The Toys of Peace and other papers, by Saki

For the Duration of the War

“It was there, among the gooseberry bushes and beneath the medlar trees, that the temptation to the perpetration of a great literary fraud came to him.”

The Cupboard of the Yesterdays

“War is a cruelly destructive thing.”

The Purple of the Balkan Kings

“Luitpold Wolkenstein drank his coffee, but the flavour had somehow gone out of it.”

The Image of the Lost Soul

“There floated up to him, through the noise and bustle of the Cathedral world, a faint heart-aching message from the prisoner in the wicker cage far below.”

Hyacinth

“‘Children with Hyacinth’s temperament don’t know better as they grow older; they merely know more.’”