There seemed to be an unspoken conspiracy of gallantry among the men; they took turns stopping at frequent intervals to relieve themselves, allowing me to dismount for a few minutes and surreptitiously rub my aching fundament.

There had been an unspoken conspiracy among the three of them, Aunt Hortense, Alexandra and Nancy, not to leave Rhea alone since the incident with the teapot.

Lately, in fact, there had been an unspoken conspiracy between them to wean the countess from her fixation on Simon's constitution.

Early in the day, Mary had rebelled at an unspoken conspiracy that would have delegated one of the remaining mounts to her and had done her share of walking.

Maybe that is what brothers are for, she thought as she walked back into the kitchen, perhaps even now Cathal and Manus are involved in unspoken conspiracies.

He and she were joined in an unspoken conspiracy.

She recalls the summer weekdays of her youth on Cape Cod - the "unspoken conspiracy" of women living a "totally free and joyous life" when their husbands were away.

It became warmer, darker, filled at the corners with the shadows of unspoken conspiracy.

She held as much apart as she could, not to remind her kin, and understood what an unspoken conspiracy was theirs, to avoid speaking of her before outsiders.

Despite much talk about the urgency of deficit reduction, President Bush and Congress are joined in an unspoken conspiracy to procrastinate.