How we cite our quotes: (Story.Paragraph)
Quote #7
People are never so free with themselves and so recklessly glad as when there is some possibility of commotion or calamity ahead. (Ballad.28)
It isn't just joy the town (or all people, as the narrator would say) takes in a sign of some overly fictionalized scandal. It's "reckless" joy. Seems a bit unseemly?
Quote #8
But there was something about this conversation with Madame Zilensky that bothered him. [...] The children didn't look at all like Madame Zilensky, but they looked exactly like each other, and as they all had different fathers, Mr. Brook thought the resemblance astonishing. (Madame.26)
The doubt of different fathers is the first real sign of Madame Zilensky's lies. It seems like her tale-telling quirks pre-dates this moment. So what is it about this that makes Mr. Brook suddenly suspect something?