“The cosy glow which had been enveloping the Duke became shot through by a sudden chill. It was as if he had been luxuriating in a warm shower bath, and some hidden hand had turned on the cold tap.”

“He felt like a man who, chasing rainbows, has had one of them suddenly turn and bite him in the leg.”

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

“He couldn’t have moved quicker if he had been the dachshund Poppet, who at this juncture was running round in circles, trying, if I read his thoughts aright, to work off the rather heavy lunch he had had earlier in the afternoon.”

“She looked as if she had been poured into her clothes and had forgotten to say "when". ”

“He was a tubby little chap who looked as if he had been poured into his clothes and forgotten to say 'when'!”

“Had his brain been constructed of silk, he would have been hard put to it to find sufficient material to make a canary a pair of cami-knickers.”