"Not because of you," Watson says, hurriedly. He's suddenly aware what that sounds like, and it is immediately intensely important to him that this is clear. "I'm not ashamed of you, Cerrit, nor of people knowing about us. But if I am having a romantic picnic with oysters and wine... Well, say that I'm trying to avoid interruptions."

Even as he says it, he isn't sure he's not being ridiculous, or even prudish, which isn't generally a word he would have ever applied to himself.