He certainly meant none of the horrible things Cassandra is fretting about -- his own eyes are ink-black and fairly wide -- so if there is some sort of negative stigmata he's unaware. Therefor her sudden need to avert her eyes just confuses him.

And then she hits him across the face with her siblings and Mal ends up choking on his cigarette and forgetting all about the lack of eye-contact. "That's. Christ Alm-- I mean jeez." Malcolm coughs a bit more, although this is mostly to cover for his nearly taking the Lord's name in vain in front of a lady.

"I thought grandma had it tough with thirteen children. Is that. Well." There is no polite way to ask how many women someone's father has screwed so Mal just hurries on past that. "She a sweet girl, your sister?"

The poor merchant is looking a little frazzled over the fact that Malcolm seems to have forgotten he's clutching samples of fabric.