He was a wiry fighter, who bent and sprang like a whalebone, but I was heavier and had taken him utterly by surprise.

I twitched one of his feet from under him; he swung for a moment on the single foot, and then we fell with a crash amid the litter of newspapers, myself on top.
My attention for a moment released by victory, I could hear Basil's voice finishing some long sentence of which I had not heard the beginning.
"...

wholly, I must confess, unintelligible to me, my dear sir, and I need not say unpleasant.

Still one must side with one's old friends against the most fascinating new ones.

Permit me, therefore, in tying you up in this antimacassar, to make it as commodious as handcuffs can reasonably be while..." I had staggered to my feet.