Occasionally he sneezed in the crook of his elbow, philosophizing over the fact that there was a lot of deadwood property in New York.

Americans were eternally on the move.
The window from which he intended dropping to the house roof was obdurate.

Only the upper half was movable.

With hardly any noise at all he pulled this down, straddled it, balanced himself, secured a good grip on the ledge, and let himself down.

The tips of his shoes, rubber-soled, just reached the roof.