He was drinking a cup of good Jamaican coffee. Gaunt, who seemed like one hell of a nice fellow for a flatlander, had insisted that he have one.

Many Iſlands there lie all over that ſea : but one above the reſt, and moſt renowned, is Tazata : for thither all the ſhipping from out of the Caſpian ſea and the Scythian Ocean, doe bend their courſe and there arrive : for that all the ſea coaſts doe affront the Levant, and turne into the Eaſt.

In The Staircase there is a suggestion that continually retracing our steps doesn’t in itself yield much, and certainly doesn’t necessarily awaken new ways of seeing. The discovery of the blow-poke, the alleged murder weapon, is a case in point. A gift from Kathleen’s sister, he suspiciously missing blow-poke is an essential part of the prosecution’s case.

Who mump their passion, and who, grimly smiling, Still thus address the fair with voice beguiling […]