A Rogue Of One's Own Quotes
"Young ladies did not lie prone on the rug behind the library’s chesterfield and play chess against themselves."
"Morning sun pooled on the chessboard and made the white queen shine bright like a beacon."
"She stays," snapped Mama. "She must stay—one honest person in a pit of snakes."
"Her heart was drumming against her ribs, hard and painful, the thuds so loud, they had to hear it."
"The smell of leather and dust was in her nose and the library was pleasantly silent."
"Her lungs were burning, and her fingers were white as bone, alien and clawlike against the dizzying swirls of the rug."
"Trees gnarled. Shrubbery sprawled. The air was sweet with the fragrance of forest flowers."
"I believe the article used the words ‘nefarious nag’ and ‘troublesome termagant.’"
"A gentleman would insist on carrying your bag. You are lopsided."
"It’s because you are very purposeful, Hattie had explained to her; perhaps you should smile more to frighten them less."
"Tonight, her highest stack of unfinished correspondence loomed in the women’s education corner of her desk."
"She needn’t worry about Lady Henley flinging herself into the river Isis over Ballentine as others had threatened before—she was no green girl."
"I have survived the Siege of Sherpur and I walked to Kandahar while carrying a half-dead man on my back."
"As I said: she is unwell. She might be better cared for elsewhere."
"The truth was, if one could not escape in a straightforward manner, one had to do it inwardly. By way of painting. Or writing. Or drinking and fucking, when one wasn’t crawling through dust in the East."
"The war had not been his war, and he had no desire to tie himself to it more closely, now it was over."
"Any unsuspecting visitor would be fooled by the inviting façade; it was a sinister place."
"He could smell that Blackstone was here before he entered the last card room. It was the distinct absence of fresh cigarette smoke."
"I have not been back for long," he lied to his mother.
"His personal, portable bank account, his last trump card."
"You would wake up tomorrow morning well-pleasured and the owner of a publishing house."
"Being around her and Rochester during those times had felt precarious, like shoveling water from a sinking barge with a spoon."
"She was in a daze. She should not be traveling at all."
"I can think of few men more useless than you, and I don’t dislike you, my lord, I detest you."
"It is common to have one pocket, a small one, in the skirts of a walking dress. But three is quite unheard of."
"We both know you would never acquire wholesome women’s magazines without ulterior motives."
"Perhaps even during her morning visit with Lady Salisbury, with the matron more than twice her age winking and mentioning lovers."
"The curious thing about causes is that they usually continue well without you. The question is whether you can continue well without the cause."
"How many gentlemen take a mistress soon after the honeymoon?... Most gentlemen write poetry to their sweethearts, I believe? And how many gentlemen take a mistress soon after the honeymoon?"
"But if they were addressed, the amendment would not get past our usual suspects in the House of Lords. The current proposal stands a chance. We could build on it in a next round of amendments."
"A gentleman's influence and dignity contingent upon something as fleeting as his natural charms? Must he be outstanding to count? No. He officially has a voice simply because he is a man."
"Imagine a world where mail does not travel for days... Or where we could all be reading the same letter at the same time."
"It's a funny thing, shooting at a fellow man... You go about it as the situation requires, but few people, if any, will tell you that a while later, you may turn morose at the oddest of times, and your nights may become haunted by peculiar dreams."
"Do you remember Rochester hates me?... I've known it a long time, since when he had Jarvis drown Kitten—do you remember her?"
"I have always supported the idea that it hardly matters what you say, but it matters very much how you say it. So yes, much is to be said for a good, steady rhythm to provide a satisfying experience."
"Your pardon, Tristan said and gripped the white, clinging hands to bend back Arthur’s thumbs. A squawk of outrage, and he was free, his long strides eating up the dark street."
"Sometimes, it may take longer to slake a particular desire."
"What I know is that a good lover can addle your brain. He can make you feel things you neither expected nor wish to feel."
"I considered applying for one of the government grants that help single women find husbands in Australia, but after due consideration I decided I’d prefer to stay in England and find employment instead."
"The bravest woman I know, so evasive. Why can you not answer me?"
"It is a recent publication. Either you started your education late, or you are diligently maintaining it."
"How did you know my hand was there? I smelled you."
"The man is dangerous. He may count as a reputed businessman now, but Blackstone has deliberately ruined the lives of peers before—mark me, he is ruthless."
"I suppose once word gets out that you are good at bedsport, enough people like to imagine that they took part in it."
"It was so ugly, you see. And senseless. The senselessness is the worst of it."
"You often sleep holding me like this. It eases the night terrors."
"Then I shall leave this world knowing I spent my life on a good cause, and not regret it."
"I find there is no end to the truth; reach for it, and it slips away."
"People die. Ideas and traditions and glory survive—long after your flesh has rotted into the ground."
"I am 50 today, but thanks to Pear’s soap my complexion is only 17."
"I had not expected mutual feelings and esteem to grow between us. But they have, and fast."
"I have reason to believe he did not compromise the lady."
"They said his lordship and the lady had been seen leaving the fair together, and she came back alone at night, wearing his coat."
"One does not default on a Blackstone loan, I suppose."
"I’m taking the horse," Lucie said. "With the regular saddle."
"I am his alibi. He spent the whole night with me."
"I never guessed. It used to serve me well in case my funds ran low—they usually did."