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75f2c5c
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And, long since ashore with his men and his booty, Crawford of Lymond, man of wit and crooked felicities, bred to luxury and heir to a fortune, rode off serenely to Midculter to break into his new sister-in-law's castle.
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Dorothy Dunnett |
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93d4d72
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He's s o damned moral that he ought to be standing rear up under a Bo Tree.
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Dorothy Dunnett |
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51baeaa
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I grant," said Lady Buccleuch with a certain grim amusement, "that the pure springs of chivalry may be a little muddy in the Hawick area, but that's no proper excuse for calling his father an unprincipled old rogue, and every other peer in Scotland a traitorous scoundrel."
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Dorothy Dunnett |
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3cc6ef5
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Richard doesn't like me either," said the fair one sorrowfully. "But that's unmannerly rank for you. Do you like Richard?" "I'm married to him!" "That's why I asked. You don't believe in polyandry by any chance?"
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Dorothy Dunnett |
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ae45a35
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You are not being badgered; you are being invaded.
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Dorothy Dunnett |
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a403e4f
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I take back the more personal insults if you will take back your arm without putting it to impious uses.
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Dorothy Dunnett |
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93d9ac3
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What had you expected? A viper, or a devil, or a ravening idiot; Milo with the ox on his shoulders, Angra-Mainyo prepared to do battle with Zoroaster, or the Golden Ass? Or didn't you know the family colouring? Richard hasn't got it. Poor Richard is merely Brown and fit to break bread with ...
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Dorothy Dunnett |
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282df40
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If you wish, you may run ahead screaming. It makes no difference now, although five minutes ago we were in something of a hurry ... the servants to be tied up ... the silver to collect ... Richard's personal hoard to recover from its usual cache. A man of iron habit, Richard.
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Dorothy Dunnett |
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feebc8f
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What do you want?" He considered. "Amusement, principally. Don't you think it's time my family shared in my misfortunes, as Christians should?"
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Dorothy Dunnett |
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dfb1b48
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I am trying to go back. I thought, believe it or not, that nothing could stop me from going back. I was wrong.
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Dorothy Dunnett |
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86f9948
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Watch carefully. In forty formidable bosoms we are about to create a climacteric of emotion. In one short speech--or maybe two--I propose to steer your women through excitement, superiority, contempt and anger: we shall have a little drama; just, awful and poetic, spread with uncials and full, as the poet said, of fruit and seriosity. Will they thank me, I wonder?
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Dorothy Dunnett |
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d8a6671
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Mariotta, collecting her wits, produced the only deterrent she could think of. "Your mother is in there." He received this with tranquil pleasure. "Then one person at least should recognize me," Crawford of Lymond said, and pushed the door gently open for her to walk through."
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Dorothy Dunnett |
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0ca80ed
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I am Hermes, Conductor of Souls. Come if you wish. Come if you dare. All things arise from Space and into Space they return: Space is the beginning and the final end. There isn't much of it here: watch your head on the newel-post.
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Dorothy Dunnett |
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050fce4
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For carnal pleasure?' she said, and laughed wildly. 'Like unto Uranus and Gaea? It hadn't occurred to me. On the other hand, it is a gift of Francis's to fill his house with sons bred in incest.
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Dorothy Dunnett |
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0e20226
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I do not exist. What you have in your hand is my death certificate.
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Dorothy Dunnett |
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77f4fc7
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Words is but wind but dunts is the devil
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words
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Dorothy Dunnett |
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319da0d
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This officer, but doubt, is callit deid.
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Dorothy Dunnett |
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2bcc79c
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He gave her his hand as she stepped up beside him. He said, 'I thought it was going to take twenty-five years.' 'It probably will,' Gelis said. 'But I thought I should like to spend them with you.' He
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Dorothy Dunnett |
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86dfdef
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My God, said Francis Crawford in English, smiling cordially and shaking his hand. 'Caffa and purled lace and pinking, and a butt on him like one of Shah Mahmut th Ghaznerides' elephants. How is Marthe?' To his escort, he added blandly, in French, 'Forgive me. Mr Blyth and I are old acquaintances.' 'Don't apologize. M. le Prevot speaks English,' said Jerott coldly. 'So he does,' said Lymond thoughtfully. 'Remind me to tell him that the Shah ..
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Dorothy Dunnett |
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cb7d949
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Whoever is unsupported by the Mystery of Love shall not achieve the grace of salvation. Whoever shall cast love aside shall lose everything.
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Dorothy Dunnett |
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37950fd
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None of that, however, concerned Buccleuch who was little troubled, if ever, with matters of right and wrong.
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Dorothy Dunnett |
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a42a87b
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Lord Culter watched them come. There was about him none of the mad abandon of the bridegroom. A sober, thickset figure with brown hair and reliable grey eyes, Richard Crawford in his thirties was a man of wealth and tried power. He waited, his face stony, and before Buccleuch opened his mouth, he spoke. "If it's about Lymond, don't trouble, Buccleuch." "It's about Lymond," said Sir Wat grimly, and let fly."
