Ben honestly could have kept arguing about this, even though he knew it was silly and pointless. He felt as though she was calling his judgement into question, though, and he wanted to defend himself. Then there was the entirely separate issue that she'd apparently been close to Mr. Binns before they'd eloped, which — why? Why would a much older, married man be cozying up to a wealthy debutante? There was simply no good motivation for it, and he felt even more justified in his judgement of the man as a cad if he'd been associating with Melody for any malicious purpose.

Then she mentioned that he wanted to hire her, which a horse of an entirely different color. Ben blinked, for a moment not even sure how to respond.

"He just... offered? Out of nowhere?" Ben asked suspiciously. "Or you asked?"