"Guilty as charged," she admitted with a grin. She felt the next natural conversational turn might include his daughters, since they were discussing family already and presumably he was here with at least one of them. Given his history, however, she wondered if he would welcome such questions, even if they were innocent ones. And, admittedly, given her work she wondered if she would be able to keep them light and innocent, or whether curiosity might pull her towards inquiries about Miss Topaz that would seem entirely inappropriate and invasive.

"Well, I don't want to detain you too long from your family," she said after a brief pause. "But it has been such an honor to meet you, sir. And a pleasure, too," she added with a bright smile.