"Occupying myself? I am afraid business has been occupying me a great deal, my dear, and I have hardly had a free moment. Between that and my family and my ward, I am afraid I have had little peace- this ball has been my first social outing for several weeks. I feel almost as forgotten by society as you must have felt in Dublin."
"Every kind word said about you, Lady Gwendolyn, is god's own truth." He explained to her, almost sincerely. There was, as with all his dealings with prospective future wives, a pinch more flattery than usual. "And although every man aims to be as good a friend as he can with a woman as magnificant as yourself, I admit friendship is a little less than what I have been ... hoping for." He said, only realising afterwards he was perhaps a little too forward in his speech. "I mean..." He smiled uncomfortably, "Does not every man have aspirations to find and marry the most perfect of women?