“Night came on, the lamps were lighted, the tables near him found occupants, and Paris began to wear that peculiar evening look of hers which seems to say, in the flare of windows and theatre-doors, and the muffled rumble of swift-rolling carriages, that this is no world for you unless you have your pockets lined and your scruples drugged.”

“Ilse, a childhood friend of mine, once found a raspberry in the concentration camp and carried it in her pocket all day to present to me that night on a leaf. Imagine a world in which your entire possession is one raspberry and you give it to your friend.”

“Oliver opened the door of the carriage and found his puppets huddled together on the bench. He gestured for them to come closer. “Hurry,” he hissed. “Unless you want to become as tiny as ants.” “Oliver, did you know that you have a rainbow on your head?” Andrew remarked.”

“For luck you carried a horse chestnut and a rabbit’s foot in your right pocket. The fur had been worn off the rabbit’s foot long ago and the bones and the sinews were polished by the wear. The claws scratched in the lining of your pocket and you knew your luck was still there.”

“They were big and black and rubber—the kind of boots you might be wearing as you came in the kitchen door, shaking off your rain slicker and saying, Grab the young’uns, Ma. Crick’s a-rising.”

“The throw truck driver and car-lot owner stood there, peering at us. Hier voice came through, muffled by the glass. ''You find what you're looking for?'' Grace reached across and rolled down the window. She was talking to him but looking at me, gaze intense, when she said, ''Absolutely.”