WHEEDLING

It has come to my attention that I have been wheedled. Although I fully know I am usually being wheedled by this person, evidently (think evidence) I have been duped into divulging too much information to this snoop. And how much is too much information? Well, basically it is just one fact that I asked to be kept confidential, and was assured of that, but, well, you know wheedlers. Their Long Witchy Noses poke into everything, everywhere.
Here then are how wheedlers operate:

First, they become your "Best Friend" and they are there to Help You, just by Listening and allowing you to get things "off your chest."
Later, they Ask Questions Showing Their Concern about your problem and interest in how things are going.
(Okay, so far, right? Here comes the wheedling)

When you are reluctant to discuss matters, they Keep Talking about it anyway.
As they are talking they Ask Questions.
If you don't give answers they will Make Suppositions. This is where they become ever so clever. By making suppositions, you get backed into a corner if you're not careful, and you are pushed into a defense mode where you must either Deny or Confirm said supposition. They may say things like, "I thought...." or "Wasn't that...?" and just ask a lot of questions hinting that they already know the answers. The person being wheedled will usually go into an automatic explanation of the situation.

And, here is the Weapon of Choice for wheedlers: As they Promise to Keep Everything you've said in Strict Confidence, they fly happily away to spread their precious gossip. Their Self-Protecting Phrases to the new listeners?.... demands for silence like "Don't tell anyone I told you this." or..."Don't ever tell anyone..." Etc. What a Cloak of Self-Preservation. The new "confidante" is assured that he/she is the recipient of carefully Gaurded Secrets that must Never be Mentioned to anyone, anywhere, anytime. At the same time, he/she has Promised Not to Mention a Word, so, if he/she is an honest soul, he/she can't ask anyone else to confirm or clarify the situation without betraying the trust. If this confidante doesn't care about the people in question, the gossip is generally passed on to others.
This is a clever little trick that Sets Up this newest "friend" for his/her own opportunity to be deceived and wheedled.

I do believe wheedlers are commonly best known for transporting their malisciousness as they fly on broomsticks. They have long sharp noses and a cackly laugh that erupts joyfully when some extra-juicy tidbit of information is disclosed by their unsuspecting wheedle-victims. However, they are most often disguised as a best friend, a confidante, a comrade in arms, a life-line for your trouble. This makes them very difficult, at times, to be recognized. Mostly you can see them for what they are, if you find yourself indulged in long, pour-your-heart-out conversations about things that don't involve them at all. If someone shows a Lot of Interest, perhaps it's better to back up and reaccess what you are discussing. It's too bad we have to be so gaurded.

Well, I have been deceived and tricked. I should have seen it for what it was. But I Have Been Wheedled.
No biggy, really. It's the principle of it all that makes me angry, the realization that someone who should be close to me and even protective of my interests, has simply had a good time being her usual Diva Self divulging bits of gossip as she whispers in her nasty little voice, " Now don't you tell Anybody I told you this...............TEE HEE HEE" and flies gleefully away on her broom.