In John Buchan’s wartime adventure tale Mr Srandfast, Richard Hannay accosts his mortal enemy, German spy Moxon Ivery, in a French château. Ivery makes a sudden dash for safety, and though Hannay gets off a shot, Ivery eludes him. Anticipating his opponent’s next move, Hannay seizes a hefty piece of furniture and smashes his way quickly out through a window.

Hannay assumes that the park gates are closed and that his enemy’s car must come right past him to get out, but his assumption proves ill-founded. He must watch Ivery driving off in the opposite direction; and knowing that he has winged either Ivery or his driver, and that the watching Mary Lamington was greatly entertained, is scant consolation.

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