“Ask , and it shall be given until you. That is no vain or untried promise, Ruth!”

“This life was given to you for repentance, do not waste it in vain pursuits.”

“There shall come a day when all the women in the world will lie in the gutter screaming for cock,' he intoned. 'But not an inch shall they be given!''Am I to understand,' Knud Erik asked, 'that nobody wanted to screw you?”

“Ah, God, it's barbaric, however you look at it,' he told Ruth.'What, cremation?' she asked.'Death.”

“(N.B. I think this is from a hymn.)O joy that seekest me through pain,I cannot close my heart to thee;I trace the rainbow through the rain,And feel the promise is not vain,That morn shall tearless be.”

“I'll want you just as much tomorrow," he murmured, stroking her hair. "And a year from tomorrow. I can promise to wait to ask you again, Shelby, but I can't promise to wait until you're ready to answer.”