Lucius stood off the bed, the desire to pace suddenly uncontrollable. He winced as her voice rose, and stopped in front of the dark fireplace, dreading having to look her in the face again. He was keenly aware of the fact that convincing her of anything could be a chore, and the arguments at his disposal now were nothing if not weak - utterly self-serving. After a long moment, he turned and leaned against the mantelpiece. He had to try, at least.
"For the sake of argument," he muttered, sounding rather tired, "Let us suppose something does happen to me. If you knew where I was - what would you do? Or, if you prefer: if something objectionable were going on inside your house, and you knew about it - what would you do then?"