Shrines Of Gaiety Quotes
"There was nothing mystifying about the cards. You might have said their message was Ozymandian. The serpent, the scythe, a coffin and a bouquet. The end of the party."
"The world was waking up. Freda’s feet were already practising steps beneath her thin coverlet."
"A man lurking behind a tree could be up to any number of things, most of them unpleasant."
"Everyone wanted drama. At the bottom of the stairs, you were greeted by another doorman, this one liveried with frogging, epaulettes and so on, a costume that would not have looked out of place on a rear admiral in an operetta."
"The world no longer wanted their never-ending bales of barbed wire, indeed it preferred to forget it had ever wanted them."
"She may as well have joined a holy order, so cloistered did her life grow between the Library and Mother."
"If they could have kept a piece of her as a relic—a finger bone, a lock of hair, even a pom-pom—they would have done."
"The Twenties roared in and the Moulin Vert opened with a bang."
"They would eat Nellie, too. She feared it would not be long before she was worm food."
"All the missing, all the lost. Forever haunting the dogwatch that Gwendolen took alone every night."
"Women, on the other hand, talked in an effort to understand the foibles of human behaviour."
"The dull days of her dying seemed to stretch ahead with no end, just as the dull days of her living had."
"I am a librarian. We are accustomed to moving through the world unnoticed."
"She signalled for more coffee and exchanged smiles with Violet."
"One’s purpose in this world was to be forgotten, not remembered."
"Her heart sank when she realized the implication."
"Sometimes he thought he could feel the weight of history in London pressing down on the top of his head."
"It was worrying how fanciful he had suddenly become."
"The happiest time in Frobisher’s career had been when he was a young constable in uniform."
"Sometimes it felt to Ramsay as if his life were just one long struggle to be real."
"Scraps often came back to Frobisher, uninvited."
"The glacial chill of neglect was on the house, too."
"The warm spring day had turned cold as twilight encroached."
"He worked with men who thought eel pie and mash was a gourmet dish."
"In the cold Ealing kitchen, he made himself a corned beef sandwich and ate it standing up by the sink."
"The tulips had seemed gay and cheerful in their paper wrapper as he had made his way home."
"The lineage of the original bulb lived on in their back garden."
"Money in, money out, that's all you really need to know, isn't it?"
"He supposed he could make another start on his piece for John Bull."
"There was an Evening Standard discarded on one of the seats in the carriage."
"Ramsay wondered if Gerrit had actually met Nellie."
"She would solve her problem without him ever knowing about it."
"His indifferent attempts at her language insulted her ears."
"There was no feasting today, however, for Frobisher."
"It reminded him of a play he had recently seen where the whole stage had spun round to reveal a completely different set."
"By the time the police plodded clumsily into the club there was nothing illicit in sight, only a bogus air of virtue."
"What else didn’t he know? He was supposed to be in charge, for heaven’s sake."
"With a slight movement of his head, Gerrit indicated the red velvet curtain to Ramsay."
"The downward climb into the Sphinx must of necessity turn into an upward slog to exit it."
"Ramsay was sure they must be dangerous. Would he be held responsible if the Sphinx caught fire?"
"He felt as if he were turning into a figment of himself."
"Ramsay stared at him, speechless. There was a secret door into the store cupboard?"
"She had risen and fallen like the tide, but she seemed to favour the ebb rather than the flow."
"He supposed it was all this talk of a General Strike, as if London did not have enough to cope with as it was."
"You cannot profit from your own vices, only those of others."
"It was, like the paying of her hotel bill, a gallant gesture."
"Do you go to church, Miss Kelling? No, nor me."
"Nor me," Nellie said. "You cannot profit from your own vices, only those of others."
"Sometimes Freda felt as though everyone in the world wanted to take a bite out of her."
"You must never eat or drink in fairyland. Always be polite and remember nothing is what it seems to be."
"Girls were currency in the capital and she would be bought and sold, traded again and again until she was worthless."
"Freda had always known that she had a price waiting to be put on her own head."
"It was as if one huge, mad party was cranked up after dark beneath the pavements of the capital, only to fade away with the dawn."
"Perhaps if he didn’t gamble so much, Oakes, you would have one already."
"He had a horror of streetwalkers, they were such coarse creatures."
"Her voice was hoarse, she had drunk nothing since the cup of tea in the café in Neal Street this morning."
"She had not treated herself to the day trip to Brighton—quite the opposite, she had returned to Holloway."
"The trick of this particular party, she said, was to stay in disguise as long as possible."
"She was about to ask, ‘And where do you live, Inspector?’"
"I suppose he wants his money," Ramsay said miserably.
"You’ve got rats," Phyllis said. "Tell me about it," Nellie said.
"She had sold, Nellie said, one item only from the hoard."
"But I suppose I should get going," Gertie said.
"You’re an angel, pet," Vanda said, still half-conscious.
"She wasn’t ready to go yet, she wanted more, much more, and better."
"His engine, he thought. Not an ounce of strength left, they both limply lay on their backs. Like a couple of flounders."
"We’re all dead men, he thought, from the moment we come into this world."
"Committing crimes seemed to give him energy."
"She read a few pages but it was hard going and she soon gave up."
"The scales of vanity finally fell from his eyes as he regarded the pages with despair."
"Theatre and music hall, they were also agreed, couldn’t hold a candle to a good trial."
"A man made his own fortune. He was about to make his, he would not be derailed, by Edith or anyone."