Mr. Cooke at once began a tirade against the residents of Asquith for permitting a sandy and generally disgraceful condition of the roads. So roundly did he vituperate the inn management in particular, and with such a loud flow of words, that I trembled lest he should be heard on the veranda.

The practice of divination using mirrors was called Catoptromancy, a name derived from the Greek word katroptron, which means “mirror”, or “reflection”; [emphasis added]

framed, backboarded, and varnished oil painting

Instead of to the credit side of my account he had put the whole bag of tricks to my debit.