How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #7
He sat back on his spindly haunches with his hand propped on one of them. He was trying to be as much like Nigel as he could manage. Oh, how hard he was trying.
"Lamont," we demanded, "what are you saying, and why are you saying it like that?"
He preened. "I 'ave the honor of being Nigel's new assistant cabin steward. 'E picked me over all the others! We are a team, me and Nigel!" He preened again. (9.17-19)
Lamont has a new job—and a new way of talking, too. Helena, Louise, and Beatrice have already noticed Nigel's new British accent. Check out how he doesn't pronounce a lot of his Hs, just like Nigel. What do you think about this accent change?
Quote #8
"One of our several talents is that we can copy the Princess's handwriting," she said. "Being artistic, she writes in a beautiful script. So do we."
[…]
Even getting the lid off the inkstand was a job. And you should have seen the pen in the Duchess's hand. It was like writing names with a telephone pole.
But, oh, she was deft. With her old bent back crouched over the page, she wrote an artistic hand. Her letters had loopier tails than her own. Each time we three carried the pen back to be dipped in ink, she ran a hand down the arch of her aching back. (9.81, 84-85)
The Duchess has a special talent: she can write. This means that talking isn't the only way for mice to communicate in this book. But writing is hard work, and it takes teamwork too.
Quote #9
With every account, Lord Peter's family grew more ancient, their castles bigger. And Camilla grew richer and richer: an American heiress. The Heiress of the Year. It was a story that had everything because Lord Peter was thought to be hard to catch. And Camilla had caught him just by being herself.
[…]
We were the talk of the ship, even Louise and Beatrice and I. Being, as we were, Cranstons ourselves. And Camilla was not our only claim to fame. No indeed. A rumor had swept the ship of a secret engagement between the Mouse Equerry Lord Peter and… Miss Beatrice Cranston, of all mice. I don't know how that rumor started. Certainly not with me. I blamed Louise. (13.2-4)
Rumors fly around this ship fast. And most of these rumors are pretty false. Camilla's family doesn't have lots of money, and we soon find out that Beatrice isn't going to marry the Lord Peter mouse. Do you think these rumors are a bad thing? Are there any positive effects from them?