Frank Danby

“ One side of the drawing-room was open to the river; the mist was still rising—a wet, white mist—and we heard Nicholson's boat without seeing it, a mysterious splash of oars and lapping of waters. Nicholson, when he came on board, would not let us talk. He arranged us in the opium attitude, so that our dreams should be of Paradise. Ellaline was to lie beside me, her head in the hollow of my hip ”

“ Opium parties were very common in Paris that season—quite the rage amongst the intellectuals. I thought you would like to hear about this one: it was very picturesque and original—the boat and the river, and all that. I had a terrific headache the next day, I remember, and did not get rid of it until Kito mixed me some specific of his own. Kito is very near to being a physician. I never can understand how you do without a man," he said carelessly to Devenish, getting up from the sofa, stretching himself, and going to the window.
"The fog is worse than ever. ”

“ Wilbur said, in answer to questions:
"I am Keightley Wilbur, of Carlton House Terrace, author of 'The Nut's Progress,' 'Love,' and other pieces. I am also a playwright, and in my leisure hours I interest myself in sociology. Mr. Pierre Lamotte was my guest, but hardly my friend."
The coroner asked a little impatiently:
"You were intimate with him?"
"I have no intimates." He added, a little sententiously, perhaps: "The great are always lonely." ”

“ The two ladies who followed Kito into the witness-box added little to the story.
Madame Bosquet, a Frenchwoman, whose evidence had to be translated, was very voluble and a little incoherent, about thirty-five years of age, with white hair surmounting a young face, a little made-up, but still beautiful. Her eyes were soft and dark, and she was admirably dressed. She described a pleasant evening, charming company, and said vehemently that between such men as her eminent host and his no less eminent guest no possible cause of friction could have arisen. ”

“ The very thing. I had forgotten all about it. Yes, you must tell David. You or I must tell him. That will do the trick, I expect. I should make a better story of it than you——"
"What do you mean? I needn't tell him if I don't choose."
"David is really a remarkable person, full of prejudices, yet with an underlying sentimentality that can rise and veil him as the fog veils this room." ”

“ The circumstances having no relation to each other, must be considered together. ..."
When David Devenish left the restaurant he found himself wondering about this laboured letter, why it had been shown him, and why Wilbur should give Dr. Nicholson an allowance. Keightley Wilbur was very rich, and, of course, known to be liberal to his friends. But the last person in the world whom one would have thought could be counted among Keightley Wilbur's friends was a panel doctor. David's mind was naturally a suspicious one, and his paper was always on the outlook for sensational matter. ”

“ I talked well that night at dinner. Gad! how well I talked! Afterwards, whilst we were waiting for Nicholson, Claudine played the piano and Ellaline sang. The piano had been pushed into the dining-room. Kito meanwhile prepared the drawing-room for the coming séance.
"In the drawing-room the big black divans were heaped with cushions, there were no chairs: dull red matting was on the floor, no lights but one small lamp, modern, but of antique design; beside it lay a copper tray and four opium pipes. The women were in loose white gowns, Pierre and I in smoking suits. ”