It was dark when they rose in the morning and dark when they filed into the kitchen to get their plates and spoons and still dark when they turned out in the dewfall and grainy mist of the yard.

[…] exactly as we detest the Frenchless and the dullard who makes no headway in the ancient languages.

a great deed

Ugh! An inventor, eh? Nix! He's not an inventor himself, but he antes-up for 'em.