Death Comes to the Village Quotes

“He’d forgotten how blunt his northern relatives were compared to southerners. They certainly didn’t mince their words.”
― Catherine Lloyd, Death Comes to the Village

“. “Do you have the major’s reading glasses, Bookman?” “I do.” Bookman handed them to Robert with a flourish. “Now, shall we leave him in peace for a while to enjoy the view?” Before Robert could thank them, they both retreated, leaving him alone in his chair. He took a longer swig of brandy and contemplated the sight of his blanket-covered legs. The left one was already aching, but there was nothing new in that.”
― Catherine Lloyd, Death Comes to the Village

“Some soldiers never came home from the terrors of war; they could never settle down in peace.”
― Catherine Lloyd, Death Comes to the Village

“He grabbed hold of the bedpost and looked down at Robert. "Major, it's me, Bookman, the man who saved your life on more than one occasion. What do you care about one stupid servant girl?"
"I care that you might have harmed an innocent."
"She wasn't an innocent. She was a lying, faithless slut."
"Who had the decency to write to you to say she had a change of heart. Who expected you to respect her decision and not destroy her wanting another man? I cannot condone such behavior, Bookman."
Bookman smiled and brought the laudanum bottle out of his pocket. "You disappoint me, Major. Where's your much-vaunted loyalty to me? Why shouldn't Mary feel a little of the pain I've endured being shot at, bayoneted, and stabbed? She told me she was going to marry another man. Why should I have to come home to nothing?"
"We've all endured such things. It doesn't give us the right to inflict them on innocent civilians."
"Why not? We inflicted them on the damned French! We slaughtered innocents by the hundreds over there, and you damn well know it!" Bookman was sweating, his skin pale, his nightmarish gaze back in the past with the horrors he'd endured. "I fought for the likes of her to live a peaceful life, and she betrayed me.”
― Catherine Lloyd, Death Comes to the Village

“Women are faithless, lying creatures who rip out a man's soul and trample it in the dirt while they laugh and move on to another. I thought my girl loved me. I cherished her letters, read them and reread them until they were nigh worn through."
"I remember," Robert said gently.
"And what did she do when I returned to claim her?" Bookman slapped his hand down on the wooden surface, making the sideboard rock. "She swore she'd written to say all was finished between us. She said I'd changed, I was too hard and that I frightened her. What she really meant was that she'd taken up with another man."
"And what did you do about that?" Robert tensed as his valet sauntered over to the bed.
"What did I do? What do we do to traitors in the army, Major? We teach them a lesson."
"But she was a young girl."
Bookman shrugged. "So? Shouldn't she be held to the same standards of loyalty and decency as the rest of us?"
"Not if she isn't a soldier."
"She was my woman. She betrayed me. I had a right to demand justice.”
― Catherine Lloyd, Death Comes to the Village

“Mary was here. Her choices cut short by a man who had refused to allow her to love another.”
― Catherine Lloyd, Death Comes to the Village

“In her own way. she supposed she was just as selfish as Major Kurland and her father. The difference being that they all had the ability to determine their own fate whilst she did not.”
― Catherine Lloyd, Death Comes to the Village

“Lucy started to disagree and then thought better of it. At least he seemed to be in accord with her about the identity of the thief. "So what should I do now?"
"You will do nothing. I will speak to your father, and we will decide how to proceed."
"No, you will not!"
"I beg your pardon?"
"You will not brush me aside when I am the one who has discovered everything!"
"Miss Harrington---"
She scrambled off the bed and pointed her finger at him. "You told me how much you hated being treated like a child. Now, do not do it to me!"
He stared at her for a long moment and then nodded. "All right. Would you prefer it if we confronted him here together, and then made sure he confessed the whole to your father?"
She regarded him suspiciously. "Are you being serious?"
"I am. You made a good point. I am trying to be conciliatory for a change."
"Thank you.”
― Catherine Lloyd, Death Comes to the Village

“The plan was for Mr. Hathaway to invite the Harringtons to dinner and to take her papa aside and broach the idea of Lucy accompanying Sophia to London next spring. Lucy knew that her father would take more note of the idea if a gentleman he respected proposed it.”
― Catherine Lloyd, Death Comes to the Village

“She was eased upright and Dr. Baker began to touch her scalp. "Tell me if anything hurts." When his fingers grazed just above the nape of her neck she choked back a cry and he went still. "Ah, there is a definite swelling here, about the size of a hen's egg. You probably hit your head a second time after you collapsed."
"No, I didn't. Someone hit me."
"I beg your pardon?"
"I didn't fall and hurt myself. I was already kneeling down. Someone came up behind me and hit me. I must have banged my face when I fell forward, not the other way round."
She was laid back against her pillows and Anna was instructed to continue cleaning her face and to give her willow bark tea for the pain. Dr. Baker withdrew to the other side of the room and spoke to her father, his expression concerned. The odd phrase floated back to her, "Hysterical...overactive imagination...damage to the already frail female brain...not like her at all."
"Why won't they listen to me?"Lucy whispered as Anna came to kneel beside her.”
― Catherine Lloyd, Death Comes to the Village

“The general opinion was that young girls were flighty and far too eager to forget their responsibilities and disobey their elders.”
― Catherine Lloyd, Death Comes to the Village

