No matter how dutiful one tried to feel, it was impossible to be sad at leaving this [convent] behind, not when the blood ran hot and rich in the veins, and when out in the world there were all the untried beckoning enchantments: dancing, sensuous music, merriment — and love. (p. 3).

The stench inside the hut near knocked her over, and she stood blinking in the darkness and retching uncontrollably while red fear smote her. (p 110).

He [Nirac] came of a primitive southern race where emotions were as simple as they were violent. There was love and there was hate, and no nuances between. (p. 148)

The Bishop of Winchester was stripped of his rich manors, and his coffers full of gold. At one stroke all of his worldly possessions were removed from him — though his episcopal office, even the duke could not touch — for that had...