Tag Archives: sophie williams

Quote of the Day

Posted on by
Reply

‘There’s two more of un behind us, terrible great murdering devils. Do ee bide still, Amos, and be meek. Mind master’s horses, and tip ‘em the civil.’

The quick determined clip of hooves, and Sophia whispered, ‘Don’t shoot, Stephen.’

Glancing back from the open window, Stephen said, ‘My dear, I have no intention of shooting. I have –’ But now here was the horse pulled up at the window, its hot breath steaming in, and a great dark form leaning low over its withers, shutting out the moonlight and filling the chaise with the civilest murmur in the world, ‘I beg your pardon, sir, for troubling you –’

‘Spare me,’ cried Stephen. Take all I have – take this young woman – but spare me, spare me!’

‘I knew it was you, Jack,’ said Sophia, clasping his hand. ‘I knew directly. Oh, I am so glad to see you, my dear!’

‘I will give you half an hour,’ said Stephen. ‘Not a moment more: this young woman must be back in her warm bed before cock-crow.’

HMS Surprise – Patrick O’Brian

Quote of the Day

Posted on by
Reply

There were times when there was something very young and slightly ridiculous about Jack; it was a side of him that Sophie loved beyond measure; but no one looking at him now, or in action, would have believed in its existence. 

HMS Surprise – Patrick O’Brian

Quote of the Day

Posted on by
Reply

Jack, wrapped in a boat-cloak, with a dark-lantern between his knees, sat in the stern-sheets, filled with pleasurable anticipation. He had not seen Stephen Maturin for a vast stretch of time, made even longer by the grinding monotony of the blockade: how lonely he had been for the want of that harsh, unpleasant voice! Two hundred and fifty-nine men living in promiscuity, extreme promiscuity for the lower-deck, and the two hundred and sixtieth a hermit: of course it was the common lot of captains, it was the naval condition, and like all other lieutenants he had strained every nerve to reach this stark isolation; but admitting the fact made precious little odds to what it felt like. No consolation in philosophy. Stephen would have seen Sophie only a few weeks ago, perhaps even less; he would certainly have messages from her, possibly a letter. He put his hand secretly to the crinkle in his bosom, and lapsed into a reverie. A moderate following sea heaved the launch in towards the land; with the rhythm of the waves and the long even pull and creak of the oars he dozed, smiling in his almost sleep.

HMS Surprise – Patrick O’Brian

Quote of the Day

Posted on by
Reply

As far as dear Sophie was concerned life at sea was to be – why, not exactly an eternal picnic, but something not altogether unlike; occasional hardships, to be sure (shortage of coffee, fresh milk, vegetables), and guns going off now and then, and a clash of swords, but without any real people getting hurt: those that happened to die did so instantly, from wounds that could not be seen; they were only figures in the casualty-list.

HMS Surprise – Patrick O’Brian

Quote of the Day

Posted on by
Reply

‘He would not do anything rash?’

‘Never in life. It’s true, you know; quite true,’ he added, seeing that Sophia was not wholly persuaded that Jack at sea and Jack ashore were two different persons. 

HMS Surprise — Patrick O’Brian

Quote of the Day

Posted on by
Reply

‘How I wish I had held my tongue,’ thought Sophie. She looked anxiously at Stephen as he sat there, bent and staring into the red cavern under the log. ‘Poor dear thing,’ she thought, ‘how very much he is in need of darning — how very much he needs someone to look after him. He really is not fit to wander about the world along; it is so hard to unworldly people. How could she have been so cruel? It was like hitting a child. A child. How little learning does for a man — he knows almost nothing: he had but to say “Pray be so good as to marry me” last summer and she would have cried “Oh yes, if you please”. I told him so. Not that she would ever have made him happy, the . . .’ Bitch was the word that struggled to make itself heard; but it struggled in vain.

HMS Surprise – Patrick O’Brian

Quote of the Day

Posted on by
Reply

The lines seemed to crackle with life and happiness, but still the swam. ‘Wish me joy!’ Well, so I do, too. ‘You will never guess the news I have to tell you!’ Oh yes I shall, brother: pray do not use so many points of admiration. ‘I have the best part of a wife!! viz, her heart!!’ Stephen sniffed again. An intolerably tedious description of Miss Williams, whom Stephen knew a good deal better than Captain Aubrey — her appearance, virtues. ‘So direct — straightforward — nothing hole in the corner, if you understand me — no damned purser’s tricks — must not swear, however, — like a 32 lber.’ Could he really have likened Sophie to a thirty-two pounder? It was quite possible. How the lines did swim. ‘He must not speak disrespectfully of his putative mother-in-law, but . . . ‘ What did Jack imagine putative to mean?

Post Captain – Patrick O’Brian

Quote of the Day

Posted on by
2

She spoke little, in company or out, but she was capable of a sudden dart of sharpness, of a remark that showed much more intelligence and reflection than would have been expected from her rudimentary education and her very quiet provincial life. These remarks had a much greater force, coming from an amiable, pliant, and as it were sleepy reserve, and before now they had startled men who did not know her well — men who had been praying away happily with the conscious superiority of their sex. They dimly grasped an underlying strength, and they connected it with her occasional expression of secret amusement, the relish of something that she did not choose to share. 

Post Captain – Patrick O’Brian