ŷ������

“I want to know why you don’t like me, Malloy. I like you, even if you do hit people.��
He sighed. “I never said I didn’t like you, Mrs. Brandt.��
Reasonable again. She wanted to smack him. “And why don’t you ever call me Sarah? You think I’m beautiful, but you never call me Sarah.��
He muttered something she didn’t understand.
“You do think I’m beautiful,�� she insisted. “You said so!��
“Yes, I do,�� he said grudgingly. “And I do like you, Sarah. Now let’s talk about something else, because you’re going to be very embarrassed if you remember any of this conversation tomorrow.”
― Victoria Thompson, Murder on Washington Square

“Did you take a vow of poverty or something?"
"This is a housedress, Malloy," she said, indignant again. "I was cleaning when you came. I gave my other clothes away because I got some new ones. From my mother."
"Did your mother take a vow of poverty?”
― Victoria Thompson, Murder on Mulberry Bend

“And I still want to know why you hit that man in front of me. You wanted me to see it, didn’t you?��
“Why would I want you to see it?��
Sarah was getting very annoyed with him. He usually wasn’t this dense. “Because you wanted me to think badly of you, and I demand to know why!��
“You do, do you?�� he said in a very odd tone.
“Yes, I do, and I’m not getting out of this cab until you tell me!��
“I don’t want to tell you.��
“Then what do you want?��
She knew he was looking at her, although she doubted he could see very much in the darkness. “I want to show you,�� he said.”
― Victoria Thompson, Murder on Washington Square

“Was that all it took?"
"What?" she asked, completely bewildered.
"To shut you up," he clarified with a definite grin this time. "All it took was agreeing with you."
She glared at him. "If you'd ever tried agreeing with me before, you'd have known that," she snapped.
"I had to wait until you were right about something," he replied, then hurried to open the door before she could smack him, which she dearly wanted to do.”
― Victoria Thompson, Murder on Waverly Place