unearths some literary gems.
***
"He's a nice little man, but I think he has an awful lot of imagination. All his reasons for believing anything are terribly complicated, and he counts them off on his fingers. He holds up one finger and says, 'Point 1'; and then, when he has explained that, he holds up another finger and says, 'Point 2.'"
[Later]
"Now!" Carlo [the "nice little man"] paused, and Cabot knew without seeing it that he had raised a forefinger in the darkness. "Point 1...."
***
"She sits there staring at me through those big glasses, and the glasses seem to get bigger and bigger."
***
"I want you to give me the dope on that in something flat."
***
"And Mr. Carlo Pugh....peering down into cupboards or drawers through a big round glass, like a man who was spying upon a pixy or sticking his nose into a leprechaun's business."
***
"Everything seems impossible before breakfast."
[I note that if everything is impossible before breakfast, then the White Queen doesn't have to be selective when deciding which impossible things to do before breakfast--anything at all will meet the case!]
***
"She whirled around and darted in here and had the door locked before I could say Jack Robinson--"
Kroll snapped, "Why the hell did you want to say Jack Robinson?"
***
[Conclusions as a Physical Place dept.]
"I know what conclusions you're coming to, Cabot," he drawled. "I got there in time to welcome you."
[Bonus: The protagonist avoids a dangerous accident by dodging a bust of Socrates that has been sent plummeting down from the top of a bookcase.]
[Additional scanned snippet attached.]
