Algernon Blackwood

“ For Mullins, though depraved, perhaps, was an honest man, abhorring parsons and making no secret of his opinions⁠—whence the bitter feeling.
All men, except those very big ones who are supermen, have something astonishingly despicable in them. The despicable thing in Milligan came uppermost now. He fairly chuckled. He met the snub with a calm, forgiving smile, and continued his shambling gait with what dignity he could towards his bedroom opposite. Then he turned his head to see. His enemy would meet an infuriated hornet⁠—an Egyptian hornet!⁠—and might not notice it. He might step on it. ”

“ Its oiled and wicked sting shot in and out with fury. Its deft legs worked. He saw its tiny waist already writhing with the lust of battle. Ugh! That tiny waist! A moment’s steady nerve and he could have severed that cunning body from the directing brain with one swift, well-directed thrust. But his nerve had utterly deserted him.
Human motives, even in the professedly holy, are an involved affair at any time. ”

“ The word has an angry, malignant sound that brings the idea of attack vividly into the mind. There is a vicious sting about it somewhere⁠—even a foreigner, ignorant of the meaning, must feel it. A hornet is wicked ”

“ It filled the churchly heart with anguish and bitter disappointment. For a space he hated the whole race of men.
For the instant Mr. Mullins realised that the insect was not a fiery illusion of his disordered nerves, he went forward without the smallest hesitation. With his towel he knocked down the flying terror. Then he stooped. He gathered up the venomous thing his well-aimed blow had stricken so easily to the floor. He advanced with it, held at arm’s length, to the window. He tossed it out carelessly. The Egyptian hornet flew away uninjured, and Mr. Mullins⁠—the Mr. ”