unearths some literary gems.
***
"Do you mean to say you're leaving now?" The brandy snap was poised aloft, like a small plane.
***
"I've this dicky knee, must have stretched a tendon when I was doing a bit of jumping last week." (Melrose always fell into this Old Boy idiom when he was lying. It was as if he had to invent a persona for the purpose.)
Beyond a brief nod of her head, Olive Manning's expression did not change, dicky knees not coming within her purview.
***
"That whole Dillys March act."
"'Act'?"
She just looked at him. "Do you always play Little Sir Echo, Inspector? You're worse than my psychiatrist, and he's a treat."
***
"Good Lord, I wouldn't even recognize my aunt if she were carrying a dulcimer."
***
[Bonus (One-Upping dept.): Taking his leave from a librarian who has spent the last several pages peppering her speech with French phrases, the protagonist ends the conversation with a random quotation in Latin.]
