“To have him look at her as if she was a piece of office equipment whose presence offended him but whom he was obliged out of neccessity to have nearby.”

“Her eyes showed that though she may have decided to regret him, as long as he was in her presence she could not.”

“...you shouldn’t have put yourself in that kind of danger for me.”He glanced at her out of the corner of his eye—she knew this because she was doing the same to him. “If not for you, then for whom?” he asked softly.”

“She was incapable of dragging herself away from him; Even though talking over the situation with him had shattered her, being without him would have been even worse,as if it were only his presence that was stopping the pieces flying away in all directions.”

“She looked away. Her attitude seemed to suggest that she had finished with him, and would be obliged if somebody would come and sweep him up.”

“Della pretty much told him the same thing. And she gave him hell. The kind of hell only Della can dish out. Told him he was a piece of monkey shit and that he should go have himself castrated.”