Robert Louis Stevenson

'And now' says he, 'if you have any business, pray be brief and come swiftly to the point. Nec gemino bellum Trojanum orditur ab ovo - do you understand that ?' Says he, with a keen look.
'I will even do as Horace says, sir,' I answered, 'and carry you in media res.' He nodded as if he was well pleased, and indeed his scrap of Latin had been set to test me. For all that, and though I was somewhat encouraged, the blood came in my face when I added : 'I have reason to believe myself some rights on the estate of the Shaws.'