I saw Little Billy rise and fire almost point blank and an Indian's face became shattered flesh and bone.

I knew that three or four of them were almost always present in the hall, but what they were doing, and exactly where, I could not tell.

I have been so weary of the excessive rocking of the vessel, and the almost intolerable smell after the rain, that I have done little more than lounge on the bed for several days.

I used to go with Watson to call on the eminent neurologist at his apartment, to sit among the doctor's excellent collection of statues, paintings, and books and drink Oriental coffee while Watson seemed to thaw out and become almost affable.

We were almost the same age, she was fifteen, I was twelve, and where I felt there was a life to look forward to Lilly felt she had had as much of it as was necessary.

And this means, I suppose, that almost invariably age reveals itself by easily recognizable signs engraved on both the body and the mind.

Yet during the years when I was on the staff of The Nation, I tried to the limit the patience of the editors on almost every occasion when I was permitted to write an editorial having a bearing on a political or social question.

Though Garibaldi's fight was small shakes compared to Pickett's Charge -- which, like all Southerners, I view in almost Miltonic terms, fallen angels, etc. -- I associated the two.

As the mother of an autistic child who is lacking in interest and enthusiasm about almost anything, I have to manipulate my son's fingers for him when he first plays with a new toy.

I never found it among any of the Chinese with whom I spoke, though granted they were, almost all, members of the official family who, presumably, harbor official thoughts.

`` How many times have I told you '' -- he began, and was almost glad when she cut him off -- `` Too many times ''!!

Like Eliot, in my fantasies, I had a proud bearing and, with a skill that was vaguely continental, I would lead Jessica through an evening of dancing and handsome descriptions of my newest exploits, would guide her gently to the night's climax which, in my dreams, was always represented by our almost suffocating one another to death with deep, moist kisses burning with love.

I pay my personal tribute to Sam Rayburn, stalwart Texan and great American, not only because today he establishes a record of having served as Speaker of the House of Representatives more than twice as long as Henry Clay, but because of the contributions he has made to the welfare of the people of the Nation during his almost half century of service as a Member of Congress.

I found it fairly depressing and emerged almost immediately.

Or am I taking something that could really apply to almost anybody, and forgetting that many other people probably have had a similar experience ''??

`` But when I arrived and recognised a number of notorious characters I had thrown into the detective bureau basement half a dozen times, I knew I had been framed, and withdrew almost at once ''.

I didn't understand why, Clay.

I didn't catch a wink.

He said in a studied voice, `` I didn't do it for you.

I said that it didn't make any difference to me either, as far as I knew.

You thought I was a Mexican, didn't you, buddy ''??

`` I didn't know.

I didn't get a good look at him at all, his back was to me, and I was so scared It was just somebody in a man's suit.

`` Why '', he went on, `` when Rob asked me if he could make his dive on this trip, I didn't think twice about it.

I didn't mean to pull so hard ''.

Dr. Lalaurie and I didn't even know he was in the house until the night of our ball when he came down the stairs ''.

`` I didn't know I was gonna have company in this car ''.

I really didn't know what he meant.

Like the cowboy in Stephen Crane's `` Blue Hotel '', we run around crying, `` Well, I didn't do anything, did I ''??

A special guard was posted at my end of the bridge to make sure I didn't cross, the ludicrousness of the situation being revealed fully in that everyone else -- men, women, and children, dogs, cats, horses, cars, trucks, baby carriages -- could cross Kehl bridge into Kehl without surveillance.

When I informed her that I didn't, she said she would borrow her brother's and bring it to me later that evening.

In describing it to Professor Baker after it had been chosen for production, he defended his great array of characters by declaring that he had included that many not because `` I didn't know how to save paint '', but because the play required them.

I wanted to wipe my flint, but I didn't dare to, the state my hands were in, just as I didn't dare to do anything about the priming.

The charge, I tell you ''!!

For although I had crossed a corner of the hall on my way to the toilet I still could not tell for sure how far to the rear the darkness extended.

`` I want to tell you something Thomas DeMontez Lord.

`` I really do have something important to tell you, Mr. Scott.

If you tell him I made a pass at you he might think you misunderstood something I said or did, so instead of just telling him I made a pass, say I tried to date you and that you agreed so you could prove to him what a louse I really am.

And I will greatly appreciate it if you will not tell your husband.

But when it happens to you like that, I tell you, and you're a hundred feet from where you thought you were -- well, it makes you think.

If the old fool argues about the price, tell him I shall order my husband not to treat him as a patient any longer.

Said: `` There are things I must tell you about this man you are marrying which he does not know himself ''.

I fled, however, not from what might have been the natural fear of being unable to disguise from you that the things about my bridegroom -- in the sense you meant the word `` things '' -- which you had been galvanizing yourself to tell me as a painful part of your maternal duty were things which I had already insisted upon finding out for myself ( despite, I may now say, the unspeakable awkwardness of making the discovery on principle, yes, on principle, and in cold blood ) because I was resolved, as a modern woman, not to be a mollycoddle waiting for Life but to seize Life by the throat.

`` I've been in government and I can tell some pretty hairy stories about personnel difficulties, so I know what a problem he was ''.

`` I can tell you this much '', he said.

I shall tell of it later on.