the thorn birds colleen mccullough

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Pity deserted him; he leaned forward quickly, eyes glittering. "You speak of her as if she is a chattel of Drogheda," he said, his voice now harsh. "I serve you notice, Mrs. O'neill, she is not!" "What right have you to judge what Justine is or isn't?" she asked angrily. "After all, you said yourself that you haven't seen her since before Dane died, and that's two years ago!" "Yes, you're right. It's all of two years ago." He spoke more gently, realizing afresh what her life must be like. "You bear it very well, Mrs. O'neill." "Do I?" she asked, tightly trying to smile, her eyes never leaving his. Suddenly he began to understand what the Cardinal must have seen in her to have loved her so much. It wasn't in Justine, but then he himself was no Cardinal Ralph; he looked for different things. "Yes, you bear it very well," he repeated. She caught the undertone at once, and flinched. "How do you know about Dane and Ralph?" she asked unsteadily. "I guessed. Don't worry, Mrs. O'neill, nobody else did. I guessed because I knew the Cardinal long before I met Dane. In Rome everyone thought the Cardinal was your brother, Dane's uncle, but Justine disillusioned me about that the first time I ever met her." "Justine? Not Justine!" Meggie cried. He reached out to take her hand, beating frantically against her knee. "No, no, no, Mrs. O'neill! Justine has absolutely no idea of it, and I pray she never will! Her slip was quite unintentional, believe me." "You're sure?"
"Yes, I swear it." "Then in God's Name why doesn't she come home? Why won't she come to see me? Why can't she bring herself to look at my face?" Not only her words but the agony in her voice told him what had tormented Justine's mother about her absence these last two years. His own mission's importance dwindled; now he had a new one, to allay Meggie's fears. "For that 1 am to blame," he said firmly. "You?" asked Meggie, bewildered. "Justine had planned to go to Greece with Dane, and she's convinced that had she, he'd still be alive." "Nonsense!" said Meggie. "Q. But though we know it's nonsense, Justine doesn't. It's up to you to make her see it." "Up to me? You don't understand, Mr. Hartheim. Justine has never listened to me in all her life, and at this stage any influence I might once have had is completely gone. She doesn't even want to see my face." Her tone was defeated but not abject. "I fell into the same trap my mother did," she went on matter-of-factly. "Drogheda is my life . . . the house, the books . . . . Here I'm needed, there's still some purpose in living. Here are people who rely on me. My children never did, you know. Never did." "That's not true, Mrs. O'neill. If it was, Justine could come home to you without a qualm. You underestimate the quality of the love she bears you. When I say I am to blame for what Justine is going through, I mean that she remained in London because of me, to be with me. But it is for you
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THE THORN BIRDS COLLEEN MCCULLOUGH
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own paper parcel into her arms and
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"Because she's Agnes!" Hughie notic
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wooden, rambling over many squares
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when Frank swore it was politic to
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arms about him, she took comfort fr
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dresser near the stove and looked a
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drawn close to the fire. Sighing so
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magnificent, a true Roman nose whic
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After Fee had poured everyone a cup
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When you say things like this you'r
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very lightly smoothed the straight
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three years older it would be very
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Armstrong was a tartar. All through
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horrid brown wincey which buttoned
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was a blacksmith's barn near the Ma
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"I'm sorry, Sister." "This is the f
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too angry and indignant at the inju
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oom, on either side desks crowded h
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her eyes. "A nice kettle of fish, I
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her mouth. Frank put her down in th
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of her. Then he shrugged his should
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place. She was a bright child, and
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left arm against her body with rope
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images of hugs and kisses were far
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their heads curiously. "Holy Jesus
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"Well, I suppose we'll be lucky if
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stood shuffling their feet and wish
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girls avoided her, half because the
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"But I'll be paid in the army!" Pad
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to show that Jim wasn't the only on
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was dangerous work, undercutting; o
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But I don't agree with that; I thin
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from her bed she was grim and terse
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lids acknowledged his right to be a
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and feathering him for it. He wishe
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staircase, he paused until Minnie g
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"Younger than I thought. Even so, t
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A shadow momentarily dimmed the blu
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when Father Kelly had hiccupped his
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money and my land to Mother Church,
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miscarriages had happened in the in
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shrink like a rabbit; she could not
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enough to work may have employment
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"So am I," said Fee. Paddy went int
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ouse her. The steward helped Frank
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tonight's train we have to wait a w
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eath. She was dying to open the win
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priest. His long soutane made him s
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ed and not gold, a perfect fusion o
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The head stockman's house stood on
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never disturb Mary Carson herself,
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thousands streamed leaping through
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of their eyes, up their noses, in t
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often, and repeated Mary Carson's a
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much time for tree-climbing, or ant
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fancy to the priest and followed hi
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"You're not happy, Frank, are you?"
