Diarmuid's questions pierced through the smokescreen of Ian Hanrahan's blustering like a beam of pure white light, shining down on the ugliness beneath and revealing it for everyone to see.
While the common man might not be aware of the laws and customs that surrounded handling an incident like the one that occurred with Dame Sybyll and her mother, once Diarmuid pointed it out, it became plainly obvious that the Baron had exceeded his authority.
"Inquisitor," Ian Hanrahan pleaded. "You have to understand the damage that wild accusations like theirs could have done…"
"Oh, I do," Diarmuid said calmly. "But by every version of the story told so far, hers and yours, the woman claiming to be Baroness Caitlin approached you privately in your own chambers instead of confronting you in public during the feast. That suggests she had not only an awareness of the severity of the issue but also a desire to handle the matter privately, where the 'damage' could have been minimized."
