“A coincidence, then.”
“If you choose to call it that.”
There was a brief pause, as Eleanor did not believe for a moment that he had not known that she was there. Halford regarded her for a moment, as though assessing something he had already decided.
“I hope I did not startle you,” he said. “Our last meeting was abrupt, I know.”
Eleanor held his gaze, her expression steady.
“That is one way to describe it.”
“I have often thought it could have been handled differently,” he continued. “I think there was a lack of clarity, and circumstances were not taken care of as they should have been.”
“By whom?” she asked.
He did not answer that directly.
“There was a misunderstanding.”
“A misunderstanding,” she repeated. “I was not aware that I had misunderstood being told I was an obstacle.”
“You must see that the situation was more complicated than that.”
“I see it very clearly now.”
“Eleanor– it is not as simple as it seemed at the time. I had an impossible decision to make, and I had to do the best I could.”
He took a step closer, though not enough to breach propriety, only enough to lower his voice and have her hear him still.
“I did not intend for things to unfold as they did.”
“And yet they did.”
“You cannot believe that I would have spoken so harshly without just cause. There were expectations, pressures that were not immediately apparent. I was poorly advised.”
“And so you chose to place the consequence of that upon me.”
“It was not so simple.”
“It was exactly that simple.”
Her words were strong, and Halford regarded her for a moment longer.
“You have changed.”
Eleanor did not respond to that immediately. He tilted his head slightly, as though acknowledging his point without fully conceding it.
“I do not want you to think that I regarded you lightly.”
“You could have felt any way you like. The result remains the same.”
“I had hoped we might speak without returning to it so directly.”
Eleanor met his gaze without hesitation.
“Then you should not have named it a misunderstanding.”
For a moment, neither of them spoke. Then Eleanor nodded slightly. She had been afraid when she first saw him, but it was not as frightening as she had thought. He was in her home, and so she held the power.