quotables: cloud of witness

Yes, yes – the mystery is all very interesting, but it’s the characters that make this book so very sparkling. 

Clouds of Witness

by Dorothy L. Sayers.

“No decent-minded person would know how to spell ipecacuanha out of his own head.”

– page 125

“What luck! Here’s a deep, damp ditch on the other side, which I shall now proceed to fall into.”

A slithering crash proclaimed that he had carried out his intention.

– page 57

“He seemed particularly cheerio, you know,” said the Hon. Freddy.

“Particularly what?” inquired the Lord High Steward.

“Cheerio, my lord,” said Sir Wigmore, with a deprecatory bow.

“I do not know whether that is a dictionary word,” said his lordship, entering it upon his notes with meticulous exactness, “but I take it to be synonymous with cheerful.”

“May we take it that he was in exceptionally lively spirits?” suggested Counsel.

“Take it in any spirit you like,” muttered the witness, adding, more happily, “Take a peg of John Begg.”

“The deceased was particularly lively and merry when he went to bed,” said Sir Wigmore, frowning horribly.

– page 248