“This is my story; I promise to leave nothing out.First you will smile, and then you will cry - don't say you haven't been warned.”

“First you will smile, and then you will cry -- don't say you haven't been warned.”

“You cry, girl. You cry all you want, and when you're through and all this pain is nothing but a memory, I will find a way to make you smile. Do you hear me China Brown? That's a promise from me to you.”

“I was just trying to stay alive, looking for ways to find you, hoping you hadn't left me behind.""Never," I say. "Not never."He looks back up at me. "I'd never leave you neither.""You promise?""Cross my heart, hope to die," he says, grinning shyly."I promise, too," I say and I smile at him. "I ain't never leaving you, Todd Hewitt, not never again.”

“Sir, can you hear me?" Another cry. But this time, a voice I don't detest."Sire, please, can you hear me-""I've been shot, Delalieu," I manage to say. I open my eyes. Look into his watery ones. "I haven't gone deaf.”

“Say you forgive me and I will take my leave. I promise I will pester you no more . . . for about the next hour . . . or for as long it is that you will be in this library.”