Sublime

“Vanity, thy name is woman,” Derek said with what seemed like a forced joviality. He was not, Ursula noticed, as comfortable in social situations as she had first thought. She smiled at him, feeling a new bond. She was marrying a stranger, she realized. (“Everyone marries a stranger,” Hugh said.)

Lagache vint me présenter ses bons vœux : – Ami, vous avez une femme absolument charmante et je vous souhaite tout le bonheur qu’un honorable locataire de cette planète puisse espérer. Savez-vous que j’ai, moi-même, été marié ? Avec une sorte de pythie dévastatrice qui chaque jour prédisait la fin du monde et de notre bonheur.

The Halletts had been one of those rare couples who, between them, made a little world that no one else could touch.

“My fiancée is fine as she is, Cousin Miranda,” he replied to her silent glare. “My dear boy—” “And I will not take kindly to anyone who implies otherwise,” he murmured coolly.

c’est l’inconvénient des couples qui se défont, on a honte d’exhiber le spectacle piteux et banal de sa désunion, il devient peu à peu impossible de recevoir qui que ce soit, et toute relation sociale finit par disparaître.

“You could have put a forearm to my throat,” Cam pointed out, shaking a swath of hair from his forehead. “I didn’t want to crush your windpipe,” Harry said acidly, “before I made you tell me where my wife is.”