Wildsmith paused. Then he said, “I would like to know the context. Are you asking about a job, a friend, a man marrying your sister?”

“Just give me your impressions.”

Wildsmith gave a small hmph of annoyance. “Fine. Well, this man—this hand—good Lord, it’s like he’s wearing a corset.”

“Excuse me?”

“Metaphorically. Tight-laced. He is so held in, so tense—I’m surprised he can breathe.” He clenched a fist illustratively at his chest. Aaron felt his own lungs tighten. “It’s like he’s got his teeth gritted, all the time.”

“Repressed. Is that what you mean?”

“That’s one of those psychoanalysis words, isn’t it? All sorts of things bubbling away and you want to marry your mother?”

“Something of the sort.”

“I couldn’t say about that. He’s certainly struggling with something, and there’s a whole lot of tension because of it. So much tension. He’s keeping hold of himself till the muscles seize up. It makes my neck hurt.”

Aaron stared at him. Wildsmith made a face. “There’s a lot more here too, don’t get me wrong. It’s an intelligent hand, and there’s a lot of force of character. And it reeks of honesty. Not quite as plain and straightforward as your other chap necessarily, but I think you could rely on him in a hard spot, and trust him to do the right thing, even if it was difficult. This is not someone who fiddles his taxes. An upright man with a lot to him, but I don’t think the world is working terribly well for him.”

“Does it for anyone?”

“Ha. But, you know, some people live with that, and some people struggle with it, and this is a struggler. I think...I feel like he’s unhappy? Yes. I think he’s really quite unhappy.”

Aaron’s chest was squeezed tight. He manoeuvred his hands towards his pockets as he sat in a casual sort of way, to avoid massaging his neck.

“Well,” he said. “That’s certainly interesting. Do you have any idea why?”

“I couldn’t begin to speculate. I’m just saying what I see here, not how he got there.”

“How he writes a capital F doesn’t give it all away?”

That came out a little less lightly than it should have. Wildsmith said, “I told you, I take an impression of a personality at the time of writing. It’s not a life history. And my impression is, this is a man with an awful lot to him, but if your sister wants to marry him, she should consider what she’s getting into.”

“That’s a damning thing to say of a stranger.”