Nina was conducting her comme il faut class. "Be careful who takes you to Ascot," she said, "because unless you have married a rich husband, he is probably a crook. Even if he's your husband, well ... Not many honest men can take four days off their work, dress themselves in a black suit and a silk hat with all the accoutrements, and lose a lot of money on the horses, and take you out afterward or join a party of people like him. For Ascot you will need warm underwear in case it's cold. You can wear a flimsy dress on top. But your man is bound to be a crook, bound to be. It teems with crooks ..."

Muriel Spark, The Finishing School (109-110)