Kate Plus 10 quotes
The lines readers remember from Kate Plus 10, by Edgar Wallace.
30 quotes · About the book
Standout lines
Sibble did not reply, knowing by experience that, even as silence was insolence, speech could be nothing less than impertinence.
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“Why the dickens don’t you answer my bell when I ring?” snapped the Earl and glared at his red-faced servant.
Sibble did not reply, knowing by experience that, even as silence was insolence, speech could be nothing less than impertinence.
Lord Flanborough was slightly over middle age, thin, bald and dyspeptic.
Men want more from women than a quid pro quo; they want two quid pro quo.
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But if I were a typist in a city office and I borrowed £2 from the assistant manager or from the chief bookkeeper or a fiver from one of the partners, why, Mike, I should be booked for supper on Wednesday.
Men want more from women than a quid pro quo; they want two quid pro quo.
In return for the £2 I borrowed, I should pay interest well outside the range of the multiplication table.
A person who talks is like a lighted house with all the blinds up and the doors open, you know where you are.
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“A pretty woman can never talk too much,” said the gallant Gregori; “she can think too much and talk too little.
A person who talks is like a lighted house with all the blinds up and the doors open, you know where you are.
Now, Colonel mio, how far have we got with this new scheme?”
This is the way of women who, when offered a dish, a dress, a colour, a material or a man, invariably say, “I would like to see something else.”
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… ground and to resume the old romance, she would have found an intense satisfaction in checking him and would have gone to bed that night happy in the knowledge that she had permanently attached to her one for whom she had not the slightest tenderness.
This is the way of women who, when offered a dish, a dress, a colour, a material or a man, invariably say, “I would like to see something else.”
Her abstraction was so marked that Sir Ralph thought she was ill, which instantly produced that headache which it is every woman’s privilege to adopt at a moment’s notice.
No man has ever understood a woman, for the simple reason that woman is unintelligible even to her own kind.
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No man has ever understood a woman, for the simple reason that woman is unintelligible even to her own kind.
If she were not, and if she were susceptible to explanation by her own sisters, be sure that her own sisters would lose no time in telling the first man she met all about her.
It is a mistake to believe that rich people do not care for money or that a man with two millions is wholly indifferent as to whether he has two or three.
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Sir Ralph sat by himself and rejected all Lord Flanborough’s attempts to discuss the matter. He was hurt in his pride and, if the truth be told, hurt in his pocket because an alliance with the family meant a considerable addition to his fortune.
It is a mistake to believe that rich people do not care for money or that a man with two millions is wholly indifferent as to whether he has two or three.
Indeed, the reverse is the case. The man who thinks in thousands is indifferent to a figure or two, the man who counts his fortune in shillings seldom knows the number of shillings he has. Only your two-millionaire realizes the full value of money.
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Jump to a chapter
- I: Eighty-Three Pearls on a String
- II: Mike Said Nothing—There Was Nothing to Say
- IV: “The Ideal Criminal Is a Strategist”
- V: A Chorus Girl at Sebo’s
- VI: Kate Came to the Flat
- VII: The Princess Bacheffski—Beautifully Dressed
- VIII: An Artist Makes an Exhibition of Himself
- XI: Lady Moya Was Curiously Unlike Herself
- XII: A Motor Car Was Met by a Special Train
- XIII: The Chronology of a Great Theft
- XIV: The Remarkable Train That Did Strange Tricks
- XVI: On the Unmorality of Professional Thieves
- XVIII: The Colonel Was a Gentleman at the Last
I: Eighty-Three Pearls on a String
Sibble did not reply, knowing by experience that, even as silence was insolence, speech could be nothing less than impertinence.
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“Why the dickens don’t you answer my bell when I ring?” snapped the Earl and glared at his red-faced servant.
Sibble did not reply, knowing by experience that, even as silence was insolence, speech could be nothing less than impertinence.
Lord Flanborough was slightly over middle age, thin, bald and dyspeptic.
“Children and the lower orders never recognize sarcasm,” said Michael with a broad smile.
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“Don’t tell me that,” growled Lord Flanborough, “as though I didn’t recognize your sarcasm.”
“Children and the lower orders never recognize sarcasm,” said Michael with a broad smile.
He held out his hand and somewhat reluctantly his lordship extended his own flabby paw.
II: Mike Said Nothing—There Was Nothing to Say
Men want more from women than a quid pro quo; they want two quid pro quo.
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But if I were a typist in a city office and I borrowed £2 from the assistant manager or from the chief bookkeeper or a fiver from one of the partners, why, Mike, I should be booked for supper on Wednesday.
Men want more from women than a quid pro quo; they want two quid pro quo.
In return for the £2 I borrowed, I should pay interest well outside the range of the multiplication table.
“I hope not,” said Michael gravely; “from the idea of your being robbed, the imagination reels.”
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“You don’t suggest,” began his lordship in alarm, “that she is scheming to rob me?”
“I hope not,” said Michael gravely; “from the idea of your being robbed, the imagination reels.”
