Re: Dinah and Hill
"With respect, ma'am," Hill said, careful not to look away and especially not towards the giggling idiots - too much punch? not enough? - further along the wall. "It's either you or them. As I don't generally care to dance either," he continued, "I will accept anything else that removes me from the danger of dancing until the enemy surveillance is completed." Namely, the frowning matron.
But if a soldier favored the company of widows and fallen women, well, then obviously he wouldn't have been a good match for one of the girls anyways, and it was just as well he wasn't dancing. That was the story that Hill encouraged to circulate.
Especially as, frown aside, he was attractive enough, almost delicately boned but with a strong jaw. "I trust your husband will forgive a conversation in the interest of saving my ears?" Hill inquired, almost politely.