Speaking of the bloviator's dealings with the dementor, I'm suspicious of John Thorpe's claim that he won.

Ch12> if I had not made one of the cleanest strokes that perhaps ever was made in this world — I took his ball exactly

Now, if billiard-type games around 1800 were anything like they are these days, a single great shot wouldn't be enough to turn the game around. (A single poor shot, like sinking the black prematurely in pool, is another matter.) So beating General 'billiard room beside his bedroom' Tilney sounds about as likely as repairing the mistakes of the most experienced huntsman (ch9).

That's all if the general even deigned to play billiards with that whelp in the first place. I'm not convinced that he did. John Thorpe may have built up his delusion from nothing more than seeing him in the distance at the Bedford.

(...rant continues...)