Ashenden; Or, The British AgentBased on the author's experience in the Intelligence Department during the First World War. All stories feature Ashenden, a writer by profession, drawn into the events of war through the undercover intelligence. |
From inside the book
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Page 7
... sit there in case some habitual traveller , recognizing him , wondered why he made these constant journeys between Geneva in Switzerland and Thonon in France ; and so , making the best of what shelter could be found , he passed the ...
... sit there in case some habitual traveller , recognizing him , wondered why he made these constant journeys between Geneva in Switzerland and Thonon in France ; and so , making the best of what shelter could be found , he passed the ...
Page 8
... sitting - room , a hot bath and dinner comfortably by the fireside in pyjamas and a dressing- gown . The prospect of spending an evening by him- self with his pipe and a book was so agreeable that it made the misery of that journey ...
... sitting - room , a hot bath and dinner comfortably by the fireside in pyjamas and a dressing- gown . The prospect of spending an evening by him- self with his pipe and a book was so agreeable that it made the misery of that journey ...
Page 12
... sit there with their hats on . " We're only staying a minute , " said one of them . " We were passing and as the concierge said you would be in at once , we thought we would wait . " He did not remove his hat . Ashenden unwrapped his ...
... sit there with their hats on . " We're only staying a minute , " said one of them . " We were passing and as the concierge said you would be in at once , we thought we would wait . " He did not remove his hat . Ashenden unwrapped his ...
Page 17
... sit there quietly and write a play . " " Is it a comedy or a tragedy ? " " Oh , a comedy , and a light one at that , " replied Ashenden . " The artist needs peace and quietness . How do you expect him to preserve that detachment of ...
... sit there quietly and write a play . " " Is it a comedy or a tragedy ? " " Oh , a comedy , and a light one at that , " replied Ashenden . " The artist needs peace and quietness . How do you expect him to preserve that detachment of ...
Page 18
... sitting down beside him , Ashenden ordered himself a Dubonnet . The spy was a stocky little fellow , shab- bily dressed , with a bullet - shaped head , close - cropped , fair , with shifty blue eyes and a sallow skin . He did not ...
... sitting down beside him , Ashenden ordered himself a Dubonnet . The spy was a stocky little fellow , shab- bily dressed , with a bullet - shaped head , close - cropped , fair , with shifty blue eyes and a sallow skin . He did not ...
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Common terms and phrases
agent Alix ambassador Anastasia Alexandrovna answer Ashen Ashenden felt Ashenden knew Ashenden looked Ashenden saw Ashenden thought asked Ashenden bassador Bolsheviks bottle brandy Brindisi Byring cards carriage Caypor chance Chandra Colonel course cried Delilah dine dinner door enden English everything eyes face Fafner feeling fellow fool France Fritzi gave Geneva German Giulia give Gustav Hairless Mexican hand Harrington head heart Herbert Witherspoon Holzminden hour humour lake laughed Lausanne Lazzari letter lips Lucerne Mexican opened mind minutes Miss King morning Naples neutral country never night notion O'Malley once opened Paris passport Petrograd play Russian scrambled eggs seemed shoulders shrugged Sir Herbert sitting smile Somerville station stood Swiss talk tell there's thing Thonon tion told took train turned Vladimir wait walked watched wife woman wondered word
Popular passages
Page 264 - In her dark melancholy eyes Ashenden saw the boundless steppes of Russia, and the Kremlin with its pealing bells, and the solemn ceremonies of Easter at St. Isaac's, and forests of silver beeches and the Nevsky Prospekt; it was astonishing how much he saw in her eyes.
Page 91 - Ashenden's official existence was as orderly and monotonous as a City clerk's. He saw his spies at stated intervals and paid them their wages; when he could get hold of a new one he engaged him, gave him his instructions and sent him off to Germany; he waited for the information that came through and dispatched it; he went into France once a week to confer with his colleague over the frontier and to receive his orders from London...
Page 3 - Dramatic, isn't it?" he asked. "Do you mean to say that happened the other day?" "The week before last." "Impossible," cried Ashenden. "Why, we've been putting that incident on the stage for sixty years, we've written it in a thousand novels. Do you mean to say that life has only just caught up with us?
Page 263 - Leonidov, also an exile from his native 272 country, and it was after she had been married to him for some years that Ashenden made her acquaintance. It was* at the time when Europe discovered Russia. Everyone was reading the Russian novelists, the Russian dancers captivated the civilized world, and the Russian composers set shivering the sensibility of persons who were beginning to want a change from Wagner. Russian art seized upon Europe with the virulence of an epidemic of influenza.
Page 106 - Holloway's not a very cheerful place, you know.' 'I imagine no prison is,' remarked Ashenden. 'I left her to stew in her own juice for a week before I went to see her. She was in a very pretty state of nerves by then. The wardress told me she'd been in violent hysterics most of the time. I must say she looked like the devil.' 'Is she handsome?' 'You'll see for yourself. She's not my type. I dare say she's better when she's made up and that kind of thing. I talked to her like a Dutch uncle. I put...
Page 4 - Having 178 been given his final instructions, which were 'if you do well you'll get no thanks and if you get into trouble you'll get no help...
Page 148 - They were fat and old and ugly and odd, and they stank. Now, in war-time, Lucerne was as deserted as it must have been before the world at large discovered that Switzerland was the playground of Europe. Most of the hotels were closed, the streets were empty, the rowing boats for hire rocked idly at the water's edge and there was none to take them, and in the avenues by the lake the only persons to be seen were serious Swiss taking their neutrality, like a dachshund, for a walk with them. Ashenden...
Page 143 - Come, come, my dear fellow, do not try to ride the high horse. You do not wish to show me your passport and I will not insist. You are not under the impression that we leave the statements of our agents without corroboration or that we are so foolish as not to keep track of their movements? Even the best of jokes cannot bear an indefinite repetition. I am in peace-time a humorist by profession and I tell you that from bitter experience.
Page 240 - ... thought of them), and though he had been set to do something that was beyond human possibility he did not know this and was prepared to set about his task with confidence. He believed in his own astuteness. Though he had both esteem and admiration for the sensibility of the human race he had little respect for their intelligence: man has always found it easier to sacrifice his life than to learn the multiplication table.
Page 2 - He asked Ashenden a good many questions and then, without further to-do, suggested that he had particular qualifications for the secret service. Ashenden was acquainted with several European languages and his profession was excellent covet; on the pretext that he was writing a book he could without attracting attention visit any neutral country.