Sylvester Or The Wicked Uncle Quotes
"No view of the ornamental water could be obtained from this, the east front of Chance, but the undulations of a lawn shaved all summer by scythemen were broken by a cedar, and beyond the lawn the stems of beech trees, outliers of the Home Wood, shimmered in wintry sunlight."
"Caprice bred bad servants, and where the management of vast estates was concerned good service was essential."
"Had he been asked if he enjoyed his consequence he would have replied truthfully that he never thought of it; but he would certainly have disliked very much to have had it suddenly removed."
"It was just as though the brows had been added with a paintbrush, drawn in a sleek line upwards towards the temples."
"Sylvester laughed, throwing up the window. His impulse was to wish Edmund success in his adventure."
"He saw no faults in Edmund that could not speedily be cured when he was rather older."
"He found that he had dropped his handkerchief, and that the footman had hurried to pick it up for him. He said, ‘Thank you’, as he took it, and accompanied the words with a slight smile."
"Certainly not! Do you think I must be told by your maid when you are looking in great beauty?"
"If you mean she might not fall in love with me, I daresay she might not, though I know of no reason, if she doesn’t love another man, why she shouldn’t come to do so—or, at any rate, to like me very tolerably!"
"If you want quality, and a girl with a quick understanding, you'd like her."
"I can't suppose, my dear ma'am, that you need my assurance that on the score of eligibility I could have no possible objection to the match."
"Every available penny from the yield of a fortune long since found to be inadequate was spent on his slapping hunters."
"Under Miss Sibylla Battery’s formidable front beat a warmly affectionate heart."
"Her only extravagance was a subscription to a Bath lending library; her only conscious sin was that she encouraged Lady Marlow to suppose that the package delivered weekly by the carrier contained only works of an erudite or an elevating character."
"It is very difficult to explain, but I am persuaded you will understand, when you see him. It is as though being a duke is so much a part of him that he takes it perfectly for granted."
"Phoebe began to laugh a little hysterically. 'He is Count Ugolino!' she said."
"I daresay we shouldn’t think it so very bad, once we had grown accustomed to it."
"I only chose him for Ugolino because of the way his eyebrows slant, which makes him look just like a villain."
"He was received by Lady Marlow in what her lord recognized as her most gracious manner. It struck Sylvester as condescending, and he was taken aback by it."
"I have frequently been accused of cutting people at Almack’s. But the Assemblies have become such shocking squeezes that it is wonderful if one can discover one’s oldest friends among such a press of persons."
"It is now your turn, Miss Marlow, to start a topic for conversation!"
"The only thing is that you may find it pretty cold."
"For God’s sake, girl, don’t talk such fustian!"
"It’s a bad guest, is it not, who comes down before his host?"
"The strongest probability is that they will run into a snow-drift."
"It was all nonsense, of course, for she scarcely knew you."
"He offered to do so, and I own I was surprised."
"I’m as fond of her as I could be—well, I’ve run tame at Austerby ever since I was breeched, you know, and she’s like my sister!"
"No, oh lord, no! She said nothing would induce her to marry you!"
"Because I should be very likely to catch his cold."
"I hope he does not think—Phoebe, did he say if he meant to come up to visit me presently?"
"You are treating him as though he were a lackey!"
"Nothing would induce her to marry you! A little too cock-sure, Miss Marlow!"
"Go back to bed at once, John! Good God, I have knocked you up!"
"If I have to get up to you, John, you’ll be sorry!"
"Do you suppose that that is what I like? to be toad-eaten?"
"No sooner seen than disliked! I understand you perfectly."
"I recall now that I was told that you were not just in the common way, Miss Marlow!"
"Only a monster could have abandoned the boy to his fate."
"He hadn’t recollected that foolish promise: he had acted on impulse, and had only himself to thank for the outcome."
"He was deprived of his groom; open to the justifiable censure of some unknown country squire—the sort of worthy person, in all probability, whom he entertained at Chance on Public Days."
"Miss Marlow, in fact, should exhibit something very different from contempt."
"There is really no occasion to be cast into despair."
"Well, I don’t like it, for you are doing me an injustice, sir!"
"Not even Lady Marlow could demand a greater degree of propriety, surely?"
"‘I wish to God I had taken her to Gretna Green!’ said Tom savagely."
"Phoebe’s soft knock on her door was answered by a command to come in."
"You need not put yourself to the trouble of escorting me, for I know my way very well!"
"Some people, I believe, cannot bring themselves to permit others to enter into their deepest feelings. It would not be right—excuse me!—to suppose that they have none."
