Before the battle they had been discussing whether there might be life after death, and Windham and Rochester had made a pact that if there was, the first to die would come back and tell the other. But, said Rochester, he [Windham] never did.

It's an unfortunate consequence of American history. Gambling is exactly like demon rum was 75 years ago when the temperance movement was agitating. Once you demonize something, it becomes difficult to look at it in any rational way.

This here is your inheritance, says the senior partner. Yes, he says, Ludwig, I know, and stows the plan for the bathing house (5.5m long, 3.8m wide, outer wall construction: wood, roof construction: thatch), stows both the plan and the mosquito in his briefcase. On a German shelf, this mosquito, pressed flat between large quantities of paper, will outlast time and times, and one day it might even be petrified, who knows.

I'm a gambling man and would have a punt on Bernie,

This is the largest organized crime and gambling case in Fairfax County's history.

Ruth wiped her eyes. Successful at a price? Forgiven but damaged? She wished so much more for her baby sister.