Eva Ibbotson QUOTES

141 " We’ve been together for thirty-five years,” Alec had said. “We’ve no call to change now. "

― Eva Ibbotson , One Dog and His Boy

143 " He had just spent half an hour cross-examining his butler. Proom’s attempts at honorable evasion had withered before the tactics that Rupert had perfected in four years of dealing with his men…. His anger, though perfectly contained, far outstripped Muriel’s own. "

― Eva Ibbotson , A Countess Below Stairs

145 " What the devil are you doing here?” continued the earl, his customary good manners quite banished by the shock of seeing this girl whose treachery had not prevented her from haunting his dreams, sleeping and waking, ever since she had gone. "

― Eva Ibbotson , A Countess Below Stairs

147 " One of the things Clovis had been most afraid of was being forced to ride. He had seen the horses in the stables, and they looked large and twitchy. If Sir Aubrey put him in the saddle, Clovis meant to confess straightaway and take the money Finn had given him to run away to his foster mother.
But the week after he arrived at Westwood, Sir Aubrey asked Clovis to come into the library because he had some bad news for him.
“Now I want you to be brave about this, my boy. I want you to take this like a man and a Taverner.”
Clovis’s heart began to thump. Could someone have died--Maia perhaps, or his foster mother--and if so, how did Sir Aubrey know? Or was it just that he had been found out?”
“I won’t hide from you the fact that the Basher--your aunt Joan, I mean--disagrees with me. She was all ready to teach you. She had picked out a fine mettlesome filly to start you on; nothing sluggish or second rate. A real Thoroughbred. You’d be going over jumps in a couple of weeks. But I’m afraid I cannot allow it.”
“Can’t allow what, sir?” asked Clovis.
“Can’t allow you to ride. Can’t allow you to go on a horse. You can imagine what it cost me to come to this decision; the Taverner children have always been up in the saddle from when they were two years old. But after Dudley’s terrible accident…” Tears came into Sir Aubrey’s eyes. He turned away. “If there was anyone else to inherit Westwood, I would let you take your chance, but with Bernard and Dudley both gone…” He pressed Clovis’s shoulder. “You’re taking this very well, my boy. Very well indeed. You’re taking it like a man. I confess I expected arguments, even tantrums.”
“Well, it is a disappointment,” said Clovis, wondering whether to break down and cry, a thing all actors learn to do at the drop of a hat. But in the end he just gave a brave gulp instead. “I had, of course, been looking forward…” He looked out of the window to where the Basher, mounted on a bruising chestnut, was galloping across a field. “But I do understand. One must always think of Westwood. "

― Eva Ibbotson , Journey to the River Sea

149 " You’re taking this very well, my boy. Very well indeed. You’re taking it like a man. I confess I expected arguments, even tantrums.”
“Well, it is a disappointment,” said Clovis, wondering whether to break down and cry, a thing all actors learn to do at the drop of a hat. But in the end he just gave a brave gulp instead. “I had, of course, been looking forward…” He looked out of the window to where the Basher, mounted on a bruising chestnut, was galloping across a field. “But I do understand. One must always think of Westwood.”
Sir Aubrey nodded. “You’re a good lad. Of course no one will ever take Dudley’s place, but…” He took out his handkerchief and blew into it fiercely. “There’s another thing. About your schooling. Bernard was very weedy about his school, but then Bernard was weedy about everything. All the same, I think you’re a bit old to be sent away now. Boys usually leave home at about seven or eight, you know, and you’d feel out of it. So I’m going to engage a tutor for you. He’ll come next month when you’re settled in.”
“Thank you, sir,” said Clovis. And then: “I’m afraid I’m not very clever.”
Sir Aubrey looked shocked. “Good heavens, boy, I should hope not! The Taverners have never been bookish. Except your poor father, and look what happened to him. "

― Eva Ibbotson , Journey to the River Sea

151 " Time you got to know the estate,” he told Clovis.
But before they crossed the courtyard, Sir Aubrey stopped by the statue with the severed head. He touched the neck stump with his stick, then ran it over the battered forehead and nose of the head lying on the ground.
“Something I wanted to ask you, my boy,” he said. “About this statue. Could you leave the head the way it is after I go? Because of Dudley. Something to remember him by?” He sniffed and blew his nose.
“After you go, sir?”
“After I pop my clogs. Turn up my toes. Die, you know, what. When everything in the place is yours. "

― Eva Ibbotson , Journey to the River Sea

153 " Mr. Carter’s burns were serious. His hair and eyebrows were singed, his face was swollen, both arms were bandaged. He lay still with his eyes closed. But Minty had no thought to spare for him.
“Mr. Carter, where is Maia? Your daughters say you went back for her. Did you bring her out safely?”
“I…tried…” lied Mr. Carter. “I went right to her door, but it was impossible. An inferno…”
Miss Minton swayed. “I am not the kind of person who faints,” she said as the sister moved toward her.
But there she was wrong. "

― Eva Ibbotson , Journey to the River Sea

155 " He wants to name me officially as heir to Westwood and give me an allowance--quite a big one. And I don’t know what to do. He’s absolutely certain I’m his grandson. There’s a painting of some admiral who’s supposed to have my nose… "

― Eva Ibbotson , Journey to the River Sea

157 " Clovis, do you swear that you don’t mind staying here as Master of Westwood? Do you absolutely swear it?”
“I swear it.”
Finn, as he walked back with his friend to the station, seemed to be made of something quite different. Not muscle and bone--feathers and air…and lightness. He did not actually intend to fly, because that would have been showing off, but he could have done so if he’d wanted to.
“You’ll never know what you’ve done for me,” he said as they reached the gates of the level crossing. “If there’s anything you want--”
Clovis grinned. “Can I have Maia when she’s grown up?”
Finn’s smile vanished in an instant.
“No,” he said.
“Oh well… "

― Eva Ibbotson , Journey to the River Sea

159 " So when Finn sailed back down the Negro at dawn, he saw no flames and heard no roaring as the house was destroyed. Everything at first seemed to be as it had always been: the big trees by the river, the huts of the Indians, the Carters’ launch riding at anchor.
Then the dog, standing beside him, threw back his head and howled.
“What is it?” asked Finn.
But now he, too, smelled the choking, lingering smoke.
And as he sailed toward the landing stage, he saw it--the space, the nothingness, where the Carters’ house should have been. Not even an empty shell. Nothing.
He had thought that the news of his father’s death was the worst thing that had happened to him, but this was worse, because he was to blame. If he had taken Maia as she had begged…
He was shivering so much that it was difficult to steer the Arabella to the jetty and make her fast. There was no point in searching the ruins; it was so obvious that no one could survive such a blaze.
But there was one last hope. The huts of the Indians had been spared. Perhaps they had gotten Maia out; perhaps he would find her sleeping there.
He pushed open the door of the first hut and went inside…then the second and the third. They were completely empty. Even the parrot on his perch had gone, even the little dog. A broken rope in the run outside showed where the pig, terrified by the flames, had rushed back into the forest.
There was no doubt now in Finn’s mind. They had let Maia burn and fled in terror and shame.
What would it be like, Finn wondered, going on living and knowing that he had killed his friend?
The howler monkeys had been right to laugh when he said he wasn’t going back. He had turned downriver again almost at once to fetch Maia, and he had made good time, traveling with the current--but he had come too late. "

― Eva Ibbotson , Journey to the River Sea