Walter Cromwell Quotes in Wolf Hall
“So now get up!” Walter is roaring down at him, working out where to kick him next. […] “What are you, an eel?” his parent asks. He trots backward, gathers pace and aims another kick.
It knocks the last breath out of him; he thinks it may be his last. His forehead returns to the ground; he lies waiting, for Walter to jump on him. The dog, Bella, is barking, shut away in an outhouse. “I’ll miss my dog,” he thinks. […]
Inch by inch. Inch by inch forward. Never mind if he calls you an eel or a worm or a snake. Head down, don’t provoke him.
What he says about Gregory is, at least he isn’t like I was, when I was his age; and when people say, what were you like? he says, oh, I used to stick knives in people. Gregory would never do that; so he doesn’t mind—or minds less than people think—if he doesn’t really get to grips with declensions and conjugations. When people tell him what Gregory has failed to do, he says, “He’s busy growing.” He understands his need to sleep; he never got much sleep himself, with Walter stamping around, and after he ran away he was always on the ship or on the road, and then he found himself in an army.
[H]e hears a boy’s voice, speaking behind a half-open door: it is Mark, the lute-player. “…so for my skill he says he will prefer me to Lady Anne. And I shall be glad, because what is the use of being here when any day the king may behead the old fellow? I think he ought, for the cardinal is so proud. […] Yes, for sure the lawyer will come down with him. I say ‘lawyer,’ but who is he? Nobody knows. They say he has killed men with his own hands and never told it in confession. […] So when I am with Lady Anne she is sure to notice me, and give me presents.” A giggle. […] Then Mark: “She is no maid. Not she.” […]
One can do nothing with this. Except bear it in mind.
Walter Cromwell Quotes in Wolf Hall
“So now get up!” Walter is roaring down at him, working out where to kick him next. […] “What are you, an eel?” his parent asks. He trots backward, gathers pace and aims another kick.
It knocks the last breath out of him; he thinks it may be his last. His forehead returns to the ground; he lies waiting, for Walter to jump on him. The dog, Bella, is barking, shut away in an outhouse. “I’ll miss my dog,” he thinks. […]
Inch by inch. Inch by inch forward. Never mind if he calls you an eel or a worm or a snake. Head down, don’t provoke him.
What he says about Gregory is, at least he isn’t like I was, when I was his age; and when people say, what were you like? he says, oh, I used to stick knives in people. Gregory would never do that; so he doesn’t mind—or minds less than people think—if he doesn’t really get to grips with declensions and conjugations. When people tell him what Gregory has failed to do, he says, “He’s busy growing.” He understands his need to sleep; he never got much sleep himself, with Walter stamping around, and after he ran away he was always on the ship or on the road, and then he found himself in an army.
[H]e hears a boy’s voice, speaking behind a half-open door: it is Mark, the lute-player. “…so for my skill he says he will prefer me to Lady Anne. And I shall be glad, because what is the use of being here when any day the king may behead the old fellow? I think he ought, for the cardinal is so proud. […] Yes, for sure the lawyer will come down with him. I say ‘lawyer,’ but who is he? Nobody knows. They say he has killed men with his own hands and never told it in confession. […] So when I am with Lady Anne she is sure to notice me, and give me presents.” A giggle. […] Then Mark: “She is no maid. Not she.” […]
One can do nothing with this. Except bear it in mind.
