This was not Aunt Dahlia, my good and kindly aunt, but my Aunt Agatha, the one who chews broken bottles and kills rats with her teeth.

I shuddered from stem to stern, as stout barks do when buffeted by the waves.

The storm is over, there is sunlight in my heart. I have a glass of wine and sit thinking of what has passed.

In a series of events, all of which had been a bit thick, this, in his opinion, achieved the maximum of thickness.

I never want to see anyone, and I never want to go anywhere or do anything. I just want to write.

Back horses or go down to Throgmorton Street and try to take it away from the Rothschilds, and I will applaud you as a shrewd and cautious financier. But to bet at golf is pure gambling.

I started violently, as if some unseen hand had goosed me.