“Agnes Resker ostentatiously limited her repast to a morsel of dry toast, which she bit as though it were a personal enemy” (96) (Simile)
Saki compares the dry toast to a personal enemy of Miss Resker. Miss Resker is among the party guests anxiously awaiting Tobermory’s return, fearful that he is already out spreading their secrets to the general public. Through this simile, Saki shows what the guests are prepared to do to their enemies: destroy them by any means.
"With the disappearance of his too brilliant pupil Cornelius Appin found himself beset by a hurricane of bitter upbraiding, anxious inquiry and frightened entreaty” (95) (Metaphor)
The party guests are described as a hurricane when they discover how Tobermory’s ability to speak threatens their status and reputations. They turn on Appin like a force of nature in order to convince him to destroy his subject. Saki often writes of the superiority of nature. Though humans are often characterized as inferior to nature in Saki’s short stories, when they are powerful it is often only because they are adopting a trait of the wild. Here, they adopt the quality of an unrestrained natural force and are successful in overpowering Mr. Appin’s protestations.
