As I mentioned before, I am sure, I am currently reading Bleak House by Charles Dickens. It is taking me longer than usual because it is very long, but also because the version I am reading has very tiny print, and the lines are all crammed in together, and that is really slowing me down. I keep re-reading the same line, or skipping the next one, and having to go back.
Anyways, this passage struck me as being exactly typical of why I love Dickens so very much.
"I rose and joined Miss Jellyby, who was, by this time, putting on her bonnet. The time allotted to a lesson having fully elapsed, there was a general putting on of bonnets. When Miss Jellyby and the unfortunate Prince found an opportunity to become betrothed I don't know, but they certainly found none, on this occassion, to exchange a dozen words."
What a turn of phrase!
What is even better, though, are the names. Miss Jellyby (which is just a great name, in its own right, plain and simple) has just finished a dance lesson where she is secretely engaged to the dance instructor. The name of the dance instructor: Prince Turveydrop. What a perfect name for a man who has a secret fiancee and is employed as an instructor of dance!
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