Indeed, Moran was a profession cheat, a sharper of more than ordinary dimensions — a macer, in criminal parlance. He had made card sharping a life's work — second only to shooting […]

Underfoot is a rich brown marble from the shores of Lake Champlain. The wainscoting is of green rep and red Numidian marble.

And who is it who contemplates those thickly studded doors and windows covered with closely worked mashrabiyya and seriously thinks that some sort of enchantment lies beyond them?

the Hudsonian curlew