Page 143 of A Question of Character

His eyes sought hers.

“No, Elizabeth. I simply weigh it differently.”

She drew a slow breath.

“Then an innocent man may bear suspicion for the sake of protecting another.”

“If he is innocent.”

She threw up her hands.

“There! Always that qualification.”

“It matters.”

“It matters because you insist upon it.”

“I insist because I know him.”

“You knew him.”

His expression hardened.

“I know enough.”

“You have admitted you have scarcely spoken to him in years.”

“That does not erase everything that came before.”

“Nor does it prevent change.”

His patience visibly frayed.

“A few respectable months do not transform a lifetime’s character.”

“You speak as if reform were impossible.”

“I speak as one who has watched promises become lies often enough to cease believing them.”

“And I speak as one who has watched a man labor diligently every day for weeks without once betraying the monstrous nature you describe.”

Their voices had risen.

A pair of laborers working in a neighboring field glanced toward the lane before returning discreetly to their task.

Darcy lowered his tone first.

“I do not wish to quarrel with you.”

“Neither do I.”

“But we are.”

“Yes.”

He stepped closer.

“I cannot ask you to abandon your judgment.”