A proper example. Yes, it had, hadn't it? It had been more than enough to convince Cassiopeia that she'd never marry, that whatever life might lie ahead of her that way would be far preferable to sharing the same fate as Irma. Although in reflection she had decided that Pollux had fared almost as badly as a result, something which had quite escaped her notice at the time.
She felt almost guilty, now, for having alluded to the matter, for having Pollux look at her directly in that way and admit to her, in his own way, the difficulty of it. She nodded, slowly, folding her hands in her lap. 'It has,' she told her brother, her gaze meeting his. 'I've learnt from it what needed to be learnt.' She wouldn't make his mistakes, although it would have been cruel of Cassi to state it aloud in quite that way.
It didn't stop her, however, from pressing home her point. 'That's why you don't have to think the worst of me,' she said. 'I know better, Pollux. I wish you'd trust that I do. I have an interest in safeguarding my own reputation and the fact that we sometimes disagree on how best to go about it doesn't mean that I don't care or don't think it important. I won't-' disgrace the family, she had very nearly said, but how would that seem to him given his own situation? 'I won't act inappropriately,' she corrected, and then she sighed.
'The truth of it...' Cassi faltered a little, looked away, 'is that you're very likely right. I didn't at all realize that muggles might act that way, that they'd be more likely to want to rob a woman than a man. I suppose I didn't want to believe everything I'd heard of them. But Pollux if that's the way it is then I - I think I'd be better off at home.' Not that Cassi hadn't handled the situation satisfactorily, but she didn't want to have to do it again. 'At least if I don't have you with me. There's very little I have to go out to do that you can't manage in my place.'