Home > Work > Checkmate (The Lymond Chronicles, #6)
41 " 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. "
― Dorothy Dunnett , Checkmate (The Lymond Chronicles, #6)
42 " 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 them. It’s too late. And I don’t think you would be allowed to try it. "
43 " 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. "
44 " any country which has suffered a reverse of fortune instantly turns on its nonconformists. "
45 " He was the sort of person one could with justice kill if only - if only one had had the sense to bring a weapon. "
46 " Oh God, thought Jerott. Don’t let it happen. She doesn’t deserve the torment. The lifetime of waiting, in return for a handful of moments of ecstasy. And standing behind him, always, the ghosts of his other, experienced women. The thoughts he did not share. The knowledge that one had his total friendship but never the key to the innermost door. "
47 " There was a little silence. Then Danny Hislop heaved a sigh. ‘O beau sire Dieu, what a hell of an evening. Jerott, you either want to have another half-bottle, or vomit three ways what you have, like the Rosault.’ In five months the professionals Hislop and Blyth had reached an understanding. "
48 " Standing drunk in the yard, while the rain soaked his hair and spread cold through the cloth of his doublet, Jerott thought of the fine design, firmly executed, of the campaign of Guînes and of Calais. And of his own joy and his liberation, after these huckstering years, to be again under the hand of this man, his arts at their meridian. "
49 " He and Richard had met on the strand at Philorth and like the sand under their feet, all the muddled solicitude which had prompted that journey had in five minutes dispersed through their fingers. "
50 " He had been as careful as he knew how to be, but it had not been enough because he too had been hurt, by a loss he could afford less than Richard. "
51 " The pain beating in his brows was beyond belief. He wanted only to go while he was still master of himself; before this primitive desire to devastate them both should overpower him. "
52 " He had ridden through the night, without rest and without sleep, for this. It ought, surely, to give someone a moment of wry amusement. He understood—but then he had always understood—how Richard had felt at Philorth. "
53 " What will you not achieve next time? You should be relieved. A lifetime of desertion, and you are still her favourite son. "
54 " How nice to be married with … how many children, Richard? You don’t have quite this problem. You don’t have any problems really, do you, sitting there in your lordship pontificating? It seems to be beyond you even to get yourself decently drowned. "
55 " How about that, my own brother, my own bright light, thou Igor? "
56 " Richard’s angry grey eyes … honest grey eyes … were looking at him. Sybilla was not watching. He supposed she knew that however near he might tread to the crevasse, he did not mean to fall in, and drag Richard with him. Instinct had been right, when last year he had fled such a confrontation. As no living soul could hurt him, Sybilla could. "
57 " I had a sense, I believe, of indebtedness. But someone trussed it in black felt and kicked it to death, as the Turks do. "
58 " The gorgeous creature by the window did not move, nor was there a notable change in his plumage. But by some means it was made clear that against the latticed panes of the casement stood a man trained for war, and with skills of a sort which had protected Lyons; had saved Paris; had recovered Calais for an alien monarch. "
59 " Religion in recent years has become a political sport, and politicians are more skilful than honest men at extracting themselves from disasters. "
60 " Men live, not while they breathe, but while they live well. "