Home > Work > Black Orchids (Nero Wolfe, #9)
1 " I saw them. It was impossible to snitch a sample."He grunted, lowering himself into his chair. "I didn't ask you to.""Who said you did, but you expected me to. There are three of them in a glass case and the guard has his feet glued.""What color are they?""They're not black.""Black flowers are never black. What color are they?""Well." I considered. "Say you take a piece of coal. Not anthracite. Cannel coal.""That's black.""Wait a minute. Spread on it a thin coating of open kettle molasses. That's it.""Pfui. You haven't the faintest notion what it would look like. Neither have I.""I'll go buy a piece of coal and we'll try it. "
― Rex Stout , Black Orchids (Nero Wolfe, #9)
2 " I suspected the movies, considering her cheap crack about me being a ten-cent Clark Gable, which was ridiculous. He simpers, to begin with, and to end with no one can say I resemble a movie actor, and if they did it would be more apt to be Gary Cooper than Clark Gable. "
3 " Wolfe scowled at her. I could see he was torn with conflicting emotions. A female in his kitchen was an outrage. A woman criticizing his or Fritz’s cooking was an insult. But corned beef hash was one of life’s toughest problems, never yet solved by anyone. "
4 " It would take an extremely unattractive person to think of that."--Nero Wolfe, on the plot of "Cordially Invited to Meet Death" by Rex Stout, p. 159 of 192 "
5 " everything from war to picnics depends on the weather, as Wolfe remarked "
6 " Wolfe scowled at her. I could see he was torn with conflicting emotions. A female in his kitchen was an outrage. A woman criticizing his or Fritz’s cooking was an insult. But corned beef hash was one of life’s toughest problems, never yet solved by anyone. To tone down the corned flavor and yet preserve its unique quality, to remove the curse of its dryness without making it greasy—the theories and experiments had gone on for years. "
7 " What that bird would have done with a couple of Martinis under his fur would have been something to watch from an airplane. "
8 " I got the address from her, and by good luck it wasn't Bucyrus, Ohio, but merely Brooklyn. Whatever else you want to say about Brooklyn, and so do I, it does have one big advantage, it's close. "
9 " Contact is not a verb and I said be brief.” “Yes, sir. The last time you told me that I looked it up in the dictionary and I certainly don’t want to contradict you but it says contact is a verb. Transitive or intransitive.” “Contact is not a verb under this roof. "
10 " I don’t want to eat,” she said in a thin voice. “I can’t eat.” She ate seven sausages, which was nothing against her grief. Fritz’s saucisse minuit would make Gandhi a gourmet. "
11 " Wolfe shook his head. "No. Only that afternoon. If we had to argue that it is not credible that it was left in the cupboard for an extended period, just for anyone to use, but we don't have to. The bottle in that cupboard contained good iodine at four o'clock that afternoon." Cramer growled. Daniel demanded, "How do you know that?" "Because it was used at that hour. By Archie. He tripped on an alligator and scratched his hand. "
12 " Ah heah yawl makin’ cawned beef ha-a-sh.… "
