Many people had experienced this: when you were focused on talking to someone, the person facing you usually would not look directly into your eyes.
They either let their gaze wander elsewhere, or lowered their heads and fiddled with something nearby to hide their awkwardness.
Or perhaps their eyes darted away because they were frightened.
Looking into another person's eyes was a sign of seriousness, respect, trust, and honesty.
Many people knew this, but very few could actually do it.
There was a trick: look at the bridge of someone's nose, or the spot between their brows, and it would seem as though you were making eye contact.
But that kind of exchanged gaze conveyed no information at all.
Generally, looking at someone for two seconds showed respect. After two seconds, you should shift where you were looking—unless the speaker had feelings toward the other person beyond official business.
Interrogation, romance, and so on. Judges and police officers liked to stare into defendants' and suspects' eyes until they broke down.
After all, judges and police had nothing to feel guilty about. Criminals were the ones who should feel guilty.
If a woman found evidence and suspected her boyfriend had another lover outside, she would use the same tactic.
"Look me in the eye when you say that!"
Bold men would continue lying without blushing or skipping a beat. Men who lacked courage, or who could not lie for other reasons, would start stammering. That was when the domestic revolution erupted.
Reason told women that the man was the bastard, but in the end, the one they usually hit was the other woman.
At that point, all breeding, elegance, and poise were forgotten. After venting her anger through violence, she would begin to cry. Once she was done crying, there were