15
" Child, you do not know me. You have created a mythical being in my likeness whom you have set up as a god. It is not I. Many times, infant, I have told you that I am no hero, but I think you have not believed me. I tell you now that I am no fit mate for you...My reputation is damaged beyond repair, child. I come from vicious stock, and I have brought no honor to the name I bear. To no women have I been faithful; behind me lies scandal upon sordid scandal...You have seen perhaps the best of me; you have not seen the worst'
'Ah, Monseigneur, you need not have told me this! I know--I have always known, and still I love you. I do not want a boy. I only want Monseigneur. "
― Georgette Heyer , These Old Shades (Alastair-Audley, #1)
18
" It must have been-hell!" Merivale said.
"Just so," bowed his Grace. "It was the very worst kind of hell, as I know."
"The wonder is that she has come through it unscathed."
The hazel eyes lifted.
"Not quite unscathed, my dear Anthony. Those years have left their mark."
"It were inevitable, I suppose. But I confess I have not seen the mark."
"Possibly not. You see the roguery, and the dauntless spirit."
"And you?" Merivale watched him curiously.
"Oh, I see beneath, my dear! But then, I have had experience of the sex, as you know."
"And you see-what?"
"A certain cynicism, born of the life she has led; a streak of strange wisdom; the wistfulness behind the gaiety; sometimes fear; and nearly always the memory of loneliness that hurts the soul. "
― Georgette Heyer , These Old Shades (Alastair-Audley, #1)
