They were in the dogs' cemetery. Lady Castleyard tapped a little crooked cross. "One fears," she said, "that Georgia must have poisoned them all for the sake of their epitaphs." Welcome to one of the most distinctive styles in English literature. Ronald Firbank was an acute observer; his famous way of taking down extraordinary snatches of conversation, or pithy single sayings, on slips of paper, and then including them in his novels when an opportunity arose, anticipated modern experimental cut-up techniques by half a century. His was also a rare wit: Lady Barrow lolled languidly in her...

Miss O'Brookomore became evasive. "I want you to repress yourself a little for a few days. Be more discreet." "Because ----" "Professor and Mrs. Cowsend have the rooms next ours..." "Buz Let them " "Also, the Arbanels are here on their honeymoon....You never saw such ghosts on their rambles." "Who is Mr. Arbanel?" "He's very blase." Miss Collins clasped her hands. "I'd give almost anything to be blase." Young Mabel Collins, naively wily-wise before her very tender years, daughter of a dreaded and dull Yorkshire estate, needs experience - needs to get out into the world. At her first soiree,...