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ca1ec59
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Are you implying,' said Philippa coldly, 'that I enjoyed being brought up surrounded by eunuchs?' 'No,' said Lymond. 'But I expect you enjoyed it more than the eunuchs did.
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Dorothy Dunnett |
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9cb946c
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You invited them without Lymond knowing?' said Danny Hislop. He wriggled into the circle. 'Can I be there when he hears about it?
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Dorothy Dunnett |
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73a4019
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He's asked Master Zitwitz to leave the duke and travel with him as household controller to the Ambassador's residence in Turkey.' Philippa Somerville blew her nose sharply. 'On the strength of his sweet cherry sauce?' 'On the strength, I think, of that handy right uppercut,' said Jerott.
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Dorothy Dunnett |
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96d618a
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Fools make news, and wise men carry it.
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news
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Dorothy Dunnett |
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e9267fc
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It was of no importance. Birth did not matter; heredity was merely a hurdle; one was what one made of oneself; that and no other.
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Dorothy Dunnett |
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4b1dc20
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Cunningly done, O Francis, puissant comte de Sevigny. Nothing crude. Nothing too rich, or sickly, or posturing. Songs like a lost hearth-fire, that one had known from one's childhood; songs rarely come upon, and the rest like new lovers, moving in their unfamiliarity. Songs which spoke direct to the heart. To the heart, and not to the intellect. She looked at Lymond. The dark wood of his chair defined his head. His profile, pure as the flow..
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Dorothy Dunnett |
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b988c24
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I shall let you know,' Lymond said, 'when I am ready to embrace you, and with what. In the meantime should you seek a favour, ask elsewhere.
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Dorothy Dunnett |
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4cdbc54
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Gilles made up his mind, and snapped, 'D'you write Latin?' Sometimes Jerott forgot that the blazon of chivalry, with all the status it once had carried, was no longer his. In any case, he had an incredible headache. He stared at this enormous, round-shouldered old man in the filthy nightgown and buskins, and snapped back. 'Of course.
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Dorothy Dunnett |
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68c949b
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Elephants gave you less bother, any day.
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Dorothy Dunnett |
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d4b0584
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The prospect of watching the Crawford family at grips with itself was something that, blissfully, he wanted very much for his birthday.
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Dorothy Dunnett |
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a2a0cc1
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Darting a glance to either side, Danny Hislop had a sudden feeling that the whites of his eyes were beginning to show. 'Suppose we go upstairs?' said Sybilla comfortably. 'I think the steward is waiting to take us. That is, if you really want to hear us talk about our intimate family affairs in your presence. Otherwise I am sure they will make you very welcome elsewhere.' She like her bloody son.
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Dorothy Dunnett |
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f4ce9b0
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Before God, you are my soul; and till death and beyond, will remain so.
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Dorothy Dunnett |
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ab6edf1
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Quarrelling with the Prince of Barrow was like fighting a curtain. Robin Stewart gave up.
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Dorothy Dunnett |
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bd1d91c
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Long ago, returning from some turbulent sequence of misdeeds, the younger, beloved son of the house of Culter would rap at the door of his mother's chamber, and be admitted, and closing the door, would bend upon her the grave, sweet gaze, made of mischief and love, that melted the bones in her body. Then, sinking to one knee, he would kiss her hand, in obedience and humility. Now he rapped, and she heard his voice speak her name and, rising..
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Dorothy Dunnett |
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45300cb
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It was then that she found that he had laid flat, himself, every defence against her: that she could, if she wished, enter and be received within this, the long-guarded citadel. And so she discovered, fragment by fragment, what he had never told anyone: the inner truth of all those events which, strung together, made up his unruly life.
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Dorothy Dunnett |
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8a12754
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Why?' said Philippa. 'For suffering what you have suffered for three months?' And felt the veils rend about her, for she had broken the unwritten law: it must not be uttered. It must not be uttered, or they could not bear the pain, mirrored over and over.
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Dorothy Dunnett |
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6453a3d
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I dislike untidy wars, as I dislike untidy peacemaking.
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Dorothy Dunnett |
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167cfb5
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His hair soft as a nestling's, his eyes graceless with malice, Lymond was watching him in a silver mirror.
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Dorothy Dunnett |
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eec3bb2
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How nice," said Lymond, "to have simple emotions. No trouble with principles; no independence of thought; no resistance to suggestion; no nonsense about adult behaviour when it comes to one's own amour propre."
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Dorothy Dunnett |
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3b073bf
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How do you take leave, for all time, of a brother?' 'You wish him well,' Lymond said, 'if that is what is in your mind. And you accept from him his understanding, and his pity, and his fellowship as he is driven, as you are, through the world.
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Dorothy Dunnett |
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435e039
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If you don't mind.' 'I do,' said Kate. 'I don't care to have my second-best bedroom looking like the den of a hibernating bear.
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Dorothy Dunnett |
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d38b993
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To a chorus of resonant barking, the instruments proceeded to adjust themselves into tune. A billy-goat, alarmed, aroused his harem, and distantly a muffled lowing broke out. Philippa said, 'Oh dear. It must have cost a fortune. Did Gideon ever do this to you?' Kate thought. 'No, but I did it to him. He hadn't called to see me for a week, so I sent eight bell ringers to serenade him at cock-crow and his mother's parrot dropped dead, quoting..
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Dorothy Dunnett |
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330b48e
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I am saying,' Lymond said, 'that the bond of race is a deep one, and of a dimension which gives it nobility. I am saying that the salvation of each man's soul lies within himself, and is not a matter which concerns even his brother.
