Victor wasn't blindly optimistic about whoever Chambers would recommend, even if they did meet the criteria he'd laid out of being decent dance partners and good conversationalists. He'd found that many people's definition of good conversationalists extended only to women who had a wide enough trove of rehearsed opinions to not repeat themselves within the span of twenty minutes. It wasn't Victor's ideal. Why couldn't women carry on conversations the same way that men did? Every interaction he had with them felt so stilted, which precluded any genuine affection from forming. He didn't doubt his abilities to create a lasting, amicable relationship with a woman, only the ability of anyone to do so within the boundaries of polite ballroom conversations and chaperoned calls.

"I don't need advice for how to ask a woman to dance," he said, making a face at Chambers' implication. "I'm perfectly capable in that respect. My failure here is a lack of familiarity with all the options," he argued. "I had no notion that to marry at thirty one ought to have started cataloging women at twenty-five."

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