"Am I too circumstantial?"

"No," Fred said. Whether he knew what "circumstantial" meant or not, he thought Wolfe couldn't be too anything.

***

"A genius can't be bothered with just plain work like having someone tailed. He has to do stunts. He has to take a short cut. Anybody can get a rabbit out of a hat, so he has to get a hat out of a rabbit."

***

"Why don't you ask me what I want?" [she says]

"I'm putting it off because I may not have it."

"That's nice. I like that. That's a good line, only you threw it away. There should be a pause after 'off.' 'I'm putting it off ... because I may not have it.' Try it again."

***

"You see, Falstaff? Didn't I tell you?"

She had told him absolutely nothing.

***

To watch him consider I had to make an effort to forget his shiny dome and concentrate on his features. It would have been simpler if his eyes and nose and mouth had been on top of his head.

***

Next to Wolfe . . . was . . . a tall skinny guy with . . . a thin tight mouth that was just a hyphen between his bony jaws.