Belgravia

I would fight dragons, I would walk over flaming coals, I would enter the Valley of the Dead, if I thought I might have a chance of your heart.

it is better to be gullible than suspicious.

Anne Trenchard was a practical woman, and one of her chief virtues was that she did not linger over a disaster but sought, almost immediately, to remedy what could be remedied and to accept what could not.

Things were just as they had been a moment before, and yet somehow the tone and substance had changed.

Oliver did not seem to understand that the only real fulfilment on this earth was to be gained through hard work. Life as a series of momentary pleasures satisfied no one. He needed to make an investment in it, an investment of himself.

She was at that period of her life that almost everyone must pass through, when childhood is done with and a faux maturity, untrammeled by experience, gives one a sense that anything is possible until the arrival of real adulthood proves conclusively that it is not.

You must decide whether you wish to get on with your children or live at war with them.

She wasn’t sure if they meant to be hurtful or if they were just profoundly tactless.

Mr Pope, there is no “Lady Maria and I”. It is an absurd concept. You must understand just this: my daughter is a jewel as far above you as the stars.

When you are in trade,” his father repeated firmly and on purpose, “you get an instinct for people.

scratched his head. ‘But he went home to have dinner with his mother. She’s just come up to London. Mind you, that’s not so far.’ He thought for a minute. ‘I think you’re right, sir. He said something about its being near the river –’ ‘My God!’ gasped James. ‘Wait a minute.’ Oliver was speaking now. ‘Is there a street … let me think. All Saints? All Fellows?’ ‘Allhallows Lane?’ said the clerk, and Oliver let out a shout. ‘That’s it! Allhallows Lane. And there’s a tavern there. The Black … Swan?’ ‘The Black Raven. There’s a public house called The Black Raven.’ The clerk was praying that these men had found what they were looking for and he could go back to sleep. James nodded. ‘Come down and instruct our coachman.’ ‘It’s easy enough to explain –’ ‘Come down!’ and he hurried out, with the others following in his wake. A damp fog was rolling up the Thames by the time Charles arrived at the narrow, cobbled street that led to the tavern.

All the world knows it is better to be gullible than suspicious.

Lies are so complicated, she thought. And not for the first time.

She spoke like a tsar issuing a ukase, and it was clear she would brook no further argument.

John thought himself irresponsible, but surely women were a safer addiction than gambling.

be honest, he sometimes felt a creeping impatience for his father to quit the scene, leaving John as his uncle’s direct heir.

Nobody ever told you to expect any more than you were given. There are many men who would think it a fine thing to be a cleric living in a large rectory, without having to do a stroke of work from January to December.

She would certainly allow John to give himself the credit for turning her head and luring her into sin—all men like to feel they are leading the dance—but the truth was that if Susan had not made the decision to go astray, it would not be happening.

The servants really were worse than the rats,

East London?” The Countess looked increasingly puzzled. It was as if they were discussing some recently discovered civilization on the other side of Zanzibar.

Grace, as her mother had repeatedly told her, was very much second son material.

she realized she felt happy, as if the sensation were so lost to her that it took a while for her to identify it.

In James’s comparatively simple set of values, a little toadying seldom went amiss.

But she did feel rather proud of him for once, which was a nice sensation.

corner of the Green Park and Piccadilly, Maria knew