Elizabeth Darrell > Quotes

“shell shocked patients — the men who had been subjected to more than they could take. It was something she had not yet dealt with, wounds of the mind. Some also had physical damage, but most were reasonably able. The work on this ward was very different. A special kind of nursing was needed by men whose sanity was endangered. There were special centres for the poor victims who would never recover; they were shipped home from there to asylums under conditions which kept them from public gaze.”
― Elizabeth Darrell, Act of Valour

“For Mary there would be no looking back when they set sail from India. Out there beyond the sea lay a whole lifetime of discovery for a girl who had once believed the world no more than a washtub and twenty pairs of cotton drawers a day.”
― Elizabeth Darrell, Forget the Glory

“Mary nevertheless marvelled at another otherwise strong man being reduced by a pretty woman. What was there about the male character that could produce great strength of personality, yet equally great weakness when it came to females?”
― Elizabeth Darrell, Forget the Glory

“Every soldier knew that courage and foolhardiness were close companions in some situations,”
― Elizabeth Darrell, Act of Valour

“The army which only eleven years before had brought an ignominious end to the war against the Boers was disastrously under-manned, and called for volunteers. Young men flocked to the colours in droves, as they always had, fired with the spirit of adventure and mistaking it for patriotism.”
― Elizabeth Darrell, Act of Valour

“When the flaming pieces descended, those that fell on other buildings set them aflame also, so that the whole surrounding area soon resembled a suburb of hell,”
― Elizabeth Darrell, Forget the Glory

“When Robert brought to the table a covered plate and lifted the lid with an excited flourish, Tim played second fiddle to a cake for the first time in his life.”
― Elizabeth Darrell, Act of Valour

“This war has made a mockery of the arrogant fools we were. Our brother’s life ended in a second; my own hung in the balance. And from what we have all heard, you have diced with death on a number of occasions.” He held out his hand, saying, “I no longer have the stomach for finer feelings that are affronted by nothing at all, have you?”
― Elizabeth Darrell, Forget the Glory

“I have seen more courage on this peninsular by men who will never be decorated for it. It takes all forms, and one does not have to be in the illustrious 11th to possess it, I assure you, Rowan. For me, courage is to now stand up and say I have had enough of soldiering. I shall not bring my sons up to be inevitable warriors, neither shall I force Bel’s boy into a cocked hat and tunic as soon as he can walk. What I have seen here has given me the courage to defy my family name and retire from the lists with a clear conscience. As I said earlier, we once had the ridiculous airs of inexperience and fine distinctions of honour and integrity that made us behave like arrogant fools. All I want now is to live my life out in peace, and allow others to do the same. I will be ruled by my own conscience from now on.”
― Elizabeth Darrell, Forget the Glory

“straight”
― Elizabeth Darrell, At the Going Down of the Sun

“longed to change herself — not to earn the approval of her betters, but to satisfy her longings for a sight of what lay beyond the present confines of her life. She was not silly enough to dream of becoming a lady. A girl did not become a lady, she was born to be one. But Mary did hope most fervently to own two dresses, a bed, a place she could go to and be alone, and to be able to read a whole book without difficulty.”
― Elizabeth Darrell, Forget the Glory

“They shall not grow old, as we that are left grow old: Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn. At the going down of the sun and in the morning We will remember them.”
― Elizabeth Darrell, At the Going Down of the Sun

“The sight of a tented camp being broken and stowed away never failed to stir Tim, and that evening it seemed particularly poignant to watch the rows of white tents collapsing almost simultaneously while fires were smothered as the sun began to sink. Within an hour or so there would be nothing but regular piles of ashes and other marks on the dry scrubland to record the passing of an army. The barren plain would soon return to its former state but, when the wind was in the right direction, some future traveller might hear the whisper of masculine voices or the hushed laughter of soldiers around a camp fire.”
― Elizabeth Darrell, Act of Valour

“Those ladies Mary saw about the cantonment were mostly very beautiful, but had strangely expressionless faces even when deep in conversation.”
― Elizabeth Darrell, Forget the Glory

“The women never complained to the officers. It was not that they were afraid of them — quite the reverse, in fact. But their husbands cut up rough with them if they caused trouble. A tough trooper could manfully endure flogging, but wept tears of humiliation if he were lashed by an officer’s tongue over something his wife had done.”
― Elizabeth Darrell, Forget the Glory

“Mistress Rafferty,” began the Sergeant in self-conscious formality of tone, “I am a much older man than the one we have just laid to rest, but I am sober, honest and mindful of the plight of those placed in the situation you find yourself facing. You must take another husband straightway, and there’s many’ll be lining up for the privilege. First, though, I wants to put a proposition before you. My age is forty-six, and I’m due for promotion again before too long passes. I drinks a spot of porter now and again, but no more than that. As a boy I was school-taught and I keeps my hand in by studying from books. I’m clean and tidy about the place, and mostly of a quiet disposition. As a sergeant I earns enough to be comfortable, and my quarters is shaded by trees so it don’t get too plaguey hot. I’ve watched you, Mistress Rafferty, and it seems to me you’re a hard-working girl with fingers that are nimble and a disposition that’s livelier than most. I wouldn’t ask nothing of you save housekeeping and a mite of companionship. In return, I offers you the quietness of my quarters, the use of my books, and a trusty protection. You can have a bed of your own behind a curtain, and the freedom to make the place suitable for a female to occupy.” He shifted from the stiff pose he had adopted and fingered his brown moustache nervously. “I’m a lonely sort of man, Mistress Rafferty, and I’d be a dutiful husband. Oh yes,” he added quickly, as if remembering something he had left out of the rehearsed speech, “I won’t fill the place with the smoke of my cigars to upset you, but step outside when I lights one.”
― Elizabeth Darrell, Forget the Glory

“the final corner, when all three”
― Elizabeth Darrell, At the Going Down of the Sun

“Ah, medals,” put in Monty disparagingly. “Medals are given to men who happen to be in the right place at the right time, that is all.”
― Elizabeth Darrell, Forget the Glory

“a place she could go to and be alone,”
― Elizabeth Darrell, Forget the Glory