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7fbe649
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It was a miracle, and it partook of the first property of miracles. It should never have been performed.
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Dorothy Dunnett |
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0a0faf2
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Sybilla said, her voice grating again, 'I know, of course, you would rather be dead.' He gave it a little thought. 'Yes,' he said. 'I don't suppose you want to be here in this room either.
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Dorothy Dunnett |
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f465912
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But you loved my father,' he said. 'And Eloise's, of course. What was he like?' 'Like you,' Sybilla said. 'And worth all this?' Lymond said. 'Yes,' said Sybilla. 'Don't you, of all people, know what love can do?
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Dorothy Dunnett |
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a185e8b
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I sometimes wonder,' said Francis Crawford, 'if I only exist to be sacrificed to.' Her heart beating strongly, she watched him. 'Perhaps,' she said. 'But if you accept sacrifices, you must respond with acts of reparation.
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Dorothy Dunnett |
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0b5cc97
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Sybilla said, 'If there are swords, then I suppose you must wear yours. But it is you we need.' 'We?' he said. 'Five hundred thousand people,' said Sybilla. 'You have a high opinion of my swordsmanship,' Lymond said.
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Dorothy Dunnett |
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cd5262a
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So, although it was more than she ever dared hope for, it was not the same; and never would be.
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Dorothy Dunnett |
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0b0e98e
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I find your family, my dear Marthe, much more disturbing than mine.
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Dorothy Dunnett |
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2424e7c
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eside him, on a low table stood a chess set she remembered. The heavy pieces of rock crystal and silver stood, darkly glimmering below the light of the window, and the fire, seeking them, had placed within each a small tongue of living flame. She said, 'There are not many pieces now left on the board. Who is your opponent?' 'Myself. Who else?' Lymond said.
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Dorothy Dunnett |
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d082e3b
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A long sea voyage with Jerott spewing drunk on every deck is not my idea of an adequate quid pro quo.
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Dorothy Dunnett |
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5ad1eed
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He had not moved. But, her blue eyes on his face, she did not rise. 'Lord, is there nothing in the cup for me? While you were drinking, I was singing to you.' The detachment had gone from his face, but not the strength. He shook his head; and rising, Marthe turned and walked from the room.
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Dorothy Dunnett |
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7eb5875
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A versatile commodity, death; except for those suffering it.
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Dorothy Dunnett |
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677565b
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Raveand Rhamnusia, Goddes of Dispyte,' said Lymond acidly. 'I am trying to get you home, vide the shiten shepherd and the clene shepe, with your woolly chops spotless. The only drawback to date is that the bloody sheep is going to have to carry the shepherd, so far as I can see.
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Dorothy Dunnett |
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3881ea8
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All I gathered from that is that Francis Crawford is a raging harlot.
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Dorothy Dunnett |
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564dbac
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It partook,' said Kate, 'of the nature of a full-scale cursing against one Crawford of Lymond, but whether for sins of omission or commission is not entirely clear.
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Dorothy Dunnett |
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529d290
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We're all runts and bastards of one sort or another.
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Dorothy Dunnett |
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dac55ab
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Why are you here?" Silence. Then the boy said slowly, "Because I admire you."
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Dorothy Dunnett |
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a20c334
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So,' said Mary, 'you would condemn the human race to hell, for want of enlightenment?' 'Why not?' said Francis Crawford. 'It has nothing to fear, surely, from hell.
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Dorothy Dunnett |
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748b7b5
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I am glad then,' said Catherine, 'that there was nothing between us, rather than mediocrity.' And from the homes ... of Unicornes ... 'There was kindness,' he said. 'And that was a great deal.
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Dorothy Dunnett |
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0748238
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It was hard to say therefore why he did not go below, and rally his brother, and encourage him to let the past fade, and look forward to what lay before him. Unless, in his heart of hearts he recognized as Lymond did that what lay around him were shut gates; and what lay before him was nothing.
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Dorothy Dunnett |
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c28b222
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Right?" said Lymond. "You pathetic, maladroit nincompoop, you're never right."
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Dorothy Dunnett |
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e464fb9
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Then you've had a good day of it, I suppose." "Then you suppose wrong," said Lymond shortly. "I've had a damned carking afternoon. A Moslem would blame my Ifrit, a Buddhist explain the papingo was really my own great-grandmother, and a Christian, no doubt, call it the vengeance of the Lord. As a plain, inoffensive heathen, I call it bloody annoying."
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Dorothy Dunnett |
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30c35d5
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A long time afterwards, she was to remember what an excellent chess-player Francis Crawford was.
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Dorothy Dunnett |
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952b7fe
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And, surprisingly, it was Lymond's voice which said sharply, 'You cannot debar a human being from love!
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Dorothy Dunnett |
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2b8ae11
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What Mr Blyth has been engaged in was not love, my dear Francis. It was romance, a thing to which Mr Blyth has been very prone; together with melodrama. Whatever made you think that melodrama makes Mr Blyth uncomfortable? He revels in it.
