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4028796
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Religion in recent years has become a political sport, and politicians are more skilful than honest men at extracting themselves from disasters.
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Dorothy Dunnett |
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b562bec
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Whatever is wrong, I am sure with his sense of the picturesque, Francis will succeed in manifesting a
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Dorothy Dunnett |
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ecdf3c1
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Nostradamus said, according to Archie, that the Gods sell the goods that they give us. We had been shown a fine instrument. But the bow could be overlong bent; the harp lose its voice if its strings were not loosened.' 'I hope he said so in Francis's hearing. Poor Archie,' said Marthe. 'Did he say what should be loosened? His morals?
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Dorothy Dunnett |
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1d9efd0
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The trouble with Austin was that he believed so deeply in the chivalrous virtues that he found it impossible to refer to them.
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Dorothy Dunnett |
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e2b09ae
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It is not advisable to crow. It might be oneself next time.
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Dorothy Dunnett |
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8c483d1
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Warfare and trickery. It is your natural element.
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Dorothy Dunnett |
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74b8e08
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That night Lymond, too, broke free from the prison he had made for himself. He drank of intent, until one by one the barriers crumbled and let run loose all those qualities he possessed, like Alkibaides, of a tarnished and insolent profusion, to set alight in his fellow-men that killing flame of excitement, of passion, of pleasure.
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Dorothy Dunnett |
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66e23a7
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War had given Francis his respite, and success had brought him his final reward: the freedom he wished from his marriage. The licence, if he desired it, to go back to Russia. The knowledge, one supposed, that, severed from Philippa, he could allow the past to lie in peace, and cease troubling him.
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Dorothy Dunnett |
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5c3b4ce
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Archie?' said Lymond. 'It is half past four o'clock in the morning, and I am exceedingly drunk. Do you suppose these two statements have anything to do with each other?' 'No,' said Archie tolerantly. 'And neither will you, come the morning.
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Dorothy Dunnett |
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d6df5df
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He looked well. And as if somewhere, lately, he had tasted happiness.
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Dorothy Dunnett |
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41864f0
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If he is tired, and they put a foot wrong, he will choose the one unmentionable response and make it. He did it last night.
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Dorothy Dunnett |
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bb0309a
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I'm going back to Russia. That's where the money is, and the power. And, of course, the ladies.
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Dorothy Dunnett |
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c077d73
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You know we believe Philippa.' 'Perhaps I envy her,' Lymond said. 'No one believes me.
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Dorothy Dunnett |
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abe177c
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Give me a moment. Sit down on that bloody rock for a minute, and let me try to explain. And listen to me as if I weren't related. Can you make some sort of frenetic endeavour, and pretend to do that? Because in the only sense that matters, Richard, it's true.
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Dorothy Dunnett |
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d13ebe4
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You rode sixty miles through the night for a brother who doesn't exist. I haven't been here for four years. I have been growing and changing, somewhere else, with different people, speaking a different language. The old ties are gone: my family wouldn't recognize me: what in God's name do you think I could find to say to them?
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Dorothy Dunnett |
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5cccba5
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Richard, I am not worth anyone's heartache.' 'I know that,' Richard said. 'But she does not.' 'She will have to learn,' Lymond said.
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Dorothy Dunnett |
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eeeb503
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Danny Hislop touched his horse to ride, busily, beside Adam's. 'He remembered an appointment?' 'He remembered something you have forgotten,' Adam said. 'That this is his country.
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Dorothy Dunnett |
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f055d28
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I'm not in St Mary's because I like it. I am embarked spellbound on a study of devil-worship.
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Dorothy Dunnett |
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ead2987
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Since I hear you are leaving, I have come to put certain matters before you. They are important. If I were a different manner of person, no doubt I should do more than this; I should plead, and I should cajole. I mean you to understand that if I cannot do that, it is not because I don't think them worthy. I wish you to listen to them and I will accept the answer you give me. I should only warn you, Francis, that on these matters, I will not..
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Dorothy Dunnett |
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a9470ff
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Tact,' Lymond said, 'is the name you should have upon your tombstone.
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Dorothy Dunnett |
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d0cf37d
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Lymond was drawing long breaths now, his hands forced back rigid behind him, driven into the lime of the wall. 'That is as far as I go,' he said flatly. 'I have never in my life subjected you to this kind of inquisition about your purpose, your doings or your relationships. I have answered you fairly enough.
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Dorothy Dunnett |
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af925fe
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You will not face Sybilla because alone of all of us, she does not know you are venal. She still thinks you care for Scotland and for us, and are prepared to think both more important than riches; for our sake to govern your ambition; for the boy's sake to master your emotions. And when she sees you----' 'She will know she was wrong,' Lymond said.
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Dorothy Dunnett |
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cd7b34e
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Richard walked over to him. It was not a long way but he walked slowly, as if he were tired, and halted, eventually, face to face with his younger brother. He said, 'Change your mind. It is the last chance in life you may have.' Spoken soberly, with all the honesty of which he was capable, it was neither threat nor impassioned appeal but a simple plea, simply put. To which Lymond, looking him in the eyes, shook his head.
