" He laughed a lot, and this would have been the moment to leave him, and go on our way. We should probably have escaped without further trouble if Templer—feeling no doubt that Stringham had been occupying too much of the stage—had not begun to shoot out radiations towards Le Bas, long and short, like an ocular Morse code, saying at the same time in his naturally rather harsh voice: ‘I am afraid we very nearly jumped on you, sir. "

― Anthony Powell , A Question of Upbringing (A Dance to the Music of Time, #1)