“Some marry for practical reasons, but love develops on its own, while others do not, or worse yet, come to despise each other. Perhaps those who fall in love in practical marriages rationally decide to guide their emotions in the proper direction, allowingLogistikonto influenceThumosover time. Or perhaps, falling in love with a partner who is at least lovable may be the most rational reaction and will happen automatically to any sensible person. PerhapsThumosis more resilient and less particular than we might have thought, and love is the inevitable result of exposure over extended periods to a person who is lovable.”
“Yes, that is but an extreme example,” Margaret said. “Can you think of others?”
Elizabeth raised a finger, but her voice failed mid-word; nothing came out for a moment.
“Are you well, my dear?” Mrs Wythe asked gently.
Elizabeth nodded, momentarily incapable of speech. “I am well. I just thought of something; though it is embarrassing to admit to.”
“You need not share anything too personal. We neither demand nor expect it, but occasionally a burden shared is a burden halved. Forgive me, but you have seemed to carry a burden since we met.”
Elizabeth laughed discordantly. “You mean you very astutely detected something amiss when you found me at the stage stopin Bromley, without luggage or money, and possessing a peculiar desire to avoid all my relatives and the parsonage I had just left?”
Mrs Wythe leaned forward to take Elizabeth’s hands. “That much was obvious, but we were not distressed.”
“Why not? I always wondered.”
Mr Wythe leaned forward. While he would not presume to take Elizabeth’s hand, he placed his own on his wife’s wrist as she held Elizabeth’s. Margaret was less timid and joined her hand to her mother’s and Lizzy’s.
Margaret said, “My father will not boast, but he is successful because he understands people, quickly and efficiently. He trusted you because you are trustworthy.”
“Here is a lesson in negotiation,” Mr Wythe replied. “The first moments of any negotiation tell you more than the several hours that follow. It is your one true chance to size each other up without the prejudices built up from the earlier half-minute. This is important!First impressions can tell you much about what will happen, but they can just as easily lead you astray. Any businessman needs to learnwhichfirst impressions to keep, and which to amend. You did well upon your first impression, and subsequent observation revealed your character. Nothing in these weeks has changed that. I spent a lifetime studying the art, so I trust mine, but am willing to amend it as I learn more.”
“I always trusted my first impressions as well,” Elizabeth sighed, “but I have lately come to doubt them.”
“Perhaps it is time to letLogistikonwork onThumos. If your emotional mind is confused, let your logical mind attempt the task.”
“How is that done?”
“When I was apprenticed to my father, we would sit after any negotiation and discuss what happened in the minutest detail, trying to separate prejudices from facts, opinions from instincts.It takes time, but if you give your vauntedLogistikonthe time and patience to work through the whole affair, start to finish, the results may surprise you.”
Elizabeth sat back, exhaling deeply as she considered.
At last, she said, “Would you be willing to stand for your father in that exercise?”
“Of course. I have been dying to find out what that lunkhead did to make you run off with only the clothes on your back, but we would never invade your privacy by asking.”
“You assume it is a problem with a man?” she sighed.
“It usually is,” Mrs Wythe replied helpfully.
Her husband added, “If I surveyed one hundred men about their most vexing problems in life, ninety would assert it is with a woman.”
Mrs Wythe added, “And the converse for ninety women.”
“Well, the problems are at least symmetrical.”
“They are. We are happy to listen if you wish to talk.”
“There is but one problem.”
“Which is?”
“When I met you in Bromley, I would have agreed with you one thousand percent that I had a ‘lunkhead problem’ as you call it.”
“And now?”
“I still do, but I am not certain which of us is the idiot.”