“I wish you wouldn’t be so sarcastic. I am afraid you have never quite forgiven Moya—”
IV: “The Ideal Criminal Is a Strategist”
There is a certain punctilio in our profession which you may have noticed.
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“Hush, hush, my child,” cautioned her uncle, “our admirable friend is upstairs and, anyway, it doesn’t do to speak disrespectfully of one’s criminal associates.
There is a certain punctilio in our profession which you may have noticed.
”
“The ideal criminal is a strategist,” said the girl.
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“You are a wonderful girl and I will admit you are right. Heavens! the patience required to work out these details!”
“The ideal criminal is a strategist,” said the girl.
“He foresees every move of the enemy and forestalls him. He makes a diversion at one point and his real attack at another. He prepares the way for retreat at the same time as he is preparing his advance.
I think that is because all good people are dull.
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“I think this is the better,” she said frankly; “it is very pleasant and very exciting. And all the good people I have met have been very dull.
I think that is because all good people are dull.
”
A person who talks is like a lighted house with all the blinds up and the doors open, you know where you are.
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“A pretty woman can never talk too much,” said the gallant Gregori; “she can think too much and talk too little.
A person who talks is like a lighted house with all the blinds up and the doors open, you know where you are.
Now, Colonel mio, how far have we got with this new scheme?”
V: A Chorus Girl at Sebo’s
“A human being loosely attached to a million,” was the laconic description.
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“Who is Reggie Boltover?” asked his companion.
“A human being loosely attached to a million,” was the laconic description.
The girl was radiant, the smile hardly left her face and the eyes which glanced shyly up to her tall companion were full of wonder and delight.
Chorus girls are merely shopgirls with a taste for caviar and peaches.
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There was really nothing wrong about Reggie Boltover and nothing remarkably terrible about this strangely initiated friendship.
Chorus girls are merely shopgirls with a taste for caviar and peaches.
They are no more sinful than their sisters in the same social strata and the only difference between them is that, whilst they are exposed to similar temptations, the chorus girl has a larger field to pick from and the candidates are much more presentable.
VI: Kate Came to the Flat
“It’s better to be rudely awake than politely asleep,” he said meaningly.
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“I think you are very rude,” she said with a lift of her brows.
“It’s better to be rudely awake than politely asleep,” he said meaningly.
“When one has to deal with clever criminals one has to take all sorts of precautions.”
Nature provides all things with some form of protection. It gives the oyster its shell and the tiger its stripes.
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“
Nature provides all things with some form of protection. It gives the oyster its shell and the tiger its stripes.
It gives the squid his ink-sack and the shark his teeth. Nature always produces antidotes. When criminals are stupid they have stupid policemen to deal with them. When criminals are extraordinarily clever, Nature provides the police force with an officer of unusual intelligence.
“No, but it sounds awfully good. I’m thinking of including it in the great speech I shall deliver one of these days at the Old Bailey.”
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“In fact you rob the people who have the money,” said Michael. “That isn’t clever.”
“No, but it sounds awfully good. I’m thinking of including it in the great speech I shall deliver one of these days at the Old Bailey.”
“What did you want from Reggie?” he asked.
For Kate Westhanger had blushed for the first time in her life.
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“Good night, dear,” said the voice from the balcony and to her intense annoyance she felt an extraordinary sensation wholly new to her, but which with her quick woman’s wit she correctly diagnosed, as she hurried angrily along the street.
For Kate Westhanger had blushed for the first time in her life.
VII: The Princess Bacheffski—Beautifully Dressed
This is the way of women who, when offered a dish, a dress, a colour, a material or a man, invariably say, “I would like to see something else.”
Show the passage
… ground and to resume the old romance, she would have found an intense satisfaction in checking him and would have gone to bed that night happy in the knowledge that she had permanently attached to her one for whom she had not the slightest tenderness.
This is the way of women who, when offered a dish, a dress, a colour, a material or a man, invariably say, “I would like to see something else.”
Her abstraction was so marked that Sir Ralph thought she was ill, which instantly produced that headache which it is every woman’s privilege to adopt at a moment’s notice.
VIII: An Artist Makes an Exhibition of Himself
No man has ever understood a woman, for the simple reason that woman is unintelligible even to her own kind.
Show the passage
No man has ever understood a woman, for the simple reason that woman is unintelligible even to her own kind.
If she were not, and if she were susceptible to explanation by her own sisters, be sure that her own sisters would lose no time in telling the first man she met all about her.
“I wrote it myself,” he said without shame.
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“Yes—it was a very flattering criticism, I thought,” said the girl.
“I wrote it myself,” he said without shame.
He turned to the programme girl.
XI: Lady Moya Was Curiously Unlike Herself
There was nothing in life which did not interest Michael Pretherston.
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He sat on one of the garden seats by the side of the lake, pulled his overcoat about his legs for the morning was chilly and began to scan the headlines in the newspaper. There was nothing startling here, but he read the columns conscientiously.
There was nothing in life which did not interest Michael Pretherston.
