Quotes from Gerald Pawle

The troubles of Lieutenant Byng were not, however, quite over. He had to return to London early next morning — and he still had thirteen mice on his hands. Late that night he made a cautious reconnaissance of the corridors. And under the door of every bedroom which had a pair of lady's shoes outside it he liberated one mouse!

Perpetually shrouded in a dense, clammy fog, Cardington was a depressing place, and the only really contented mortal there that chill November was the resident observer, who used to ascend to 2000 feet every morning in a balloon, and spend the day sitting happily with a book in the autumn sunshine.