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A Countess Below Stairs QUOTES

A Countess Below Stairs QUOTES

1 " When you're sad, my Little Star, go out of doors. It's always better underneath the open sky. "

― Eva Ibbotson , A Countess Below Stairs

2 " Slowly, Anna put up a hand to his muzzle and began to scratch that spot behind the ear where large dogs keep their souls. "

― Eva Ibbotson , A Countess Below Stairs

3 " To show too much joy in a place such as this would be unseemly but, as he padded toward her, his tail was extended in a manner which would make wagging possible should all go as expected. "

― Eva Ibbotson , A Countess Below Stairs

4 " She's like snow in Russian," said Anna. "Snow in the evening when the sun sets and it looks like Alpengluhen, you know? And if snow had a scent it would smell like that [the rose].... "

― Eva Ibbotson , A Countess Below Stairs

5 " Now, tell me everything, please. Of course if he has harmed you I shall kill him, whoever he is,” he added matter-of-factly. “But otherwise, perhaps something can be done. "

― Eva Ibbotson , A Countess Below Stairs

6 " A faint terror lest she begin to curtsy took hold of Rupert. "

― Eva Ibbotson , A Countess Below Stairs

7 " A countess, eh?” Mr. Cameron, into whose ear trumpet the news had duly been shouted, had begun to wheeze with unaccustomed and silent laughter. He knew, now, what to call his new rose, and the joke—obscure, private, pointless—was just the kind he particularly enjoyed. "

― Eva Ibbotson , A Countess Below Stairs

8 " Rupert looked down at the little upturned face with its mass of freckles and marigold curls and a wave of tenderness for Muriel swept over him. She could so easily have wanted to choose someone of her own. “I think you’re going to be absolutely beautiful,” he said. "

― Eva Ibbotson , A Countess Below Stairs

9 " For attached to every wedding is that font of hope, that potential piece of manna, the best man. "

― Eva Ibbotson , A Countess Below Stairs

10 " The dowager rose and slipped from her pew. There was the sound of tearing silk as she threw up her arms to embrace her son. Then:
"Oh, Rupert, darling," she exclaimed in tones of theatrical despair, "don't you see? The game's up! "

― Eva Ibbotson , A Countess Below Stairs

11 " And so they played some of the world's loveliest piano music - the exiled homesick girl, the humiliated, tired old man. Not properly. Better than that. "

― Eva Ibbotson , A Countess Below Stairs

12 " Shadows are cool and peaceful places for those whose minds are overstocked with treasure. "

― Eva Ibbotson , A Countess Below Stairs

13 " How dare you suppose that I don't know who you are or what you are? That I don't understand what I see? Do you take me for some kind of besotted schoolboy? It is unspeakable! You could weigh as much as a hippopotamus and shave your head and wear a wig and it wouldn't make a difference to me. I never said you were beautiful. I never thought it. I said that you were you. "

― Eva Ibbotson , A Countess Below Stairs

14 " For an instant she felt his touch on her cheek then he stepped back. There that was my ration for all eternity. People have died for less I dare say. "

― Eva Ibbotson , A Countess Below Stairs

15 " It was a night to dream about: windless, warm and scented, with a streak of gold and amethyst still lingering in the sky. "

― Eva Ibbotson , A Countess Below Stairs

16 " When you’re sad, Little Star, go out of doors. It’s always better underneath the open sky. "

― Eva Ibbotson , A Countess Below Stairs

17 " Love begets love. As he grew, Petya followed his sister everywhere… “Wait for me, Annoushka!” … And Anna did wait for him. She was to do so always. "

― Eva Ibbotson , A Countess Below Stairs

18 " Now the old woman who had known him since his birth saw in the new lines round his eyes, the skin stretched tight across the cheekbones, the price paid by those who force themselves against their deepest nature, to excel in war. "

― Eva Ibbotson , A Countess Below Stairs

19 " Lord Byrne looked at his wife. He’d married her blind, knowing nothing about her except that she had a quiet voice, a sensible manner and some spare cash. Now, eight years later, he would have died for her without a moment’s hesitation. To dress up as a hussar in Wellington’s army would be harder, but he would do it. "

― Eva Ibbotson , A Countess Below Stairs

20 " The comical dusky down that had covered Anna’s head in early childhood had become a waist-length mantle, its rich darkness shot through like watered silk with chestnut, indigo, and bronze. “Over my dead body will you cut your hair. "

― Eva Ibbotson , A Countess Below Stairs