Ford had to work hard not to visibly grimace. This was the question he had sidestepped earlier because he didn't think she would appreciate any of the answers, but now that she'd asked (or half-asked) it more directly he didn't think that he could do so again. Failing to answer a question was answering it, after all; just answering it with whatever worst-case scenario the asker had in mind rather than being able to massage things in one's response.
"Well, no one's asked, specifically," he said. The girls hadn't asked because they probably didn't want a single new detail about Ford's sex life beyond what they had already been forced by rumors to imagine. Noble hadn't asked because he already knew what had really happened. Ford didn't think Miss Farley would find it at all comforting to hear that a man she presumably had never met before already knew all the details, so he decided for the sake of this conversation to just lump Noble in with the rest of them. "But they've heard what Mrs. Dempsey was saying, obviously. I've been — er, I suppose — implying to people that we're fond of each other." This felt like an embarrassing and invasive thing to be admitting to, since they hadn't codified this story in any way previously, but surely she had been doing the same? It was the only way to salvage any of her reputation, to pretend there had been an attachment, codified or otherwise, prior to the coatroom incident. "And I think some of them believe that, and some think I'm — we're, I suppose — trying to make the best of a bad situation."
"Well, no one's asked, specifically," he said. The girls hadn't asked because they probably didn't want a single new detail about Ford's sex life beyond what they had already been forced by rumors to imagine. Noble hadn't asked because he already knew what had really happened. Ford didn't think Miss Farley would find it at all comforting to hear that a man she presumably had never met before already knew all the details, so he decided for the sake of this conversation to just lump Noble in with the rest of them. "But they've heard what Mrs. Dempsey was saying, obviously. I've been — er, I suppose — implying to people that we're fond of each other." This felt like an embarrassing and invasive thing to be admitting to, since they hadn't codified this story in any way previously, but surely she had been doing the same? It was the only way to salvage any of her reputation, to pretend there had been an attachment, codified or otherwise, prior to the coatroom incident. "And I think some of them believe that, and some think I'm — we're, I suppose — trying to make the best of a bad situation."
Set by Lady!