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Dorothy Dunnett |
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632547c
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Marthe said dryly, 'Philippa wishes only to say thank you, and so also do I. They say in Italy, don't they, that the boat will sink that carries neither monk, nor student, nor whore.... How good that we have Mr Blyth.' 'How good that we have Mlle Marthe,' Lymond replied. His clothes, freshly changed, were impeccable and his brushed yellow hair, free of sand, was lit guinea-gold by the gleam of the lamps. 'Of her fellow men so charming a stu..
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Dorothy Dunnett |
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1f11c1d
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this, I believe, is when the holy relics at St Denis are usually taken down and exposed, bu all right-minded people, against fiends, bogles and your friend Mr Crawford.
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Dorothy Dunnett |
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51cf9e0
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Many years later, understanding it all, the Baron de Luetz, who survived, used to tell how that day they left the Sublime Porte to the measure of the Chorea Machabaeorum, the Danse Macabre, the Danza General de los Muertos.
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Dorothy Dunnett |
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830e614
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He couldn't succeed Richard now, certainly," said Janet. "But if the English took over? Criminals at the horn with the right kind of politics have died in silk sheets before now." "So they say. Perhaps it's lucky then," said Sybilla, "that this criminal has cheated his way out of favour with every party in Europe."
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Dorothy Dunnett |
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556a35d
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Afraid?" said the yellow-haired man and laughed. "Forgive me, I should have warned you: I have a tendency to be bloody-minded. Bruslez, noyez, pendez, ompallez, descouppez, fricassez, crucifiez, bouillez, carbonnadez ces mechantes femmes."
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Dorothy Dunnett |
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e6dd769
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Jerott thought, acidly, that a slip of that dagger, if it happened, would save Francis Crawford a large sum of money.
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Dorothy Dunnett |
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1677cf2
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Calamitosus est animus futuri anxius, or why worry about tomorrow, when your funeral is today. Goodbye.
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Dorothy Dunnett |
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05ed54e
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He could have covered my mouth,' said Jerott indignantly, sitting up with great success and giving Salablanca his hand. 'He didn't want blood-poisoning,' said Lymond callously. 'Also he didn't know you're so damned slow with a knife....
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Dorothy Dunnett |
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b4e4db9
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What we choose to do then is nothing?' said Lymond, and his face was not pleasant. 'I have taken far too long as it is to face the consequences of my actions. You must not unlearn me my lesson. I have several other tests, still more acid, to pass.
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Dorothy Dunnett |
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347e22e
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I rather think one of us drunk is sufficient.
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Dorothy Dunnett |
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48b2db2
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All we have to do is follow its track in the sand.' 'What sand?' said Jerott. 'Don't be pessimistic,' said Lymond.
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Dorothy Dunnett |
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6729f31
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Khatun, what is his face?' 'A lemon?' said Philippa.
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Dorothy Dunnett |
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f852308
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You must, of course, do as you please,' she had remarked. 'But I really think, through all these years, that Mr Crawford has learned to take care of himself. I am sure his unique sense of domestic responsibility will impel him, unswerving, to trace us wherever we go.' Which was precisely the kind of bitchy remark, thought Jerott furiously, that Lymond himself would have made.
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Dorothy Dunnett |
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bb2da45
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Jerott, who had wished to be alone for his own sake as well as for Lymond's, closed his eyes as he sat under the orange trees, and prayed for Francis Crawford, who did not recognize love, and for himself, who did.
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Dorothy Dunnett |
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a4c9682
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Senor, more wine? I am amazed,' said the captain, 'that so lovely a lady has not married.' 'But indeed she has married,' said Lymond. 'Five times. And not one husband, poor fellow, survived matrimony by more than a year. She is too good for them. The last one, dying, compared her to a nugget of gold. Do you melt it or do you rub it or do you beat it, said he, it shineth still more orient.
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Dorothy Dunnett |
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8e6c28e
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Anxiously, Lymond called. 'If she undresses, I pray you do not restrain her! It can cause untold injury!
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Dorothy Dunnett |
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8712c04
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He is beautiful, and whole, and has learned to offer the world a humble and desperate obedience. You called him a pawn. He has begun to follow his trade.
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Dorothy Dunnett |
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62737b5
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Jerott stared up through his headache. 'I can manage,' he said. 'Yes. I think you'll manage better tied to your horse,' said Lymond.
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Dorothy Dunnett |
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354d85c
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She said, on a spurt of unusual temper, 'If you say I look hot once again, I shall die of boredom, I think.' 'Don't die,' said Lymond pleasantly; and swinging into his own saddle, gathered the reins. 'Have a fit.
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Dorothy Dunnett |
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48636b9
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Don't you think they would all have been happier if Francis Crawford had never existed?
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Dorothy Dunnett |