“The captain would...turn off the conversation, like a consummate man of the world, to some topic of general interest, such as the Opera, the Prince's last ball at Carlton House, or the weather - that blessing to society.”

“The topic of weather isn’t small talk, when you’re conversing with a meteorologist.”

“In general she had found that the main drawback in being a man was that conversations were less interesting. ”

“The Captain of the Guard would be an interesting opponent. Maybe even worthy of some effort on her part.”

“The weather,I finally thought.The weather was always a good topic of conversation. "That was some blizzard we had last week,wasn't it?" I asked, since he'd been at Cynthia's instead of with us.We could talk about the blackouts,the shrieking winds-He perked up, looked around. "There's a Dairy Queen in town?I didn't know that.Where is it?"I heard Allie snicker.Sam took up for his friend. "It's an understandable mistake.”

“His heart cannoned like a billiard ball off some green wall of his innards.”