unearths some literary gems.
From Margery Allingham's Police at the Funeral:
***
He was a large lugubrious individual, whose pale waste of a face was relieved by an immense pair of black moustaches. He was in shirtsleeves, a fact which seemed to dismay him when he perceived the girl.
"Lumme, I thought you was alone," he remarked. He turned to the visitor with a ghost of a smile. "You'll excuse me, miss, being in negligée, as it were."
"Nonsense," said Mr. Campion, "You've got your moustache."
***
[British names dept. "Foon" is a dog.]
"Foon," he said. "Written 'Featherstonehaugh.'"
***
[Intentionally Mixed Metaphors Dept.]
"And after all, you don't want me turning up with the family skeleton in my beak, wagging my tail and shouting miaow, as it were."
