Smith's (Wilbur's, not Ian's} grandfather, Courtney Smith had been a transport rider during the Witwatersrand gold rush in the late 1880s, had commanded a Maxim gun team during the Zulu Wars. He had also hunted elephant both as sport and to provide a lot of meat for his family. Courtney Smith had a magnificent moustache which could tell wonderful stories to his grandson about the fictitious Ballantyne family, who helped colonise Rhodesia. After that he returned to the Courtney family. For his fans had made it very clear that they would like to read his novels and revisit his family of characters faster than he could write them. After 4 wives and tons of books and bucks, Smith died unexpectedly on 13 November 2021 at his Cape Town home; he was 88.
xxx/ellauri013.html on line 1065: ...most unexpectedly I did come upon him a few hours before he gave up his arrogant ghost. Fortunately he was willing and able to talk between the choking fits of asthma, and his racked body writherd with malicious exultation at the bare thought of Jim. He exulted thus at the idea that he had "paid out the stuck-up beggar after all". He gloated over his action. I had to bear the sunken glare of his fierce crow-footed eyes if I wanted to know; and so I bore it, reflecting how much certain forms of evil are akin to madness, derived from intense egoism, inflamed by resistance, tearing the soul to pieces...
xxx/ellauri123.html on line 764: Läppä läppä. Deeply depressed, Humbert unexpectedly receives a letter from a 17-year-old Dolores (signing as "Dolly (Mrs. Richard F. Schiller)"), telling him that she is married, pregnant, and in desperate need of money. Humbert, armed with a pistol, tracks down Dolores' address and gives her the money, which was due as an inheritance from her mother. Humbert learns that Dolores' husband, a deaf mechanic, is not her abductor. Dolores reveals to Humbert that Quilty took her from the hospital and that she was in love with him, but she was rejected when she refused to star in one of his pornographic films. Dolores also rejects Humbert's request to leave with him. Humbert goes to the drug-addled Quilty's mansion and shoots him several times. Shortly afterward, Humbert is arrested, and in his closing thoughts, he reaffirms his love for Dolores and asks for his memoir to be withheld from public release until after her death. Dolores dies in childbirth on Christmas Day in 1952, disappointing Humbert´s prediction that "Dolly Schiller will probably survive me by many years."
xxx/ellauri137.html on line 773: The one stand-out annoyance for me was unexpectedly hitting upon yet another plot relying upon "rescuing" a female character from her sordid life of sex (or nearly-sex) work: hostessing, in this case. She's told she's "better" than that which means she should make less money doing something more honorable. It makes me want to write to the author and say she could do so much BETTER than write a book that hooks readers immediately with an erotically-charged story of sexual assault on a crowded train. I´m not mad at her, though, for giving the majority of readers what they want; just a pet peeve of mine.
xxx/ellauri319.html on line 668: Finding out you have syphilis can be extremely upsetting. You might experience anger if you feel you've been betrayed, or shame if you think you've infected others. However, hold off placing blame. Don't assume that your partner has been unfaithful to you. One (or both) of you may have been infected by a past partner. Ditto if you unexpectedly get pregnant.
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