We lay on our stomachs on the living-room floor in a circle around our host, a skinny little man who said he'd been smoking O for 20 years.

The dasymeter consists of a two-armed lever or balance beam, on one arm of which is a hermetically sealed glass sphere of 3 litres capacity, while the other arm carries a balancing weight. The higher the percentage of carbonic anhydride contained in the gas to be examined, the higher will be its specific gravity, and consequently the greater its weight.

a point-blank assertion

She still bore the scars of a very acrimonious divorce, which made her wary of new commitments.