Well, she had not tried to shoo him from her parlour at once, so that was an act of mercy on her part. Perhaps he had managed to incite her pity, then; Barnaby gave her a wry half-smile back, floating tentatively on the spot. “I try to be of some use. But it, ah, is not always easy to exist in accordance with the customs of the day,” Barnaby admitted in agreement, because he had a hard enough time keeping up with what year it was, never mind what society supposed was appropriate or inappropriate now. He shrugged, in helpless modesty. “Conventions seem to change faster than the centuries.”