He might have taken for his motto homo sum; humani nihil a me alienum puto. It was a saying of T. B. Smith’s that Michael could even write a readable volume on the psychology of dogfights.
“You are overdoing it,” said Michael; “you are trying to do too much. Your doctor would probably tell you that you ought not to commit more than one burglary a month.”
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She was not as bright as usual.
“You are overdoing it,” said Michael; “you are trying to do too much. Your doctor would probably tell you that you ought not to commit more than one burglary a month.”
“You are very quaint,” she said again.
“You are like a serial story, you finish off at the most interesting place,” he grumbled.
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I can’t tell you any more, Mike.”
“You are like a serial story, you finish off at the most interesting place,” he grumbled.
His keen grey eyes searched hers and she met them fairly.
“All people with indigestion are sentimental between paroxysms,” said Michael sagely.
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I could have taken Ralph Sapson and made of him a snake ring for my little finger. I nearly had Flanborough on the point of proposing to me. He is rather sentimental, did you know that?”
“All people with indigestion are sentimental between paroxysms,” said Michael sagely.
He gave his hand to the girl though it was unnecessary and helped her to her feet and they walked out of the park together. Her little Mercedes was unattended and he cranked it up for her.
XII: A Motor Car Was Met by a Special Train
It is a mistake to believe that rich people do not care for money or that a man with two millions is wholly indifferent as to whether he has two or three.
Show the passage
Sir Ralph sat by himself and rejected all Lord Flanborough’s attempts to discuss the matter. He was hurt in his pride and, if the truth be told, hurt in his pocket because an alliance with the family meant a considerable addition to his fortune.
It is a mistake to believe that rich people do not care for money or that a man with two millions is wholly indifferent as to whether he has two or three.
Indeed, the reverse is the case. The man who thinks in thousands is indifferent to a figure or two, the man who counts his fortune in shillings seldom knows the number of shillings he has. Only your two-millionaire realizes the full value of money.
The thrift of the millionaire might well serve as an example to the improvident poor.
Show the passage
Indeed, the reverse is the case. The man who thinks in thousands is indifferent to a figure or two, the man who counts his fortune in shillings seldom knows the number of shillings he has. Only your two-millionaire realizes the full value of money.
The thrift of the millionaire might well serve as an example to the improvident poor.
“I shall speak to Moya when we get home,” said Lord Flanborough. “I have never been so distressed at anything so much in my life. It is disgraceful, Ralph.”
XIII: The Chronology of a Great Theft
“I have lost a wife and a railway train in twenty-four hours. What the dickens are you laughing at?”
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“It’s pretty rough on me, old man,” said the baronet with that friendliness which the superior person invariably adopts in a moment of his misfortune.
“I have lost a wife and a railway train in twenty-four hours. What the dickens are you laughing at?”
“Nothing,” said Michael recovering his gravity. “It was almost worth everything to see your face!”
XIV: The Remarkable Train That Did Strange Tricks
“She is a very uncommon swindler,” said Michael.
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“Then you mean to say that she is a common swindler?”
“She is a very uncommon swindler,” said Michael.
“There’s only one thing that puzzles me,” he said, half to himself; “what did she want of Reggie?”
It was his boast that he did not know there was such a thing as yesterday.
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But Mr. Boltover’s mind was a blank.
It was his boast that he did not know there was such a thing as yesterday.
“Did she ask you to give her any information about things you are interested in?”
“As you are such a perfectly hopeless person,” said Michael, “will you give me a note to your secretary or your factotum or whatever human substitute for mentality you possess, instructing him to give me a full list of your properties?”
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“My dear fellow,” said Reggie Boltover, shaking his head, “if she did I have forgotten it. All I know is that she very seriously compromised me. I have not been to Sebo’s since.”
“As you are such a perfectly hopeless person,” said Michael, “will you give me a note to your secretary or your factotum or whatever human substitute for mentality you possess, instructing him to give me a full list of your properties?”
“With the greatest pleasure in life, with every happiness,” said Reggie earnestly, “with the greatest alacrity!”
XVI: On the Unmorality of Professional Thieves
I believe I have the right to match my wits against the world and take, by my intelligence, what the old robber barons took by brutal strength.
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You will only be a half man, living two lives. Marry you! And am I to go into witness boxes to testify against your burglar? And prosecute your poachers? I am living now, what I believe to be the truth.
I believe I have the right to match my wits against the world and take, by my intelligence, what the old robber barons took by brutal strength.
If I pass to the other side I should be a liar, living a life in which I did not believe. I am going on.”
XVIII: The Colonel Was a Gentleman at the Last
“Nothing that I would take from you at that price,” he said quietly.
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He looked at her steadily.
“Nothing that I would take from you at that price,” he said quietly.
“Don’t you love your life?”
“She is worth many things,” said Michael, “but not that.”
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“Isn’t she worth it?” she said, recovering her balance at last.
“She is worth many things,” said Michael, “but not that.”
She looked down at the floor.
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