A squeeze for a squeeze, and she understands why he's brief about it. Patience. "It's really not so bad. I promise." Not compared to some of the other things she does. Then again... they may have very different scales for these things.

It's pretty obvious he's fidgeting, but Verity will pretend not to notice. "That's your... the head of your family?" She's still not clear about the exact relationship. Someone will tell her someday, she hopes. Maybe they've got a very convenient and useful family tree hanging up somewhere. "Wants to make sure I'm not too bad an influence? I was kind of expecting that. When is he expecting me to accept his 'gracious hospitality'?"

She'll only play along with this stuff to a point. For now, she chooses to see it all as terribly amusing. She's Jane Goodall, going to study the rare and elusive Stuffy British Fancypants.