"Raleigh Hayes always walked fast, even if he was only walking to the bathroom, even if he was only walking along the beach. He hurried because forty-five years had already gotten away from him, because life was always two uncatchable steps in front of him, running away like a burglar with satchels full of all the things that should have belonged to Raleigh Hayes—like money, position, a home in which nothing was unrepaired, and, in general, a future, and, mostly, his just deserts."
Chap. 1, In Which the Hero Is Introduced and Receives a Blow, p. 8

"At the baptism party, in the rectory of Thermopylae's tiny Episcopal church, his father gave him a small sip of muscatel wine, and his seventeen-year-old godfather, his uncle Whittier Hayes, gave him a small copy of The Poetry of John Keats, which he didn't want either."
Chap. 4, How Raleigh Received His...