Paul seemed relaxed, scanning the fields on either side of the muddy lane for fieldfares

Katúsha, with her eyes black as sloes, her face radiant with joy, was flying towards him, and they caught hold of each other's hands.

‘I once got clap after a bump supper,’ said Blanford gloomily, ‘and it wasn't gay at all. It took ages to get itself cured.’

It is hard to escape the impression that if retailers could they would find some way to hook up directly to the prerational brain — the part of us that knows nothing about common sense, budgets, late fees and interest rates — a part of the brain to which, for many of us, our cellphones have constant access.