He was taking a drink when she responded, which gave him a second before he had to react. This turn of the conversation surprised him, for two reasons. The first was that she already knew the answer. They'd talked extensively about his time in South America, and she knew he'd emerged an entirely different person. The Alfred who'd returned to England after being shipwrecked bore so little resemblance to the one who'd departed that sometimes he felt his life had only actually begun in the American wilderness. The second reason her question surprised him was that he didn't immediately see the relevance. What intensely dark period of her life? He didn't know what she'd been up to in the nearly a year between their parting at the blizzard and seeing each other again in London, but from his perspective she seemed to be doing fine now. She had a daughter, there was a we of some variety which was discussing where to settle. He knew she'd been frantic in the days leading up to the blizzard; that was what had caused the whole problem between them in the first place. But she seemed to have it all figured out now, didn't she?
"I was entirely different. But not entirely cynical," he contended — though this may have been in part rose-tinted glasses with the benefit of hindsight. He certainly felt better about his return to England now than he had while living it. He turned his pint glass in a quarter-circle thoughtfully and then raised it to drink again. "What happened after you left?"
"I was entirely different. But not entirely cynical," he contended — though this may have been in part rose-tinted glasses with the benefit of hindsight. He certainly felt better about his return to England now than he had while living it. He turned his pint glass in a quarter-circle thoughtfully and then raised it to drink again. "What happened after you left?"
MJ made the most Alfredy of sets and then two years later she made it EVEN BETTER