'Oh, you can never tell about a man!' said Mrs. Hauksbee.

At the Pit's Mouth

Men say it was a stolen tide
The Lord that sent it He knows all,
But in mine ear will aye abide
The message that the bells let fall-
And awesome bells they were to me,
That in the dark rang, 'Enderby.'
--Jean Ingelow

Once upon a time there was a Man and his Wife and a Tertium
Quid.

All three were unwise, but the Wife was the unwisest. The Man
should have looked after his Wife, who should have avoided the
Tertium Quid, who, again, should have married a wife of his own,
after clean and open flirtations, to which nobody can possibly
object, round Jakko or Observatory Hill. When you see a young
man with his pony in a white lather and his hat on the back of his
head, flying downhill at fifteen miles an hour to meet a girl who
will be properly surprised to meet him, you naturally approve of
that young man, and wish him Staff appointments, and take an
interest in his welfare, and, as the proper time comes, give them
sugar-tongs or side-saddles according to your means and
generosity.

The Tertium Quid flew downhill on horseback, but it was to meet
the Man's Wife; and when he flew uphill it was for the same end.