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The Black Tower

As I contemplate this rainy Sunday, a part of me would like very much to get lost in an old P.D. James mystery, "The Black Tower," one of her finest, and a winner of the "Silver Dagger" Award:

It was to be the consultant physician's last visit and Dalgliesh suspected that neither of them regretted it, arrogance and patronage on one side and weakness, gratitude and dependence on the other being no foundation for a satisfactory adult relationship however transitory. He came into Dalgliesh's small hospital room preceded by Sister, attended by his acolytes, already dressed for the fashionable wedding which he was to grace as a guest later that morning....

 Crisp language anatomizing a slightly-dishonest relationship--one with which most of us are already familiar (harried expert paired with uncomfortable client). Wonderfully-balanced sentences: the parallel structure of "attended by," "preceded by," "dressed for." "Arrogance and patronage" as a counterweight for "weakness, gratitude, and dependence."

The paragraph winds up with a witty image: "The attendant medical students grouped themselves round the bed. With their long hair and short white coats they looked like a gaggle of slightly disreputable bridesmaids." And so Dalgliesh, in his bleariness, has linked the students with the wedding-bound physician.

"A gaggle of slightly disreputable bridesmaids." It seems hard to dream up a better Sunday than an afternoon spent with language like that.....
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