They invaded the house at all hours and without warning. They swarmed through the rooms, asking questions, opening closets, prodding clothes hampers, peering under beds.
The furniture was scattered about in every direction, with dismantled shelves and open drawers, as if the lady had hurriedly ransacked them before her flight.
She sat on the living-room sofa, watching as officers rummaged through cabinets, filed up and down the stairs and bagged up flash drives, CD-Roms and telephones.
It's all about wearing these oversized clothes that are overpriced and I think it's not just about looking like you've rummaged in a teenager's dressing up box.
To relieve the tedium of this untimely day she would overhaul the cupboards containing her grandfather's old charts and other rubbish, humming Saturday-night ballads of the country people the while.
And, normally I would never remember this, but I was doing a commencement address a few years ago and I was scrambling for some old things, and I found, in a box, this plan.
Gerbois, professor of mathematics at the College of Versailles, while rummaging in an old curiosity-shop, unearthed a small mahogany writing-desk which pleased him very much on account of the multiplicity of its drawers.