I had just returned to the caravan and resumed adventuring with Arcadia Brown when Mr. Stoker burst in, soaking wet and covered in soapy lather. His hair was dripping rivulets onto the floor, and he had wrapped a bath sheet about himself like a toga. He loomed over me, drenched and panting, having obviously run all the way from the bath tent.
"You look like one of the less capable Roman emperors," I observed. "Go back and finish the job properly."
I love how she just doesn't hold back! This isn't even one of the best things she's said to Stoker so far, but it DID make me giggle.
Although if I have to keep stopping and updating with things that come out of our lovely Miss Speedwell's mouth every time I find something amusing, I may never finish this book. I am totally contemplating just compiling a bunch of quotes and posting them all at once when I'm finally done reading. Otherwise, I'm forever going to be turning the lights on and off just to make an update, then get back to reading by flashlight/candlelight. O.o
But here's another one:
"I am tired of this silly pretense that I am being held prisoner. Let us dispense with the absurdities."
"It is not absurd," he said, sounding slightly aggrieved. "I am keeping you captive until I learn the results of the inquest and discover the truth of what happened to Max."
"You are doing no such thing. I might have stabbed you forty times with a hatpin while you slept. I could have bolted the door to the caravan and set fire to it. I could have poisoned your tea. I could have thought of a dozen ways to have killed you and carried them out before sunrise. So let us stop pretending that you are my captor or that I am staying here out of anything other than my own irrepressible curiosity."
Veronica's "irrepressible curiosity" is now leading her to follow in a quest to discover what may have happened to the baron who offered to take her to London and keep her safe, fully believing that the break-in at her home was no random burglary. They are in a caravan, taking refuge with a traveling show, and so now that she is journeying with Mr. Stoker, We get a glimpse at the secretive backstory of Stoker, which really doesn't have me as intrigued as what is going through Veronica's mind.
I can't wait for the actual adventure and investigation to begin. And of course, there was a hinting about her mother's identity of which is still a mystery to everyone, reader's included.
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