they were writhing and tensing and shuddering as though they were being slowly immolated, and indeed I suppose that is just what they were being.

What would the world be, I thought, without money hung around our necks, hung around our very souls?

‘I understand.’ ‘No, you don’t, and be glad of that.

the peril his attitude was leading him toward,

(why did we not return this to him when he was living? It had not occurred to us, is why),

At any rate I got the impression he did not care to know the answers but was merely pleased to be making his inquiries.

Emboldened with brandy and its attendant stupidity,

‘My feelings about San Francisco rise and fall with my moods. Or is it that the town alters my moods, thus informing my opinions?

‘I understand.’ ‘No, you don’t, and be glad of that.