All of a sudden he appeared as a third competitor, skied the Flying Scud with four fat bids of a thousand dollars each, and then as suddenly fled the field, remaining thenceforth (as before) a silent, interested spectator.

Well, what do you know, it's raining again.

I'm ranked sixth in the French class, behind five other pupils.

Sometimes it almost seems that the writer takes a perverse delight in finding the times out of joint, finding everything awrack and awry.