At the beginning, there had been talk of using some of her money to start a home for alcoholics. In some sense they had succeeded.

It was never quite clear to Eleanor why the English thought it was distinguished to have done nothing for a long time in the same place, but David left her in no doubt that they did. He also descended from Charles II through a prostitute.

During lunch David felt that he had perhaps pushed his disdain for middle-class prudery a little too far. Even at the bar of the Cavalry and Guards Club one couldn't boast about homosexual, paedophiliac incest with any confidence of a favourable reception.

He wore his dark glasses to protect him from surprises.

After all, what redeemed life from complete horror was the almost unlimited number of things to be nasty about.

No pain is to small if it hurts, but any pain is too small if it's cherished.

The compulsion to repeat what one has experienced is like gravity, and it takes special equipment to break away from it.

There had been a time when she admired the way that David became a doctor. When he had told his father of his intention, General Melrose had immediately cut of his annuity, preferring to use the money to rear pheasants. Shooting men and animals were the occupations of a gentleman, tending their wounds the business of middle-class quacks.

Had Vijay's character been more attractive his appearance might have elicited pity or even indifference, but spending just a few days with him convinced Anne that each hideous feature had been moulded by internal malevolence. His wide, grinning mouth was at once crude and cruel. When he tried to smile, his purplish lips could only curl and twist like a rotting leaf thrown onto a fire.

I may be a frightful reactionary, but I think that all you have to do for children is hire a reasonable nanny and put them down for Eton.