"If you say so," replied Stephen, "And I can see where that would...come in." It was a little awkward, talking to Matthew about this. Stephen had always thought he'd be the sort of person who would keep all of that trauma to himself and just let it stew in his inner guilt, like a good Christian. He considered asking him this before realizing it was a stupid idea.
He would have said something in relation to Matthew's inability to do anything about the regime, and indeed started with, "Well, you're one man, so you don't have to trust anyone, they trust you, you could use some bloody cunning..." before he heard something drop quite loudly upstairs, and some footsteps coming towards it. The hairs on the back of Stephen's neck pricked up, and he lowered his voice when he asked, "There's...is someone else here?"