The Quality of Mercy Quotes

“I heard her sing Cleopatra at the King’s Theatre in the Haymarket. Da tempeste il legno infranto. Forty years ago now. I had roses sent to her dressing room. She gave me the two ribbons she had used to tie up her hair, red ribbons.” His voice had risen in the excitement of these reminiscences. For some reason he had fixed his eyes on Kemp. “Sir, I tied them together and knotted them round my testicles. For years I put them on with my clothes. I wore them till they rotted away.” “Egad, sir, rotted away, did they?” The major cast a droll look round the table. “Nothing lasts forever,” he said.”
― Barry Unsworth, The Quality of Mercy