Describing Lucette’s visit to Kingston, Van Veen (the narrator and main character in VN’s novel Ada, 1969) mentions baby serpents and Lucette’s pretty viper tongue:
She unclicked her black-silk handbag, fished out a handkerchief and, leaving the gaping bag on the edge of the sideboard, went to the farthest window and stood there, her fragile shoulders shaking unbearably.
Van noticed a long, blue, violet-sealed envelope protruding from the bag.