Disbelieving her cost them nothing — nothing they could see, anyway; nothing but her.

And so, faced with a choice between a comfortable disbelief and a costly belief, most of them chose comfort, the way most people do, and told themselves it was caution or common sense.

That is the real reason I believe you is so rare.

It is not that the words are hard to say.

It is that meaning them often requires you to give something up — a belief about a neighbor, a story you liked, the flattering idea that you are the sort of person bad things do not happen around.

The people who could say those words to Vivienne and mean them were the few who were willing to pay that price.