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Dorothy Dunnett |
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9a1e941
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Danny said, 'I didn't tell you the other side, because you know it. You and I don't have a family. They have. They were brought up together. They need each other, and support each other. It's too late to change any of that. Whether he ever marries again or not, Francis has that; and if anything happens to him, the rest of the family have each other. You won't get him now, Marthe,' said Danny Hislop. 'Now that you want him. He belongs to the..
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Dorothy Dunnett |
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276961f
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I'll take care of it,' said Richard Crawford quietly, and Lymond lifted his head. 'Oh, Richard. Timely as ever. I want....' 'I know what you want,' said Lord Culter comfortably, and hooked an arm under his brother's stained shoulders. 'I doubt it,' said Lymond drily.
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Dorothy Dunnett |
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ec1e6f7
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Whether romance existed in him or not, sentimentality had no place at all.
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Dorothy Dunnett |
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5baf727
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I know. Aha, Oho, and every other bloody ejaculation. Let's take it as read. You're delirious at the idea of manhandling me and can't wait to start. I in turn may say I find your arrival offensive and your presence blasphemous, thus concluding the exchange of civilities and letting us get out of here. If there's anything novel or extra you want to add, you can think of it on the way home.
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Dorothy Dunnett |
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222c940
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He has to perfection, M. le Comte, the art of living his private life with as much public attention as possible.
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Dorothy Dunnett |
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6cef3a6
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Marthe's, cool and articulate, did not alter at all. 'My name is Marthe.' 'What is your other name?' 'The name of my father.' 'And who is your father?' The slender, strongly made shoulders sketched a shrug. 'Who knows? He had no ship and no money; or if he had, he found better employment for both than in looking for me. Like your son, I am a bastard.' 'No, my dear,' said Lymond. 'Forgive me.... But I think you are a bastard like nobody else..
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Dorothy Dunnett |
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ad23a92
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If you wish to leave, there is nothing, to my knowledge, to stop you,' said Jerott. 'Well, that's good news,' said Marthe, with final and unanswerable malice. 'I thought you needed the gold in my saddle.' Deferentially, Salablanca's voice broached Jerott's silence. 'La senorita has known that the gold has been concealed in that place?' 'La senorita,' said Marthe coldly, 'in the absence of offers, has been saddling and unsaddling that damned..
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Dorothy Dunnett |
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43bada7
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And what form do these take?' 'Really, I hardly think----' Lymond began acidly, but the captain interrupted him. 'Your pardon, sir. But with the safety of my troops to consider ...' 'Really, it will hardly affect your troops,' said Lymond. 'The lady unhappily suffers fits of extreme violence, during which she struggles, screams and attempts to throw off all her clothes. Now, will you kindly arrange for us to enter?' Five minutes later, they..
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Dorothy Dunnett |
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e3192eb
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Unlike Francis Crawford, whose game with life was a strange and rootless affair played with the intellect, Jerott had a passionate instinct to live. It was a happy circumstance also that his nervous and bronchial systems were roughly as frail as a bison's.
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Dorothy Dunnett |
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360f5e2
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What's poor Richard ever done to you except get himself born first?" The blue eyes were speculative. "Ill-calculated," he agreed. "But not necessarily final."
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Dorothy Dunnett |
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8a2cd38
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Immoderation, Mariotta, is a thief of money and intestinal joy, but who'd check it? Not I. Here I am, weeping soft tears of myrrh, to prove it.
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Dorothy Dunnett |
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897ed4a
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Five years ago your brother Lymond was found to have been selling his own country for years: he's been kicked from land to land committing every crime on the calendar and now he's back here, God forgive him, with filthier habits and a nastier mind than he set out with.
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Dorothy Dunnett |
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74f0a82
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It is said,' said the Aga Morat, 'that blindness of the eyes is a lighter thing than blindness of the perceptive faculties of the mind. The sun is high: the perception is dazzled. One has made divers chambers available to us in these poor houses for an hour. Let us retire and, by giving ease to the flesh, bring new light also to the proper functions of the mind. There, for the Hakim's servant Mr Blyth, and the lady. In this chamber, Crawfor..
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Dorothy Dunnett |
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46bbfef
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Although I despise the hanging jaw of hunger, I do not intend that the needy should look to me for their banquet.
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Dorothy Dunnett |
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8d97b01
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Happiness, that most childish of states, is infectious. Furthermore, in its innocence, it will not be hidden, even when tempered with sorrow
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Dorothy Dunnett |
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5a18248
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The drink was almost certainly safe. He would probably get pleurisy, quinsy and pox from the cup.
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Dorothy Dunnett |
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bec15c9
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It isn't that music doesn't matter: the reverse, as it happens. So my defences against it are very strong. Can you understand that?
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Dorothy Dunnett |
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b52d477
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Henry of England had all the virtues and all the faults, and solved the contradiction by making scapegoats and sin-eaters of half his entourage.
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Dorothy Dunnett |
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5f7b0b2
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They are afraid of him?' D'Harcourt raised his comedian's eyebrows. Danny Hislop's bright teeth flashed in his hairless, unremarkable face. 'If they were afraid, they'd tear him to pieces like schoolgirls. My guess is that he's gorgeous. A terrible tease and nasty at moments, but oh Maeve, he has such a way with him.... Is he gorgeous, dear Adam?' Adam Blacklock, thus addressed, said quietly, 'Undoubtedly gorgeous.
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Dorothy Dunnett |
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9d7a946
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One escapes; but one always has to come back. I found too I disliked not being in command of myself.
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Dorothy Dunnett |
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e5b85fa
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Considering Lymond, flat now on the bed in wordless communion with the ceiling, Richard spoke. "My dear, you are only a boy. You have all your life still before you." On the tortoise-shell bed, his brother did not move. But there was no irony for once in his voice when he answered. "Oh, yes, I know. The popular question is, For what?"
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Dorothy Dunnett |