"Because he's nice to us too," Lucy replied impatiently, as though that ought to be perfectly obvious since she was talking to both of them. As ghosts often did, she lost her pique and continued excitedly, "Sometimes he makes us leave rooms for awhile, but he doesn't hurt us and he took us on a field trip. I haven't left here in forever."

Since it wasn't exactly normal for someone to prefer talking to ghosts to him, he didn't interrupt, but said, "I like potatoes and cheese. Which is your favorite?" Because he actually preferred salad to heavy, fatty foods, but he wanted to try what she'd cooked.