William (The Edge of the Cloud) Quotes

“He did not know girls were learning to fly, let alone girls that looked like this.”

“Now he was on his feet and about to fly. William, although nervous, felt his confidence flooding back. This was a chance, and up to now he had never been given even that.”

“William was right to have chosen Aunt Grace for refuge. Although surprised, she was entirely practical. Her life was in order, her house clean and neat, her advice would be to the point.”

″...she knew now that she was afraid of what she had done, not afraid of loving Will, but of having turned herself out of Flambards, which was the only real home she had ever known.”

“Its steaming atmosphere, laced with purely technical conversation, was both bliss and torture to William. He was drawn to it like a homing pigeon to its loft, yet, once arrived, it was as if the loft door was shut and he was perched outside, only able to watch the other fat, contented pigeons through the wire mesh.”

″‘Never thought to tell him the gate. Shrimp like Will, to try a place like that!’ ‘Couldn’t stop, I reckon. No more strength than a girl. Not like young Mark.‘”

“To her surprise, she was instantly moved with pity. He looked so small and crushed, and so frail; she had pictured a strapping youth bravely biting his lips and smiling through his pain, but not this utterly vanquished child whose face showed only fear and bewilderment.”

“There were times, Christina knew, when it would be very nice to feel loved and wanted and pampered, and she felt that this was one of the times, for William.”

″‘Who is it?’ ‘Young Russell, from Flambards.’ ‘Oh, aye, young William. My God, what’ll the old man say about it?’ ‘He’d worry more if it were Mark.‘”