You'd have thought that this Wickham would have learned at her mother's knee that the last thing a fellow in a highly nervous condition wants, when he's searching someone's room, is a disembodied voice in his immediate ear asking him how he's getting on. The upshot, I need scarcely say, was that I came down like a sack of coals.

This is a great make - ahead dessert because both the crème caramel and the concassé (a coarsely chopped mixture) need to chill for at least four hours. Basil adds an interesting, fresh flavor to the concassé.

Many societies forbid marriage between parallel cousins, but encourage marriage between cross-cousins or second cross-cousins.

For example, in Dothraki something done in secret is done torga essheyi—literally, “under a roof”.