Quotes from Sherwood Smith

Who can ever know what turns the spark into flame?

Shevraeth himself was there to bid us farewell--a courtesy I could have done without.

Gossip, I have discovered, is seldom spread about people who find happiness or contentment.

neuraimai leapt into the air, flinging itself on glutinous wings toward

He never pronounced judgment on current events and people, despite some of my hints; and I forbore asking directly, lest I inadvertently say something about someone in his family--or worse, him.

Brace up. We're not about to embark on a duel to the death over the dishes.

Serenades," he said, "are customarily performed under moonslight, or have fashions here changed?" "I don't know," I said. "No one's serenaded me, and as for my serenading anyone else, even if I wanted to, which I don't, my singing voice sounds like a sick crow.

Maybe being so short has made me age slower, or something.

He mounted behind me and we started off, while I indulged myself with the image of grabbing that stick and conking him right across his smiling face.

Bergan's face assumed the expression (and the hue) of a stuffed trout.

You, there, girl! Halt!" Who in the universe ever halts when the enemy tells them to? Of course I took off in the opposite direction, as fast as I could.

I'm not going to rate books--there are too many variables. I'd rather talk about the reading experience.

Somehow it doesn't seem appropriate to detail for you how to properly go about organizing a revolt--and likewise it seems kind of silly to exhort you to look, if you should suddenly start receiving mysterious letters of courtship, for possible inkstains on the fingers of the fellow you quarrel with the most.

I found the other two in Bran's room, and one look at their faces made it abundantly clear that they felt no better than I did. Not that the Marquis had a red nose or a thick voice--he even looked aristocratic when sick, I thought with disgust.

What have you to say now, my little hero?" the Baron gloated. "That you are a fool, the son of a fool, and the servant of the biggest--

The Duke of Grumareth was always a fool and will always be a fool," Shevraeth said, so lightly it was hard to believe he wasn't joking.

But after a time even my temper tantrums have to give way to rational thought, and I faced at last what ought to have been obvious from the very beginning: We'd lost because we were ignorant. And of the two of us, I was the worse off, because I hadn't even known I was ignorant.

So the Marquise is a prisoner somewhere?" I asked, enjoying the idea. He grimaced. "No. She took poison. A constitutional inability to suffer reverses, apparently. We didn't find out until too late. Fialma," he added drily, "tried to give her share to me." "That must have been a charming scene." "It took place at approximately the same time you were conversing with your forty wagoneers." He smiled a little.

My Dear Countess: You say you would prefer discourse to gifts. I am yours to command.

I expect we'll receive an invitation for dinner from their Highnesses, at second-blue, which will serve as an informal welcome." I took a deep breath. "All right. Until then we're free? Let's walk around," I said. "I'm not tired or hungry, but I still feel stiff from--from sitting inside that coach for so long." I did not want to refer to my ride or the postponed wager. If she noticed my hesitation and quick recovery, she gave no sign.

I'm sorry we're late, but somebody decided to step in a fresh horse plop and needed a bath." He turned a mock-solemn glare at the smaller child. Crystal Ingrid looked away in the manner of a four-year-old who thinks that if she doesn't see trouble, it's not there.

But I'll still be betrothed. Some fun if he's a snob, and most of those court boys are snobs. And what if Uncle says I have to live with the boy's family? At least if he joins ours, I can stick him in the farthest room and pretend he isn't here.

Do you have a welcome for me?" Shevraeth said with a faint smile as he came leisurely up the steps and inside. "Certainly," I said in a voice so determinedly polite it sounded false even to my own ears.

The effect of knowing one looks one's best is enormously bracing.