Jerott said, as Philippa had done, 'And you?' And Lymond stared at him, his brows delicately lifted. 'I shall gather frankincense,' he replied.

For how long can one maintain total vigilance? For how long can love last, in isolation, without sinking crushed beneath its own pressure?

At the end of life, parent and kinsman are as a blind man set to look after a burning lamp.

I once heard a man speak, who had understanding, and the promise of vision. He was called the Master of Culter.

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...

They are afraid of him?' D'Harcourt raised his comedian's eyebrows....

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.

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?

The drink was almost certainly safe. He would probably get pleurisy, quinsy and pox from the cup.

Happiness, that most childish of states, is infectious. Furthermore, in its innocence, it will not be hidden, even when tempered with sorrow

Although I despise the hanging jaw of hunger, I do not intend that the needy should look to me for their banquet.

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 what form do these take?'...

Marthe's, cool and articulate, did not alter at all. 'My name is Marthe.'...

He has to perfection, M. le Comte, the art of living his private life with as much public attention as possible.

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...

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.

Fools make news, and wise men carry it.