She kept low, clutching the rifle she'd taken as though it were a magic talisman, as if it would somehow protect her even though she didn't fire it.

Sandra, that's no name for anybody; that was a name for movie stars around 1948. Nobody's used it since. But the fact is, her name really is Sandra. - - - In the mills towns like Torrington and Bristol, the Italians might very well call a girl Sandra for real. Straight. It's just short for Alessandra. Alexandra. So she has numerous choices - she can be Sandy, a clean-cut WASP, or she can be Renaissance Alessandra, or movie-star Sandra, or old-fashioned Edwardian Alexandra, all on the one name.

The chief weight of Diamonds, is the Mangelin; it weighs five Grains and three fifths, and the Carat weighs only four grains, and five Mangelins make seven Carats.

Lalla puffed contentedly at his pipe. Then he removed it, spat, and looked at the sky. “It's getting black over Bill's mother's. We ought to be making a start.”