Doctor Thorne, I presume

Elgin himself looked ten years younger, now that he’d cast the die, but I thought exuberance had got the better of him when he strode into the saloon later, threw The Origin of Species on the table and announced:
      “It’s very original, no doubt, but not for a hot evening. What I need is some trollop.”
      I couldn’t believe my ears, and him a church-goer, too. “Well, my lord, I dunno,” says I. “Tientsin ain’t much of a place, but I’ll see what I can drum up —”
      “Michel’s been reading Doctor Thorne since Taku,” cried he. “He must have finished it by now, surely! Ask him, Flashman, will you?” So I did, and had my ignorance, enlightened.


Flashman and the Dragon, p.170, Fontana Paperback edition, 1986.



Tags: Flashman, Flashman quotes, Anthony Trollope.