He let it go, and sighed a gentle and profound relief.

He had been skating over the thinnest ice, and had reached the bank amid terrific crackings, and he began to appreciate the extent of the peril braved.

He had been perfectly sure of his connoisseurship.

But when one says one is perfectly sure, especially if one says it with immense emphasis, one always means 'imperfectly sure.' So it was with Mr.Oxford.And really, to argue, from the mere existence of a picture, that a tremendous deceit had been successfully practised upon the most formidable of nations, implies rather more than rashness on the part of the arguer.
"But I don't want it to get about," said Priam, still in a savage whisper.

"And I don't want to talk about it." He looked at the nearest midgets resentfully, suspecting them of eavesdropping.
"Precisely," said Mr.Oxford, but in a tone that lacked conviction.
"It's a matter that only concerns me," said Priam.
"Precisely," Mr.Oxford repeated.