She had thought him brilliant and talented before ever meeting him, had found him surly and rude on arriving at his home, then had seen other sides of him slowly show themselves, like the legs, arms and head of a turtle. She had come to see that the hard shell he showed the world was just that, a shell, a shield meant to protect himself.
So random. After recently reading book #32 and its turtle travesty, lo and behold another turtle anatomy analogy in one of her earlier books! The plot thickens. 🐢 P.S Her bad turtle anatomy game is still strong with this one. Turtles don't have arms, they have front (fore) legs and hind legs. Sometimes they are referred to as just limbs and sea turtles have flippers. (If it ends in a hand, it is an arm, if it ends in a foot, it is a leg. Turtles don't have hands, they have feet.)