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Dorothy Dunnett |
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01743eb
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Evil the drink and ill the resting place. I am not, unfortunately, asleep.
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Dorothy Dunnett |
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7e609a3
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Piero Strozzi and Francis Crawford looked at one another. 'A hint,' said Lymond, 'sufficeth for the wise, but a thousand speeches profit not the heedless. Did you hear what she said?' 'Unfortunately,' said Piero Strozzi, 'I heard what she said.
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Dorothy Dunnett |
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15fa8f3
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I give you a friendly warning. You think M. de Sevigny is drunk. He is not.' 'You might not think so,' said Lymond amiably. 'But in ten minutes or so, I am going to slip under the table and lie there.
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Dorothy Dunnett |
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41e0e53
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Piero Strozzi closed his mouth, which had fallen ajar. 'Of course,' he said. 'You have a son, don't ...' He roared. 'I beg your pardon. My foot slipped,' said Philippa. 'Have a date flan, and don't talk so much while the hautboys are playing. If you lose your voice, none of us will know what to do.
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Dorothy Dunnett |
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daf55ed
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Lymond said, 'Have I been talking?' 'We all have, in nightmares. But yours have not been about the sea.
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Dorothy Dunnett |
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c9606a4
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Chancellor said, 'She is concerned for your future.' 'She is concerned for her dog and her cat,' Lymond said. 'It is a Somerville failing.
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Dorothy Dunnett |
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dba61f8
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Something comes out of every voyage,' said the other man sharply. 'Out of every bloody fruitless endeavour. All the striving after the unknowable. The unattainable, the search for Athor, the creative force, rolled into a circle. You with your quest; I with my care-ridden Emperor; Sir Thomas, sitting before the fire, his bowels burning before him. We add something. If we didn't add something, there would be no object in it.
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Dorothy Dunnett |
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6e3e554
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What he wanted was very near. It was typical of the monstrous, egregious, laughable irony which dominated his life that with every dragging lift of his arms, he should be saying over and over,
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Dorothy Dunnett |
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c21a638
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He has the exact Crawford colouring.' 'Egg mimicry,' said Lymond.
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Dorothy Dunnett |
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b313a63
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From the door, he glanced back, once, at the unresponsive wreck of the room. 'Then God damn your soul!' he said, and walked out.
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Dorothy Dunnett |
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bad93d0
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Adam said, 'Christ!' and Danny Hislop, wriggling past said, 'No. Lord Culter, I do declare.
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Dorothy Dunnett |
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3ed4de4
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What shall we do with him? We have him at our mercy. Think of all the browbeaten Streltsi at Vorobiovo who would like to take their revenge at this moment. We could hire out his carcass for
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Dorothy Dunnett |
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96fea8d
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He got everyone out of the room, keeping Danny. Danny stood, his hands dangling unhelpfully. 'Well?' he said. 'Adam is your man, you know, for sensitive nursing.' D'Harcourt, his hands pressing through Lymond's hair, said, 'But just think how he is going to enjoy finding you watching him when he wakes up.
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Dorothy Dunnett |
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2465557
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And Hislop?' said Lymond softly. 'Don't sound so aggrieved. There are no rewards, celestial or mundane, for the best display of pure, bloody inquisitiveness.' Which drove Ludovic d'Harcourt to a deduction, five minutes later, as Daniel Hislop marched into his room. 'Let me make a guess. He is awake.' 'He's awake. The honeymoon,' said Danny, 'is over.
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Dorothy Dunnett |
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9c9b9ea
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I don't know what you want to be called.' 'Home, like the cattle?' said Lymond.
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Dorothy Dunnett |
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063d29a
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I don't object to being called by my Christian name, on purely social occasions. The Russian version was Frangike. Rather scented, I thought. Or alternatively, like a new brand of onion.
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Dorothy Dunnett |
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2fad793
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Are we going to have a sensible discussion?' she said. 'Well, you are sensible,' Lymond said. 'And I am not unconscious, yet.
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Dorothy Dunnett |
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080add4
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He never said what he meant. He never said what he meant.... All through their encounters, their clashes, their crossing of swords she had known that and learned a little to deal with it, and to translate, if only to herself, what lay under the stream of hurtful, facile words. And, suddenly, this time she felt panic, a seizure of fear so unexpected that she stared at him, quite unseeing, listening to the tone of the words. And then she saw ..
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Dorothy Dunnett |
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245b9df
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Philippa thinks of you, as she thinks of me, as a rather run-down institution for indigent imbeciles.
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Dorothy Dunnett |
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ed0993f
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They told me that if I didn't come back, they would force you to marry?' In the plain, sensible face, the brown eyes were derisive. 'Is that why you came back?' said Kate Somerville. 'No. I knew you could handle it.' 'Thank you,' said Kate.
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Dorothy Dunnett |
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ea35a8c
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It's time you thought less of your emotional feather bed and more of other people's.
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Dorothy Dunnett |