" How did you persuade the countess to confess so quickly?” she asked. “I would have thought she would have held out for days. I would have thought she would rather die than admit anything—”
“I’m afraid that was the choice I gave her.”
Her eyes widened. “Oh,” she whispered.

-Lillian & Marcus "

― Lisa Kleypas , It Happened One Autumn (Wallflowers, #2)