"There can be no doubt that his disposition is amiable, and his manners excessively polished and civil."
"I see no reason for anyone to fall in love with him."
"For my part, I should suppose them rather to have fallen in love with his rank!"
"I am what? Sparrow, I do implore you not to let Lady Ingham teach you to utter civil whiskers!"
"She laughed, but tacitly refused the challenge."
"The Dowager read it through, for some time anxiously watched by her trembling granddaughter, whose nerves suffered severely."
"I am sure I could never do so. How clever you must be!"
"Don't hang your head! Do you wish the whole room to know what I am saying to you?"
"Oh, there is a great deal you might say, but it is quite unnecessary to do so!"
"I ought to be grateful? Is it beyond your comprehension that to discover myself figuring in a novel...is an experience I find nauseating?"
"The thing is, Lady Ingham, she wants me to take her home!"
"I never meant to do you an injury! I might as easily have made you the model for my hero!"
"What did I do, Miss Marlow, to deserve to be set in the pillory?"
"You must allow me to offer you my compliments, and to felicitate you on having made so notable a hit."
"How can you be so unkind to me? You don't care for my distress!"
"I fancy Nugent Fotherby ain’t often at a loss. I fancy you’d be told, if you was to ask anyone, that Nugent Fotherby is as shrewd as he can hold together."
"The boy has a mother! She is not at the moment in plump currant, you know. She must be cherished!"
"When I discovered that she had taken Edmund away without his nurse I ought certainly to have guessed how it must be."
"I trust Fotherby is not similarly indisposed?"
"He’s like some fellow in the Bible. Or was it a pig? Well, it don’t signify."
"To be sure, had he been able to purchase the Hotel d’Angleterre, and to eject from it all other guests, he would have found himself similarly bereft; but what a gesture it would have been!"
"You must wish to see Lady Ianthe, I daresay. I regret that she is indisposed—is confined to her bed, in fact, with an attack of influenza."
"What I want, Fotherby, is not your congratulation, but my ward!"
"You see? Now we shall have him setting it about I’ve been ill-using him!"
"I daresay, being a bachelor, you may not know it, but I did. I’m not at all sure I didn’t swear it: it sounded devilish like an oath to me."
"Having read your book, Miss Marlow, it was not difficult to guess what had happened."
"She had broken from his hold in tears, and he had been furious with her for doing it, because he knew he had brought that scene on himself."
"She had held him up as a mockery to the world: that in itself was an offence, but if the portrait she had drawn of him had been unrecognizable he could have forgiven her."
"For God’s sake, will you stop calling me my lord Duke every time you open your mouth?"
"She will not be asked to travel an inch in my company!"
"I am persuaded you cannot wish to distress him!"
"I daresay you will like to rest before you dine, Miss Marlow."
"I have ordered what I hope you will like, Miss Marlow, but there is very little choice."
"If anyone should say such a thing to me I shall reply that he was torn from your arms."
"I’m not angry," Sylvester said, tickling his cheek with one careless finger. "Word of a Rayne! Goodnight, you imp!"
"‘No, I won’t,’ said Sir Nugent. ‘You may have the right to do it—well, I know you have! asked my attorney!—but does her la’ship know it?"
"‘I may yet,’ replied Sylvester coolly. ‘He has done what I could not: given you your own again!’"
"I have a genius for bringing trouble upon myself."
"It was certainly a taunt, but there had been no mockery in his voice, only anger."
"You tumbled into a scrape, as you are pleased to call it, when I first made your acquaintance!"
"You have no one but yourself to thank for the ills you’ve brought on your own head!"
"It was your arrogance that caused me to make you the model for my villain!"
"You are the cause of every ill that has befallen me!"
"‘I beg your pardon! you mistake! I had no intention—Phoebe, it was out before I well knew what I was saying!"
"‘What next will you say?’ he demanded, an involuntary laugh shaking him."
"‘You’ll precious soon wish you were beneath my touch, if you don’t take care, my girl!’ said Tom."
"My dear Thomas, my only reason for telling Keighley to bring my phaeton to Dover was to save that brat as much travel-sickness as I could!"
"I promise you it was a coincidence, ma’am, but he—the Duke—did not think so."
"‘I haven’t reached that stage yet,’ he admitted. ‘But you must surely own that I am making progress!’"
"‘You are very right!’ approved Phoebe. ‘And the flowers are a very pretty attention: exactly what Mrs Orde would say you ought to do!’"
"‘No, no!’ he said hastily, taking her in his arms again. He then, with great presence of mind, put a stop to any further recriminations by kissing her."