Nesah took a bite of the bread and chewed, savoring the sweetness of the honey. The bread was actually really good, and she tried to focus on that while she listened, in order to stay calm. She was in fact really irritated, and rather scared of the drama Uriel was going to cause in their family. But there was time. She just had to stay calm and reasonable and hopefully he would do the same.

She put her slice of bread down on the saucer again and pursed her lips while she thought. Then she spoke: "I understand that, Uriel. You have a duty to that child." She didn't want to understand it. "If you're absolutely certain it's yours," she added. She wasn't. How many penniless women had played that trick on a wealthy gentleman before? "But I don't see what you converting has to do with it. You could... become a liberal..."

She resisted the urge to gag.

Still, a compromise was better than losing her brother altogether.