“A countess, eh?” Mr. Cameron, into whose ear trumpet the news had duly been shouted, had begun to wheeze with unaccustomed and silent laughter. He knew, now, what to call his new rose, and the joke – obscure, private, pointless – was just the kind he particularly enjoyed.”

“A countess, eh?” Mr. Cameron, into whose ear trumpet the news had duly been shouted, had begun to wheeze with unaccustomed and silent laughter. He knew, now, what to call his new rose, and the joke – obscure, private, pointless – was just the kind he particularly enjoyed.”

— Eva Ibbotson