...You think so little of me. [ not said with especial anger, but also not phrased as an actual question. ]

If I had believed Silver's feelings were truly at stake—more to the point, if anyone had shared a concern with me that made it clear this was more than a playful matter for him, including Silver himself—things would have been different.

I am not a petty person, John, much less a cruel one. Stubborn, perhaps, and with less patience than I ought to have. But I would have listened, if you had bothered to explain.

[ she sounds simply... tired. disappointed; no longer surprised or especially interested in fighting him on this. as she speaks, she begins to stack her notebooks together and tucks her pen away behind her ear. ]