A Man Lay Dead Quotes
"At twenty-five he had outgrown that horror of enthusiasm which is so characteristic of youth-grown-up."
"He was actually on his way to Frantock, and in 'colossal form' at the very thought of it."
"What an extraordinarily expressionless voice old Charles has got."
"I hope I haven't completely unmanned you…by my driving I mean."
"His hair, dead white, had not suffered the indignity of middle-age."
"His eyes were a peculiarly vivid blue and deep-set under heavily marked brows."
"People always imagine one is so much more amusing after one has given them something to drink."
"The sudden blaze from the chandelier was blinding."
"I ses, ‘don’t you touch none of them grates,’" said Bunce suddenly, "there’s only gas upstairs."
"All very nice and proper," grumbled Alleyn to Detective-Sergeant Bailey, "nothing disturbed except the minor detail of the body."
"Lovely funeral if we’d only had a corpse, sort of," responded Bailey.
"If only something could be written there. I should like to see Sir Hubert now if that is possible."
"I am sorry to have kept you waiting," said Handesley, "I am quite ready to answer any questions that you would like to put to me."
"What did Mr. Wilde do when he was on the landing?"
"It’s all right," said Marjorie Wilde, "I know what Doctor Tokareff is going to say. I lost my head."
"For a detective," thought Nigel, "the Inspector seems to be making rather heavy way of this."
"Thank you very much, Mr. Wilde," said Alleyn. The Inspector’s manner had undoubtedly become most convincingly official.
"I hate asking for prints, it makes me feel so self-conscious."
"A nit-wit wouldn’t leave a print behind him nowadays if he could help it."
"Somebody’s been chucking away their belongings."
"Pretty good? It’s pretty damn good for all of ‘em except Miss Grant."
"She did tell a nice meaty lie about her movements, and followed up with a faint on top of it."
"If Tokareff’s our man, he is pretty nimble on his pins."
"Poor devil. There are certain aspects of our job that are not very delicious."
"However, it seems quite likely. If she did, anyone may have picked it up."
"He couldn’t smoke two cigarettes, commit a murder, and talk to a housemaid while he was doing it, in ten or twelve minutes."
"I only thought that for the ladies it would be better to have it happen as unnoticeably as possible."
"I wish everyone else felt the same way about it."
"Your cousin’s relationships with women were, shall we say, of a slightly ephemeral nature."
"Marriage with a woman who understood you was emotional suicide."
"I feel sure they are doing quite a lot in that direction," rejoined Mr. Benningden drily.
"Good-bye, my dear fellow. I shall be down for the inquest, of course. In the meantime, good-bye."
"The house-party lived on with a horrible posthumous individuality."
"We all wonder that about each other, all day and half the night," said Nigel brutally.
"And nowadays they make their Yard men so naturalistic that they are quite incredible."
"Oh God, oh God, I wish Charles were not dead!"
"Nothing can be more dangerous than your silence."
"We are all sick of each other," said Nigel desperately, "but for the love of Mike don’t let’s say so too often. Saying things makes them so real."
"Imagine it! A flirtation with a charge of murder hanging over all our heads."
"Don’t you start!" said Miss North cryptically.
"Let me just explain precisely what I mean by the Russian evidence."
"It may be my death," said Nigel, "but I'll risk it."
"We are now doing sixty, and we are going up to sixty-five. Is this a time for dalliance?"
"Taking a strong cuppa at six-thirty in their shirt sleeves."
"He doesn’t conform to my mental pictures of a sleuth-hound."
"I had an idea they lived privately amidst inlaid linoleums, aspidistras, and enlarged photographs of constabulary groups."
"I shan’t bother to add ‘or murderess’ every time."
"The idea of Russians stabbing people in England because someone has given away a sacred dagger is so highly coloured that a decent policeman blushes to advance it."
"Do you know anything about cabinet-making or Victorian objets d'art?"
"I haven’t the smallest intention of telling you."
"It is not fitting that you should address a limb of the law as your poor pet on such a short acquaintance."
"I've got palpitations," said Nigel suddenly, "it's very uncomfortable."
"The whole affair ended, leaving the onlookers with a sense of having been served with treason when they ordered murder."
"I was extremely fond of him," said Handesley, tonelessly.
"You think it very strange that I should want to possess this weapon. To you, perhaps, it is strange, but you are not a passionately enthusiastic collector, nor have you the detached point of view of the student."
"This crime seems to have acted like a corrosive acid in all our hearts."
"The simplest way of making myself clearly understood is to reconstruct the machinery of the murder."
"You have made some friends here, haven't you?"
"I am unable to feel any sympathy with the incalculable megrims of the layman."
"I hate illogical sentimentality. It is so conceited."
"It is very largely our ignorance of the official theory that has made this suspense intolerable."
"That, with the left-hand glove, was my one exhibit. He kept his head pretty well."