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“Even if I stand in the middle of Trafalgar Square and solve problems on the spot, there will be a large segment of the population who will believe that I am being supplied answers by secret means—and by men, of course.”
I’d be delighted to show people up to the parlor at Upper Baker Street and bring in the tea tray. I, too, have a resolute lack of contempt for domestic mysteries and quotidian oddities.”
Charlotte had not been to church since she ran away from home. God likely wouldn’t mind if she stepped inside His house—Jesus voluntarily associated with women of less-than-pristine repute—but His followers tended to be less magnanimous.
Charlotte, on the other hand, got along well with Lord Bancroft. She sourced her facts and was not particularly attached to her opinions—opinions, by their very nature, were subject to change. Possessing neither the desire to please nor the need to impress, she answered his questions as long as he had questions to ask and when he ran out of them, she was happy to eat in silence.
There’s nothing like the pleasure of a book that pulls you in by the lapels and doesn’t let go until The End. God gives us only one life. But with good books, we can live a hundred, even a thousand lives in the time we are allotted on this earth.”
Livia, on the other hand, actively preferred literary characters to real-life acquaintances: Tom Sawyer stayed forever young, Viola always retained her spunk, and Mr. Darcy could never turn out to be a hypocrite who was also disappointing in bed.
“I’m sure her parents would have preferred for her to marry for both love and money,” she said from the window, watching as Lady Ingram’s hired trap pulled away. “But failing that, money is more reliable than love. Money does not devolve into ennui and regret, as romantic sentiments often do.”
Mrs. Watson started—and was forcefully reminded that although Miss Holmes might sometimes have her stomach first and foremost on her mind, one should never assume, not even for a second, that it was ever the only thing on her mind.
Miss Holmes turned around. “Miss Redmayne, did you enjoy Mikado?” “I did. I think Mademoiselle de Blois enjoyed it even more, though. She was afraid her English wouldn’t be good enough to understand everything, so she purchased a copy of the libretto ahead of time. I was worried that might ruin the fun, but she loved it.”
Miss Holmes thought for a moment. “I’m surprised when people are not me. I’m shocked when they are not them.”
Her aunt would be appalled at her forwardness. But Penelope had long ago decided that while the meek might inherit the earth, the nonmeek enjoyed far more interesting conversations—to say the least.
“When did you start to listen to me?” “I often listen to you, Holmes. I don’t always announce it when I do.”
“There are men like my father. It is not enjoyable to number among his female dependents, because he is selfish and because he disdains women in general—or indeed anyone who is any different from him. And then there are men like Inspector Treadles, an excellent person by almost all standards. But he admires the world as it is and he subscribes to the rules that uphold the world as it is. For him then it’s the principle of the thing. Anyone who breaks the rules endangers the order of the world and should be punished. He does not ask whether the rules are fair; he only cares that they are
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And for one who had tended her years with care, autumn need not be a season of scarcity or regret—but one of harvest and celebration.
I arrived in London confident of my ability to defend myself. But the first time someone grabbed me from behind, I froze. All my practice in swordplay had been somewhat stylized—en garde, prêts, allez, and all that. But in real life no one waits for you to be in proper stance, and they are not going to come at you only from the front.
Charlotte’s father was always suspicious of men of the lower class, even though the only men to ever rob him were two of his well-educated, well-dressed men of business.
Few, in the end, ever truly defied the way they were taught to live.
It was a sad comment on the state of humanity that his willingness to take her seriously counted as a very large point in his favor, when really it should be considered a bare minimum in civil discourse.
