What she couldn't understand at all was why he would claim that he never hit her outside of their master's orders. She could remember him hurting her many times quite vividly. After the incident with the stairs, he didn't touch her for at least two years. His guilt over his part in that horrible incident kept him on his best behavior. Not until she returned home from a mission that went badly did he strike out at her, slapping the back of his hand across her mouth. Rodolphus had been downstairs when it happened to her complete mortification. No one needed to know what went on behind closed doors. Antonin rushed out of their house, no doubt to London to see his mistress, leaving Hermione alone with a sleeping son and their friend. Without asking for permission, Rodolphus healed the split in her lip and summoned one of her husband's best bottles of fire whiskey. He never said a word about what he witnessed. She was thankful for that small kindness. It was embarrassing enough knowing he'd been present.