While dealing with this world, one must cultivate a penetrating, clear and unsullied this-worldliness.

After shooting Joan to death, he'd gone home and killed himself, leaving behind a wife and young daughter. And a written confession that sounded all kinds of crazy.

Soak an ounce of gelatine in half pint of cold water half an hour; press a quart of ripe strawberries through a flour sieve fine enough to prevent the seeds from going through; add a cup of pulverized sugar and a few drops of cochineal to give it color, and the gelatine dissolved in hot water or over the teakettle; set the pan containing the mixture in another pan containing chopped ice; stir until it begins to thicken, then beat in rapidly a pint of whipped cream; line a mould with lady fingers, then fill with the fromage.

This approach plays fast and loose with ordinary people's livelihoods. Yet still, with jingoistic horns and trumpets drowning out the roar of the deep, the stampede towards the cliff's edge gathers pace.