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would be easier to reach his room.
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they had gone while the rain fell t
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station yard when he had noticed he
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Frank had not been home for two wee
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A scraping clang made him look down
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Have a good time, and if you get dr
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could stay unruffled upon a horse a
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Carmichael to notice him, the oldes
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fight, you know, it's the size of t
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felling punch he thought the great
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y her side as she presented the eme
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from the bottom of his chest with t
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"Tell her I went to join Jimmy Shar
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ordinary powers of observation to s
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see in Meggie what she must have be
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"Yes, I can. I was going to find hi
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ut inwardly Fee had slowed down lik
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undemonstrativeness; the substituti
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Not all the visitors were swaggies,
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Father Ralph watched Meggie tenderl
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"It isn't possible," he said, a pas
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fire from within, fluorescing pink
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for every breath. Of all the childr
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silently to the hallway but made no
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line the little wooden box the boys
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condemned dog for the killing bulle
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as its sheep, but sheep were far mo
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"Clancy of the Overflow" was everyo
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so Drogheda didn't have any stallio
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Everyone noticed the change in her,
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and looking down at her feet. He sa
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face turned away behind his hand an
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was not a conscious thing in him, e
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"What causes them to start growing?
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had never sat astride a horse until
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could neither refuse nor hoist hers
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and began once more to write. This
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Meggie, but shut it again with the
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squatter, since Mary Carson could n
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patrician features, but lacked the
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had been locked; she waited while h
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A terrifying tenderness crept again
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swear, Mary. I'll do as you ask." "
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unearthly; what was it about the ni
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"Dreadful, isn't it?" He smiled. "B
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administer extreme unction he didn'
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addressed to him, in the form of a
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in agony. Because, you see, 1 know
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sum of five thousand pounds forthwi
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perpetual obscurity, the chance to
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this morning." "Holy Jesus! I was t
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points of the compass around it wou
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Mary Carson. Roses and ashes, ashes
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"Sold me?" "A figure of speech. It
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his hand and stared down at her. Ho
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again." "If you hadn't been a pries
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mirth. "God moves in strange ways,
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wicked old bitch!" said Mrs. Smith;
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"What about Fee and Meggie?" the pr
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structure with its ten separate cub
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and the phone which stood upon it,
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crinoline, and facing her at the ot
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the coop as well as wives, so don't
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eason of insanity, but four medical
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Within a few days Fee regained most
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with most of its assets sunk in ste
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multiply like an arithmetic teacher
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Fee and Meggie learned to drive the
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the big house. It had been a dry wi
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and the chestnut mare's tail never
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she rambled through the bliss of li
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knows how you feel about him, but i
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have arranged that you leave immedi
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Church, and by name he was Vittorio
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Irish Sea during the time of Henry
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presence in his life of any one bei
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stopped keeping cash lying about, a
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those same people who dote on their
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cry was his wife's name. All the ot
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help put out a fire this big, but h
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fire, like Bugela. He was out in Wi
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In between trips to the cookhouse M
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fashioned samplers, you know the so
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string, and where the grass had bee
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would not find a sixth, nor did he.
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to gore him again, faltered, swayed
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oom fire while Mrs. Smith tried to
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He said no more, but held her and r
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"Is the phone working?" he managed
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meet them, stole around his neck an
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up the makeshift barge, pushed it t
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efore collapsing. When Minnie and C
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escaped death and the fire. And Fat
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her today. Give her the opportunity
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a cold train clad in shirt, breeche
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what made Father Ralph de Bricassar
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are to be congratulated, my dear Ra
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y married men; old Tom had a neat n
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festivities decency forced them to
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of a morning than the men, she woul
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her reddish-gold brows arched in se
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were so unalike only Meggie was pla
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idea in his head about its complexi
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Church. Did all men do that, love s
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The grand manners reserved for more
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side, and holding her elbow lightly
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sufficiently to do so. Anyway, Luke
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hungry to enrich himself. He had be
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inside, the stench. No place on ear
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stock-and-station agent who drove h
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hands came up around him and she ga
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halo the lamp cast on the ceiling.
