Astoria looked as though she was torn between curling into a defensive ball and outright fleeing. Her hands had stopped moving, but her arms were still crossed and she was watching Euphemia and MacFusty out of the corner of her eye, glancing back at Malcolm when he spoke to be sure she was following his train of thought. When he stopped speaking, though, she went back to keeping a surreptitious eye on MacFusty.
"Don't tell Chris about this, Malcolm, please. Promise me you won't."