"I would have said before that he did not understand women so much." Joly mused, thoughtful as he considered it. "That is, he knew your fairer sex existed but I do not think that he knew of it as more than a vague concept. Perhaps, when met with the actual article, things got a bit confused. I should think here was a little different. There is the matter of his social life, after all, but..."

He shrugged a little. "It is no EXCUSE of course, but things are different at home. Unfairly so. He has, I suspect all of us do, a bit to overcome in those terms, still."