Maddie looked unamused and simply leaned back in her chair as she stared up at him. "Proof? I'm a nobody 'ere, and yet I know where ye came from an' what yer dad looks like. How else'd I know that? And ya can ask around, I didn' follow you 'ere or noth'n. I've been livin in Whibty a while." She then leaned forward as she stared so intently in his face.

"And maybe it's just me, but I think we look a like.. in the face.. Don't you? Or is that too embarrass'n for yer pride?"

He glanced at her, before directing his eyes to the table again. "I don't see it," Gabriel quickly denied. They both had dark hair. So what? Gabriel looked more like his mother, anyway, and he tried hard not to see any resemblance between the woman's face and his father's. It was too vague to conclude anything, he told himself. "Look, even if ye speak t' truth and are from Hull and know things about my family that way... It doesn't mean it's true."

The woman frowned more and rest her chin on the palm of her hand. "So yer sayin'.. it's more like.. my moth'r who had her life ruined.. focused all her time on a man she 'ad no bus'ness wit and who had no int'rest in her, than yer fath'r who prob'bly was respect'd in town and had a fam'ly to lie ta protect all that?"

Gabriel felt cornered. "I... I'm saying I need some time to think it over." And find evidence that she was a sham.

Madeline rose a brow and crossed her legs, getting more comfortable in the chair. "And 'ow do I know yer not just sayin' that ta get rid of me? As a priest, I want ta believe yer 'onest and trustworthy. But maybe ye take after our father?"

Gabriel opened his mouth to oppose her, but the last sentence cut him and he closed his mouth. He pressed his lips together and tried to control the anger he felt. "Stop calling him that. Nothing has been proven yet."

Maddie lowered her brow and squinted her eyes at him. "I saw my moth'rs face. I saw the mis'ry she felt and the anger. I believe she believed it were him. So unless yer gonna tell me god knocked her up. I'm going to believe what she said."

Gabriel looked away miserably. This wasn't fair. The fraudster was playing on his feelings of pity. And it was hard to reconcile his pity for a woman so ill used to his belief that his father was innocent. He was being manipulated!

"Look, if it's money you want, I don't have much. I can give you food..."

Madeline slapped the table. "I don't want money, and I don't want yer food! I want ta be recognized!" She stared hard at him. Sure, money and food would be really nice. But this had never been about that, and it would make her look like she was there alternate reasons. "I'm yer half sister and I want it ta be admitted. And ta stop being looked down upon because my moth'r made a mistake and fell for a bastard! And she and I had ta suff'r for it!"

Would that she had insisted on money. But to want nothing from him other than recognition. It once again added power to her story. Gabriel frowned sand sighed, put his hands on his forehead, over his eyes, rubbed his face. Then he dropped them. He looked at her. "Alright... alright... let's... hypothetically assume it's true... Tell me about them, about you." He'd really rather be alone.