"You find necessity in a great many things."
"Perhaps," he said after a moment.
She watched him a moment longer, then let it go. The conversation shifted again.
"You avoided the drawing room earlier," she said.
"I had work to attend to."
"Of course you did."
"That is not an unreasonable excuse."
"No," she said. "Only a predictable one."
A faint pause.
"And you," he said. "You seemed occupied."
"I was," she replied. "Your sister ensured that."
"She is very capable of that. I speak from experience."
Eleanor smiled slightly.
"She has plans for tomorrow."
"I have been informed. She cornered me and told me all about them."
"And will you attend?"
"I have not yet decided."
"Why not? Surely you do not have so much work that you cannot spare a few hours?"
"I… no, you would be correct in such an assumption. I suppose that I can make the time for you both."
The words were light, but something in them lingered. Julian’s attention remained on her a moment longer than necessary. Eleanor felt it. She reached for her glass again, if only to give herself something to do.
"You are in an unusually agreeable mood this evening," she said.
"Am I?"
"Yes," she said. "It is almost disconcerting."
"That was not my intention."
"And yet here we are."
The moment held. The evening was not effortless, but it no longer felt like something that needed managing at every turn. Eleanor found herself laughing more than she had expected. Julian, if not laughing, remained closer to it than usual.
Neither of them seemed inclined to acknowledge the fact that the distance between them was lessening. Eleanor certainly did not want to, for it would have led to questioning it and she did not want to. She simply wished to bask in the enjoyment that she felt in spending time with her husband.
Eventually, the remains of the meal had long since been cleared, the candles burning lower as the room settled into a softer kind of stillness. Julian rose without warning.
"Should I be concerned?" Eleanor asked.
"No."