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"And real gold eyebrows that have t
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formed a kiss of boundless love and
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So Fee promised not to say a word i
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white cutters, and besides, you kno
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"At the moment, fourteen thousand p
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North Queensland and a honeymoon so
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much, much worse than anything Gill
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The bed was rocking monotonously in
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many Chinese in black silk trousers
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"Doesn't it cool off at night?" Meg
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"Shut up!" he groaned, took his han
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unaroused. "Especially these." Bunc
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You're going to work as a housemaid
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perfect contrast to the soil: long
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She went on with her breezy lecture
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mountain, farther away, other peaks
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of tapering to a point, and had a w
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eight-ton-a-day minimum Arne demand
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kiss and sat down at the table. She
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around his teacup. "Do you know I n
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January came and went, the slackest
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stubborn, stiff-necked pride, and t
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Two pipers in the complex, light-bl
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outside was not the astringent cris
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that she didn't have the money to v
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admired Cardinal Mazarin far more t
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enough. Meggie, why? Why did you ma
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"That I deduced, because I know you
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in any danger, but it looks to me a
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elieve he ever had any intention of
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painful part of her; with a great i
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So she went back to Himmelhoch to w
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as an escape from Ralph de Bricassa
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turned her head to smile at Anne, a
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Then she saw that he hadn't succeed
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ut he was a priest so it didn't mat
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Drogheda. I know you don't want to
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until Meggie was pronounced out of
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sent me to him, to Luke. What do yo
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an ironic justice, she thought. She
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soil, drenching the cane, filling t
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would have gone back to Drogheda, a
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shouting. "I don't know if I'm stro
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A tight connection between train an
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unwelcome looking, eh? But you wait
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each lay within the lagoon, the sea
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a rabbit catching whiffs of dingo o
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oken every rule in Your book. You'r
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"She's got the queerest eyes I've e
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Anne lifted her lip contemptuously.
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with leather, its silver exhausts a
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eturned his liking; she had gone to
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and which against which? His hand l
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everything was fine and she needed
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Meggie's eyes. Oh, God, Meggie's ey
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dirty old rag. Oh, Meggie! What hav
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I am a man, I can never be God; it
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finding the surrender far sweeter t
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man, I think. It's just that in men
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"No, don't. Do you think I need let
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"Back from the CSR. He's cutting ne
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these three and a half years, Anne.
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and ask that a message be relayed t
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it shut, and stood looking at him.
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"I might say the same!" "By all mea
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above the truck. Emus at full run.
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Only too well did Meggie know what
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men, too many rabbits. After Meggie
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"I'm going to call him Dane." "What
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dismissal to the monk, then as the
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shocked, Ralph, nor disappointed. I
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simply . . . happened! But I think
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silently and watched the tea tray b
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of floods, fires, rainfall in every
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to getting into action, but just as
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peculiar British mistrust of demons
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jealous." Jims grinned, stroking Pa
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never said a word, though she wore
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features, the same build, he had on
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heard in years. All through 1940 an
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ayonet. "For Crissake pipe down!" c
Page 503 and 504:
There were still Germans and Italia
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most decisive battle of the North A
Page 507 and 508:
"What's Wog mean?" asked Mrs. Smith
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to tell your wife?" "Us marry? I do
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too, if we push him to it? One word
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"And you, Your Grace?" "I'm an Iris
Page 515 and 516:
fought him, banished Adam and Eve,
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egan again. Then, between one foot'
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after all, even if his role was an
Page 521 and 522:
"Only they don't look at it like th
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einforcements, they made the Americ
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the Nips on the run, and Jerry, too
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later. "There must be a dozen bulle
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gone off gaily, eager and laughing,
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I'm making over five thousand quid
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happy with my children and Drogheda
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opposition to this site, but the ch
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peak, the shape of his face, the ey
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hard at her daughter. "Well, well!
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mouth, would it? Well, my father bo
Page 543 and 544:
government compensated the graziers
Page 545 and 546:
under the tapping leaves of the wis
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shortest ones, could be spent on Dr
Page 549 and 550:
"Father de Bricassart was the fines
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Bricassart. Fancy his second name b
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prepubescent, looked up, startled;
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unlike Meggie. "Oh, hello. I'm sorr
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Those black egg shapes with the ros
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obviously. Still redolent of beeswa
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"Why did you go back to Luke? Have
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nutshell. I'm a mass of clichés. I
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nothing any of us might have done.
