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41 " This is the third incident at the NYPL in a week,” Naomi said with a sigh, mystified. “And the most brazen of all. If only our security system was fully installed. "
― Peng Shepherd , The Cartographers
42 " Out of everything so far, that part is the most confusing to me,” Naomi said. “Now not one, but two scholars have been killed there, and the building has been broken in to three separate times—what the hell could this burglar be after? "
43 " It’s all the antiques hunters are talking about these days. Some mysterious collector is willing to pay big money.” He sighed. “What could make a little thing like that so popular? I just hope I can afford a better security system, in case this happens again. "
44 " To an outsider, there would have appeared to be no connection between them—but to someone like me, who knew what the burglar might have been looking for, the pattern stood out as bright as day. "
45 " That of all the places the wayward daughter of scholarly royalty could have hidden something of such immense worth, she’d chosen the junk pile of a shoddy, knockoff home decor shop in Brooklyn. "
46 " Humphrey smiled back, a little sadly. “Yes, you were—your father’s ridiculous scandal be damned. You’re too talented to stay at Classic forever. I wouldn’t have let you. "
47 " But your mother was always impossible to say no to, too. God help me if you turn out to have even half of her stubbornness, half of her drive and brilliance. I already have no idea how I’m going to raise you by myself, terrified I’m going to do a horrible job, but your mother is convinced we’ll make it. I promised her that I would do anything in the world to protect you, no matter the cost. "
48 " forgive you, Tam,” he finally said. “It isn’t your fault. You’ve been here so long, you don’t know what I’ve spent my life trying to achieve. Let me show you. Once you see, you’ll understand. You’ll see I was right all along. That I still can fix everything.” “It’s too late,” Felix said to him. “It’s been too late for a long time. "
49 " Yes, you do. You had every opportunity from the start to turn the map over, and you didn’t. You didn’t tell the police, you didn’t tell Irene or the NYPL. You didn’t share it with anyone, didn’t let anyone help you. You didn’t even tell the Cartographers, when you found them. You wanted to keep the map all for yourself. "
50 " I just wanted one thing,” he finally said. “Daniel and Nell could have her love, all of you could have her friendship, the whole world could have her brilliance. I just wanted one thing that could be ours. That’s all. "
51 " But then again, she also couldn’t believe that one of the most respected scholars in the field of cartography had anything to do with a gas station highway map, either. "
52 " He wished he and Nell had just had a little more time, or that there was some way he could see her again—but that was impossible now. She was in Agloe, wherever Agloe was, if it was anywhere at all. There was no way to get to it anymore. But he had so much left that he "
53 " had to make it so that no one would want to come looking for me. I thought if I had no connection to the industry anymore, Wally would not see me as a target. If he could even find me in the first place. "
54 " She could see in the dealer’s expression that of all the possibilities Nell could have guessed for how the two things were connected, that was the wrong one. The woman took another step back and crossed her arms. "
55 " She had the same expression that Nell had seen so many times on the faces of her colleagues when they were trapped in academic debates with her—that fear and admiration of the infamous Young determination that ran in their family. "
56 " But why?” Humphrey asked. “Why would she have needed to stay hidden for so long? Away from Daniel, away from Nell? What could she be doing there that she couldn’t do out here, with the rest of us? "
57 " And beside him was someone else. An old man, tall and thin like Swann, but with a face that could not have been more opposite. Hard, cold, lifeless. She didn’t know what he’d looked like before, when he was young, but now he looked like a ghost. A shell of a person, all the innocence and joy drained out. "
58 " You weren’t her only beloved adopted uncle, Bear,” Wally said, sneering. “The library was an accident. You know I would never hurt Nell. Never on purpose.” He glanced sidelong at Felix. “That’s what Felix is for. "
59 " The thing her mother had died for, and her father had given decades of his life for, and Nell had lost her career and her relationship with Felix for, even if she hadn’t known it at the time. Gone. "
60 " Then why did you stay?” he asked, but it wasn’t really a question. “Why did you leave your husband and your daughter, and let all of your friends believe you were gone? Why did you let me believe it? "