Ross frowns at that, knowing all too well how cruel some parents can be. He's fortunate himself, his father could easily have become as bitter as the rest after the deaths of both Ross's mother and younger brother, but Joshua Poldark had been a good man. He'd inspired a great deal of gossip among those in their class, though knowing that admittedly pleases Ross in some small way. Ross had carried on that legacy, after all, and he thinks his father would have quite liked Demelza. Francis and Verity, on the other hand, had been hard-pressed to earn Uncle Charles's approval and indeed, even on his deathbed, Charles hadn't seem altogether impressed with either of his children.

"In that case, it sounds like it's rather for the best that you didn't know too many," Ross says, and he hopes that doesn't sound callous. He can be a reticent man, he knows this, but he tries his best to be good to those who are good to him. When he sees cruelty, like that of Tom Carne, who'd beaten Demelza and her brothers until they'd scarred, something within him warms with anger. For the moment, he lets that settle, hiding the rising frustration at the memory of his fight with Carne by taking another sip of wine.

"Your talent?" he asks then, tilting his head curiously. "What talent might that be?"