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"Mum's right," said Meggie firmly,
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head, and for a moment her hand res
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upon her, and she would stare back,
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extraordinary expression came into
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explained. That was the only refere
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hoping he had pleased the Cardinal
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the homestead gardens, left him in
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support myself during whatever sort
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I thought looks didn't matter to an
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"Another evasion. Whenever I disple
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watched her regarding her grandmoth
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toward her mother for more. "Dunno,
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"Pig," said Justine dispassionately
Page 593 and 594:
trifle on the thin side. Only the v
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way of asking me if I'm still a vir
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outside, emerged beaming happily. "
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wildly, gurgling and moaning. "Ther
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two inches over six feet, his voice
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to bear no grudges, had never made
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wheeze, a breathy expulsion of air
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image of the laughing baby superimp
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His only rival; that's the sacrific
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close, hugged her. "You're sure you
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you, I actually thought I could bea
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essence was in short supply. Probab
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Culloden and Justine didn't rate ei
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minute left on my meter! How much l
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height; they could look each other
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His Name? That you must own nothing
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mine. Next to the Holy Father he's
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emain Dane and Ralph in private. Hi
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your head, too." "I could have told
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like something the cat dragged in,
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The blue sky was plumped with silve
Page 635 and 636:
sports car fanatic, and had owned o
Page 637 and 638:
"Who else is going to be there?" Th
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whatever he wanted too quickly for
Page 641 and 642:
American inflection; he rolled his
Page 643 and 644:
version, please." "Have you already
Page 645 and 646:
"Uncle the Cardinal?" she repeated
Page 647 and 648:
"Isn't that nice of you? And after
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soul had survived, but not to go ba
Page 651 and 652:
And he thought, as he walked the wa
Page 653 and 654:
"Hook! Hook!" She giggled. "Anyway,
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"Yes. She had no other reason to ma
Page 657 and 658:
incorporating the role into me as i
Page 659 and 660:
Dane than of me, since Rome is at t
Page 661 and 662:
Meggie, crowlike. "A damp squib. Al
Page 663 and 664:
creeps when I think about it." "And
Page 665 and 666:
he went into retreat? I could kill
Page 667 and 668:
"Oh, dear, haven't I?" she asked, l
Page 669 and 670:
oad face with high, wide cheekbones
Page 671 and 672:
unfriend, let alone a real enemy. H
Page 673 and 674:
are." She drew down the corners of
Page 675 and 676:
"You ought to have espoused an orde
Page 677 and 678:
matching power. His mouth-it was be
Page 679 and 680:
had frightened her so, made her fle
Page 681 and 682: Rain's love; a highly acclaimed, su
Page 683 and 684: None of the Unks smoked. Though she
Page 685 and 686: Greece with him, but about this she
Page 687 and 688: second reason, that he doesn't want
Page 689 and 690: past, only plan a future." "Oh, Rai
Page 691 and 692: urst into tears. "Oh, no! Herzchen,
Page 693 and 694: flank to feel the texture of his sk
Page 695 and 696: faint odor of stale fish drifting o
Page 697 and 698: make it so hard!" she cried. Alone,
Page 699 and 700: forget it. Delaying only to buy a c
Page 701 and 702: called them what all Australians ca
Page 703 and 704: stared --up at the soaring vault of
Page 705 and 706: USAF colonel got through to his sup
Page 707 and 708: "Miss O'neill, answer me!" "Yes, ye
Page 709 and 710: that her only son is dead. Not the
Page 711 and 712: to Drogheda! I hate to think of you
Page 713 and 714: arrived he'd already been spirited
Page 715 and 716: "Please sit down." "Thank you," she
Page 717 and 718: have requested that I be buried on
Page 719 and 720: one of his parents be able to shed
Page 721 and 722: Out across the lawn, down past the
Page 723 and 724: "Aaaaaaah!" he cried, understanding
Page 725 and 726: merely said: MUST RETURN BONN BUT W
Page 727 and 728: Only she couldn't pour it all out o
Page 729 and 730: mother; to do so meant the whole so
Page 731: used it frequently. "I hope you can
Page 735 and 736: doesn't mean that at all, you know.
Page 737 and 738: that she didn't want to see? She ha
Page 739 and 740: "It's hard to keep a good man up a
Page 741 and 742: His eyes twinkled. "Exotic?" he ask
Page 743 and 744: exactly like the kind of female she
Page 745 and 746: than an hour I have to meet some ve
Page 747 and 748: You were right-the time has come wh
Page 749 and 750: explained. "Ye gods, Rain, you flam
Page 751 and 752: Many men with abominable wives have
Page 753 and 754: trouble with Justine is that she is
Page 755 and 756: myself that what happened must be f
Page 757 and 758: "I said I'd take a cab!" He raised
Page 759 and 760: top of it. Up yours, too, Rainer Mo
Page 761 and 762: die .... She's right. My going back
Page 763 and 764: haven't spoken my love, Justine, I'
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