So, here he was, on the last lap of middle age, in China, having missed all the thrills in life except one--the war against Death.

It rather astonished him.

He hadn't followed this angle of thought in ten years: what he might have been, with a little shrewd selfishness.

This extraordinary child had opened up an old channel through which it was no longer safe to cruise.

She was like an angel with one wing.