Ben hesitated, and he might have just shrugged in response and not said anything at all, except that she'd paused. She was waiting for an answer, so he'd have to say something, and certainly it could not be the truth — but he didn't want to lie to her, either, when she had been nothing but honest with him. It wasn't necessarily that he was ashamed to admit it, or anything — he'd told Aldous he was planning to duel Macmillan before he'd even officially challenged him, and Art too. People just tended to think this was a much bigger deal than it needed to be, and he didn't want to start a conversation with her that would become a whole confused mess of her — well, he didn't know her well enough to know how she'd react. Concerned? Disappointed? Angry? Confused? In any case — it wasn't why he was here tonight.

"It's... not exactly resolved yet," Ben said, a little evasively. "But it will be."