He let her go -- eager to be in his own space, alone, once again. The letting go might even have come with a gentle nudge. Stand up on your own two feet.

"...How can he not already know?" Christ, woman, you've been walking 'round like a shattered eggshell -- Sharpe couldn't tell how the whole village didn't already see that Effie Trinket was in pieces. Because, of course, that's all the woman meant.