“Lord Nicholas St. John was their only hope, and she had been on the roof when he arrived, for heaven's sake. Ladies did not go traipsing about on rooftops.And certainly gentlemen did not frequent the homes of those ladies who did traipse about on roortops. It did not matter if the rooftop in question was in dire need of repair.Or that the lady in question had no choice.”

“A brown spotted lady-bug climbed the dizzy height of a grass blade, and Tom bent down close to it and said, "Lady-bug, lady-bug, fly away home, your house is on fire, your children's alone," and she took wing and went off to see about it -- which did not surprise the boy, for he knew of old that this insect was credulous about conflagrations, and he had practised upon its simplicity more than once.”

“Mma Ramotsew accepted her large slice of cake and looked at the rich fruit within it. There were at least seven hundred calories in that, she thought, but it did not matter; she was a traditionally built lady and she did not have to worry about such things.”

“Nicholas this is one of those 'yes' or 'no' questions again. You seem to have a problem with those. Did you or did you not kill a woman - Jo”

“May I speak with his mother?""Of course,follow me."The butler didn't go far,stopping at the door to the dining room to announce loftily, "Lady St. John has arrived, madam."Rebecca heard a testy tone, from inside the room. "Are you blind, Charles? I'm sitting right here.""The new Lady St. John.”

“You have a mother?" Only when I said it did I realize what a silly question it was! For heaven's sake! Gideon raised one eyebrow. "What did you expect?" he asked, amused. "You thought I was an android put together by Uncle Falk and Mr. George?”