"Nnnn-o, no. You can, ah, stay."

Men just didn't get poems sometimes; her husband had been like that too. Well, sometimes. She supposed it was well enough things hadn't worked out.

That thought emboldened her. The army man clearly already thought she was some sort of mountain hag--what was there to lose? She might as well have a hag's crassness.

"...how do you know about my poems? I would have remembered you at court."