An opportunity Her first impression was that Mr. Wolseithcrafte was not the least bit like his sister, who was seated on his left, aside perhaps from the length of his nose and the colour of his eyes. Although Francesca had been a help to her, Delphine still found the older witch reserved in her manner, and she did not have that pleasant social gift of putting one at ease. As Delphine entered the restaurant, Barnabus stood politely to greet her but, more importantly, he smiled warmly. It wasn’t enough to fully relax her - this was an important opportunity, and she was desperate not to mess up, both for her own sake but also because she felt it would be a poor repayment to Francesca’s help to appear unforgivably stupid or incompetent in front of her brother - but the smile certainly helped. Francesca introduced them properly, and they took - or retook - their seats.
“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Miss Arbon,” he commented, pouring her a glass of wine. “Why don’t you tell us a little more about yourself?”
Delphine faltered. She had been preparing her answers all week - studying the legal secretary’s handbook that Francesca had provided, trying to think how her skills matched with the duties described. She had not prepared for a question like that though.
“I.. um, am punctual and well-organised. And very interested in learning more about the field of law,” she replied.
“I’m glad to hear it,” he replied, burying his amused smile in his wine glass so that she wouldn’t see it and be embarrassed. “And, outside the field of law and filing people’s paperwork, what do you enjoy?” he tried again, “This isn’t a formal interview, Miss. Arbon,” he reassured her. “And this is not a trick question,” he saw her eyes slide fractionally towards Francesca as if for confirmation. “I’m just curious to know a little more about you.”
* “So?” Francesca asked, once Delphine had disapparated. She got the impression that Barnabus had liked her, but that wasn’t indicative of much, as Barnabus tended to like everyone. She felt Delphine had been awkward, and had sounded more like she’d memorised some answers about legal work than like she actually knew what she was doing, which was probably true.
Barnabus wrapped his scarf around his neck, considering the question. He viewed it in quite a different light than Francesca… Delphine had definitely taken a little time to relax but he felt that was understandable. He hadn’t seen anything about her personality that he disliked. And, once they had turned the conversation to slightly more work-related territory, she had certainly shown that she was keen, if not yet particularly skilled. There were definitely things she would need to work on, but whilst Francesca was concerned about these, Barnabus was better at seeing the positive in the efforts that Delphine had made so far.
“I like her,” he concluded. “I’ll talk to Mr. Penderghast on Monday.”