Butter the bogies

‘Very good inspector, I’m delighted to have met you. A very good night to you.’ And he made his exit with dignity. Mr Franklin, realising that he had nothing to stay for, followed, and was in time to see the General hurl his cane into the gutter.
    ‘Useless little squirt!’ he exclaimed. ‘Mind you, I needn’t have expected better. His father was a toad, and would have shopped his own mother for a sovereign.’ He glared at Mr Franklin. ‘But it’s always as well to butter the bogies*, you know. Fields, eh? I’ll send him a half-dozen of whisky presently — never know when he’ll come in handy.’


* See definition 5. (Speedicut)


Mr American, p.387, Pan Books, paperback edition 1982.


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