M&D--so to speak [beware spoilers]

[Bill Millard]

Hi, Dave:

> Ever-so-slight possibility of a spoiler for foax who haven't gotten a bit
> into the book.  

Well, there isn't really a single page number to put in brackets in 
the subject header -- I'm just trusting readers to recognize "M&D" 
itself as a spoiler caveat.  Apologies to anyone for whom this 
spoiled anything.

> > Raised Eyebrows definitely makes sense to me, but a patrician
> > Accent? Eeh,-- beg to differ here: Would Dixon, a relatively low-born
> > Geordie with a fairly unmistakable Awareness of Class -- had his
> > early Life taken different directions, he might conceivably have
> > ended up in the Pits -- be likely to display the notorious Buckleyite
> > Hauteur? I hear rougher, broader Vowels (e.g. "popish" rendered as
> > "Poapish") and a tone that often expresses the combination of
> > Skepticism and Amazement, or maybe Aghastness. Things Mason says
> > frequently seem to strike him as Absurdities, or at least Grounds for
> > Astonishment, and I see him raising his Eyebrows in Alarm (or mayhaps
> > Mock-Alarm) rather than patrician Condescension.
> > 
> I agree, especially with this last sentence.  It's not always one-way,
> though, is it?

No, definitely not; you're right to pick up on this.  M gets just 
as taken-aback at D's peculiarities as D is at M's.  The 
two-way interplay is a joy to watch... a source of hearty Pleasure, 
for which the Author deserves infinite Laurels....

--Bill