Re: Dinah and Hill
"Must be my ears then." She commented to the lack of compliment, but still with an amused expression that didn't fade even when he gave his condolences, though she did look away for a moment.
"Thank you." It was some years ago and stung less- and he had by no means been a perfect man, but he'd been her husband and that was something to mourn, though she wasn't one to live in the wake of the dead for eternity like some local mother hens would have preferred.
"If that's the case, stranger, then maybe it's my reputation I should fret over." She said, but it lacked any bite. She was still joking, perhaps too comfortably with a man she'd never met before. Part of her considered giving out the full sordid story, the reasons- aside from her widowhood- that respectable gentlemen weren't lining up to dance with her and why, if he were smart, he'd follow their lead.
But then she remembered how long it had been since she'd gone dancing- and how much she enjoyed it.
"Alright then, soldier- I'll dance with you. Wouldn't be any kind of American to deny a man in a blue uniform."