Phraselet No. 48

Many common objects may be made the vehicles of retribution, and where retribution is not called for, of malice. Be careful how you handle the packet you pick up in the carriage-drive, paricularly if it contains nail-parings and hair. Do not, in any case, bring it into the house. It may not be alone ... (Dots are believed by many writers of our day to be a good substitute for effective writing. They are certainly an easy one. Let us have a few more ......)

- M.R. James, "Stories I Have Tried to Write," The Haunted Dolls' House and Other Ghost Stories