unearths some literary gems.
***
"Jimmy could have sold a packet of hair-curlers and some saucy post cards to a bald bishop." [I like the "doubling up" (or should I say one-upping?) there of the cliché formula.]
***
"We cannot always obtain liver. Last week we shall have it....Next week we did not." [This character is said to speak "a brand of English all his own."]
***
["Oh, that's right, Clifford Witting is the author who likes to compare people to seals" dept.]
He got out of his chair and made for the door with the grace of an insulted sea-lion.
***
[I never seem to tire of this sort of thing.]
[The bell] brought out of the back parlour a long tobacco-stained moustache with a tall, stooping bald-headed man bringing up the rear.
[And in the scene that ensues, this character's words and actions are consistently ascribed to "the moustache," rather than to "the tobacconist" or "the shop-keeper."]
[And after "the moustache" has done the protagonist a favor...]
Perkins seemed a very nice name for a moustache.
***
"Ices every third Tuesday."
"Thanks, I'll remember that. Nothing like an ice every third Tuesday."
***
The first of the town clocks was striking six and the others, having politely given place to it, were preparing to follow its example.
***
[Into her hair was tucked] an artificial rose of red velvet that clashed almost audibly with her gown.
***
[Bonus: A family bearing the surname Wildgoose.]
