A Conspiracy in Belgravia (Lady Sherlock, #2)

by Sherry Thomas

Yet her revelation had sent him through various stages of shock, anguish, and grief. Why do you want things I can’t possibly give you? Why must you desire power and unwomanly accomplishments? And are you, in the end, also not who I thought you were, not the one I loved and respected?

there are men like Inspector Treadles, an excellent person by almost all standards. But he admires the world as it is and he subscribes to the rules that uphold the world as it is. For him then it’s the principle of the thing. Anyone who breaks the rules endangers the order of the world and should be punished. He does not ask whether the rules are fair; he only cares that they are enforced.

Charlotte’s father was always suspicious of men of the lower class, even though the only men to ever rob him were two of his well-educated, well-dressed men of business.

for a certain segment of the population, having to earn one’s keep was considered a badge of dishonor.

It was a sad comment on the state of humanity that his willingness to take her seriously counted as a very large point in his favor, when really it should be considered a bare minimum in civil discourse.

His mind didn’t work in remotely the same fashion as hers: Whereas hers dealt in cold, swift calculations of logic and facts, his relied much more heavily on a finely honed instinct. Good instinct, the way she saw it, was but logic and facts processed by the gut rather than the cerebrum—he might not be able to enumerate each step of the analysis, but that didn’t mean the conclusion he reached was any less sound.

“To be thought of as the perfect woman for a man isn’t a compliment to a woman, it’s more about how a man sees himself—and what he needs.”

“Even though I could make you happier, you who have no respect for my wishes?” “Is this all the respect you have for those who raised you?” Sir Henry’s spittle flew.

Saved from marriage with Lord Bancroft because he couldn’t envision a world in which his wife saved him from a traitor in their midst.