“It isn't fair, Anna. I have all the responsibilities of the lady of the house, and none of the power. Mrs. Fielding knows I can't get rid of her unless Papa is agreeable. She treats me with no respect at all."
"I know," Anna agreed. "She is positively uncivil to you."
"I will have to speak to him." Lucy stopped walking. "He won't like it but I refuse to be treated like this.”
― Catherine Lloyd, Death Comes to the Village

“No man liked to be corrected, especially by a woman. It was better to make one's point, and leave the gentleman to make up his own mind where he could convince himself that it was all his own idea after all.”
― Catherine Lloyd, Death Comes to the Village

“Robert considered the information Miss Harrington had gathered for him in the village. He suspected she was far better at getting people to talk to her than he would ever be--even if the information was disgorged in a particularly fragmented and feminine way. In his role as local magistrate, Robert had the power to affect people's lives. Such a position made his tenants and the villagers more afraid of him, and wary of giving offense.
He would have to rely on Miss Harrington's haphazard methods of detection and use his more ordered male mind to unravel the tangle of information and make sense of it.”
― Catherine Lloyd, Death Comes to the Village

“Sophia elbowed her in the side. "Are you deliberately ignoring my question about the dashing major, or are you simply displaying your superior manners?"
"I have nothing of interest to tell you about Major Kurland. He is still bedridden and remarkably argumentative."
"In my experience, men never make good patients," Mrs. Hathaway said comfortably. "They either behave like children, or imagine they are the only mortal in the entire world to ever be so sick, or near death." She set a stich in her embroidery. "Mind you, I'm not surprised Major Kurland is a difficult patient. After his distinguished career in the military, it must be hard for him to be idle."
Lucy didn't argue the point. The whole village seemed intent on hero-worshipping Major Kurland, and wouldn't hear a word against him. Only she, Foley, and Bookman seemed to know what it was really like to tend the oh-so-ungallant major.”
― Catherine Lloyd, Death Comes to the Village

“It is far more likely Mary found a new position and simply decided to leave us. I suspect we'll get a letter from her in the mail eventually asking for her back wages."
"Which you won't pay."
"Which Papa won't pay. He won't be happy about this at all. I cannot think of a way to conceal what has happened from him. He'll be sure to blame me in some fashion."
"It is hardly your fault if one of the maids decides to change employment, Lucy," Anna said robustly. "You'll just have to stand up for yourself."
Lucy bit back her hasty reply. It was easy for Anna to suggest she should be more forthright with their father when she was his favorite child, and not the oldest daughter of the house whose duty had been laid out for her from the cradle. Even now, when she knew her father's air of authority hid only his appalling selfishness, she still hadn't found a way to break free of his oft-expressed expectations. What had once been unquestioning obedience had slowly turned into a bitter and unexpressed resentment she had to conceal to avoid telling him her true feelings.”
― Catherine Lloyd, Death Comes to the Village

“The study smelled of brandy, saddle leather, and the bay rum her father's valet used after he shaved him. She glanced at the rows of books and imagined herself in Anthony's place being tutored for Cambridge. Her father always said she was far too intelligent for a girl, but he'd never stopped her from reading any of the books she requested, even the slightly scandalous ones.”
― Catherine Lloyd, Death Comes to the Village

“Lucy finished her toast. "Then perhaps you should go. I'll wager he won't snap at you for trying to make conversation."
"So that she can swoon over him?" Anthony snorted. "He's fifteen years older than her."
"So? Father was fifteen years older than Mother. It's quite common for a husband to be older than a wife."
"And yet she died before him because she had too many children." Anna's smile disappeared. "She was simply worn out with it."
Lucy reached for Anna's hand. "That might be true. but as Father will no doubt remind you, that is a woman's lot in life."
Anna snatched her hand free. "That doesn't make it any better, though, does it?"
Lucy could only agree.”
― Catherine Lloyd, Death Comes to the Village

“But Lucy!" exclaimed her sister Anna. "He was wounded fighting for his king and country at Waterloo. You can hardly expect him to be pleasant.”
― Catherine Lloyd, Death Comes to the Village

“In the distance, the squat tower of the Norman church that divided his property from the village proper stood stark against the night sky. There was a path from the side of Kurland Hall that led directly to the church and the boxed pew his family had occupied for Sunday worship for generations. Not that he believed in God anymore, but appearances had to be maintained.”
― Catherine Lloyd, Death Comes to the Village

“You might be an invalid, but you are certainly not a coward. It takes more courage to get out of bed and try to improve your condition than lie around bemoaning”
― Catherine Lloyd, Death Comes to the Village

“family crest above his head. “Fight until breath and blood have fled and fight again.” He didn’t feel like fighting anymore.”
― Catherine Lloyd, Death Comes to the Village

“As his butler bore down upon him with a purposeful expression, Robert snatched the scarf out of his hands. “Thank you, I’ll do it myself. I’m not a goose being trussed up for roasting.”
― Catherine Lloyd, Death Comes to the Village

“might be a Methodist.” “One of those fire-breathing, Bible-thumping heretics”
― Catherine Lloyd, Death Comes to the Village

“It isn’t Sunday, brother mine, and you scarcely work for your daily bread.”
― Catherine Lloyd, Death Comes to the Village