The wording of diplomatic agreements and protocols is often deliberately designed either to soothe ruffled feathers — while pursuing an otherwise ruthless course — or to give assurance in sufficiently vague form that the vaguery might afterwards be exploited to diminish the effect of the assurances.

Close by the Louis-Quinze pouff stood a man. A man got up in all the outward trappings of a gentleman: an extensive display of snowy linen, unimpeachable tailoring, ganté, botté, in perfection; nothing overdone.

This meeting has been continued to the thirteenth of July.

There is a grand stretch in the evenings.