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Dorothy Dunnett |
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02ede46
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You promise food and horses and nonresistance and when they invade, you do or don't lick their boots according to the thickness of your walls and the kind of conscience you have.
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Dorothy Dunnett |
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5fba590
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We've all those, and we've the rest, like yourself, who carry the throne on their backs from generation to generation--maybe just because you've so much at stake in Scotland that there's no other game worth the risk; still you do it.
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Dorothy Dunnett |
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5c14ded
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It won't be a very good army because it'll have one eye on the Lothian lairds and one eye on the Douglases. And by God, Richard Crawford," ended Buccleuch with a growl that lifted the pigeons off the turrets, "if they've got to watch you too, there'll be a wheen of skelly-eyed Scotsmen at the Golden Gates in the next few weeks."
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Dorothy Dunnett |
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abd5419
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They expected to be fed; and Lady Buccleuch, for whom pregnancy spelled food, had already taken strategic foothold by the windows, where the cold dishes were ready laid.
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Dorothy Dunnett |
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c895693
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Mime doesn't always mean comedy, my dear; far from it.
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Dorothy Dunnett |
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d4aa80c
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Strophe and counterstrophe reached their epode.
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Dorothy Dunnett |
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991a5a7
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I regret Richard isn't with you. No matter. God hath a thousand handes to chastise and I have two--how can Richard escape us both?
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Dorothy Dunnett |
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d13e903
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We've had a deal of bad poetry, haven't we? Suggesting the climax to this thrilling and literary spectacle. The Olla Podrida, my sweet-hearts, will now be set on the fire.
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Dorothy Dunnett |
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6e9f11a
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The door shut behind them all, and locked. The women stared at it, mesmerized, and observed across it the wavering shadow of an uncanny cloud. Behind the chamfered windows the sun was obscured by drifting wreaths of grey smoke, and the silence filled with the crackling of flames. The youngest surviving Crawford, in leaving, had deftly set fire to the castle.
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Dorothy Dunnett |
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8ecbafb
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It was your brother. He must be insane." "Not insane, dear." Sybilla, speaking gently, contradicted. "Not insane. But magnificently drunk, I fear."
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Dorothy Dunnett |
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af2b88f
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The knowledgeable gypsy eyes scanned the dairy-maid skin, the gilded hair, the long hands, jewelled to display their beauty while the Master, serenely smiling, returned the compliment under relaxed lids.
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Dorothy Dunnett |
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fdd3599
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A lie is a broad and spacious and glittering thing, sweeping belief before it from its very grandeur. But the truth fits, like an old man cutting cloth in an attic.
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Dorothy Dunnett |
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54f60a0
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It was to be expected that when he became in turn a leader of men, Francis should prove hard on others; should observe no laws; should fight, regardless of method, for victory.
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Dorothy Dunnett |
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7bed869
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Later, learning to know him, a friendship had grown: odd, irregular; at times surprisingly deep. And at times marred, it seemed wantonly, by Lymond's excesses and his own lack of trust towards Richard which again and again had caused his older brother anger and misery.
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Dorothy Dunnett |
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45e6b20
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She told me one night that she had no wish to go on living, and that if she did, it could only harm you. She was thirteen years old.... Can you not stand still, and look me in the face, and give me an answer?
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Dorothy Dunnett |
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0014cad
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If you are asking, did Eloise make no effort to avoid the explosion which killed her, the answer is probably yes. If you are also asking, was I her lover, the answer is no. After all,' said Lymond, 'that would be incest.' And with a click, the door closed finally after him.
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Dorothy Dunnett |
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4f4587a
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His defences are good. But it is his friends that will bring him low, not his enemies, Lady Culter. Keep you out of his way. That's the best advice I can give you.
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Dorothy Dunnett |
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2b80eb7
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I don't bed with children.' 'Rumour says,' said Catherine d'Albon, 'that you did. Or are the Knights of St John all mistaken?' 'You know too much,' said Francis Crawford slowly. 'Shall I amend it? I don't bed with young girls who are virgins, unless they ask me, and unless I am married to them.
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Dorothy Dunnett |
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5371969
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She rose. 'You mean,' Catherine d'Albon said, 'I have agreed to marry a libertine?' 'Everyone marries libertines,' Lymond said comfortably, rising and taking her elbow. 'But not everyone knows it beforehand.
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Dorothy Dunnett |
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28b0a7e
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There is a man in him that could support it,' Archie said. 'True enough. But it is maybe a man the world could do without.
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Dorothy Dunnett |
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db2d6f5
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Your husband appears to possess an uncanny gift for seducing his enemies.
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Dorothy Dunnett |
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fa24dae
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said Lord Grey, adjusting his sight to the folded paper he had just raised from his desk, ' He looked up.
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Dorothy Dunnett |