Raisins and almonds - Poisoned Pen Press (UK)

Chapter Fourteen
Cut that in three which Nature hath made
One Then strengthen hit, even by itself
alone, Werewith then cutte the poudred
Sonne in twayne, By lengthe of tyme, and
heale the wounde again.
—John Dee, Monas Heiroglyphica
She was almost at her own door when someone grabbed for
her handbag.
At first she thought that she had caught the strap on a rosebush.
Her neighbour loved roses beyond anything and was prone
to forbid a blade to bruise a twig. But when she reached back to
free it, she encountered a hand.
‘Never drag, always yield,’ her street fighting lessons came to
mind. Therefore she did not pull against the grasp, which might
have broken the strap, but threw herself unexpectedly backwards.
She heard a grunt as her Louis heel impacted on an instep, and
she spun, hands out, ready to kick or to flee.
The tall young man tripped, almost fell and ran across the
road, stumbling through the traffic. He fell into a waiting car
and was gone.
The whole incident had taken seconds.