eyes. She must have been distracted today, because she was making this too easy. Maybe he'd try to see if anything was bothering her, later, if he could find a way to ask that didn't let on that he cared about the answer. In a pinch he could try and send one of his sisters to talk with her, but this was a flimsy tactic; in the past when he'd employed it they only managed to report back things of no consequence, and left out anything that would have been telling. They didn't know her as well as he did.
"Women who work," he continued, with a shrug that seemed to say you can't be cross with me for telling the truth. "You find a career because without one you aren't interesting enough to carry a conversation at parties. If I deprived you of your work for a week I'm afraid you'd run out of things to talk about by Tuesday afternoon." He shuffled the newspaper in his hands, mostly for the sound effect of the rustling papers than for any actual purpose. "It's not entirely your fault, of course. Not everyone is born with charm or wit."
"Women who work," he continued, with a shrug that seemed to say you can't be cross with me for telling the truth. "You find a career because without one you aren't interesting enough to carry a conversation at parties. If I deprived you of your work for a week I'm afraid you'd run out of things to talk about by Tuesday afternoon." He shuffled the newspaper in his hands, mostly for the sound effect of the rustling papers than for any actual purpose. "It's not entirely your fault, of course. Not everyone is born with charm or wit."
MJ is the light of my life <3