Nichols smiles again, the gameshow smile, as if indulging a child.

Hobbs smiled, the smile of an adult indulging a child.

She smiled, as if indulging a child.

He merely looked at her as if he were indulging a child, and squatted in front of her.

He lowered them and said, in the tone of one indulging a child, 'It was probably a piece of dunnage, Mrs. Brooke.