They had the eyes they always have, cloudy and grey like freezing water. The firm set mouth, the hard little wrinkles at the corners of the eyes, the hard hollow meaningless stare, not quite cruel and a thousand miles from kind. The dull ready-made clothes, worn without style, with a sort of contempt ; the look of men who are poor yet proud of their power, watching always for ways to make it felt, to shove it into you and twist it and grin and watch you squirm, ruthless without malice, cruel and yet not always unkind. What would you expect them to be ? Civilization had no meaning for them. All they saw of it was the failures, the dirt, the dregs, the aberrations and the disgust.
Raymond Chandler
The Little Sister
1949
image
cover 1958
reblogged from Noirartica
My favorite Marlowe novel, read and reread numerous times over the decades. The movie version, with James Garner, also a favorite.
ReplyDelete