Francesca

“He became, in that instant, pure topography: his belly a highland, tapering down to a head-hamlet, with two hard-blinking eye-ponds. Four servants rushed to his aid. He waved them off with a smile. Made”
― Louis Bayard, The Pale Blue Eye

“It won’t do, gentlemen. I’m a solitary sort, I get chaffed by too many elbows.”
― Louis Bayard, The Pale Blue Eye

“There are times," I declared, "when I believe the dead haunt us because we love
them too little.”
― Louis Bayard, The Pale Blue Eye

“I was given a room overlooking Constitution Island. The shutters kept out nearly all the starlight and moonlight—sleeping was a dive into a pit, and the sound of reveille seemed to come from a distant star. I lay there, watching the red light steal through the bottom of the shutters. The darkness felt delicious. I wondered if maybe I’d missed my true career.”
― Louis Bayard, The Pale Blue Eye