Patience's smile widened still and she ducked her head, cheeks bright red now. "I can't imagine why father doesn't have you over more often. I had thought maybe because you're Russian," She looked up then worried he might have taken offence. "I only meant to say that because one hears such things in the paper about your countrymen, I assumed, obviously wrongly that the harshness of your country made the men cold and harsh too and that was why I'd not met you properly before."