all feeling good

[incandescens]

A nice day. A late birthday present from sophiap turned up to improve the morning, and several useful bits of shopping got done during the afternoon, and I then sat and knitted during an entertaining episode of Doctor Who.

And it was definitely worth buying the more expensive but better quality beef for my supper stir-fry. Very definitely worth it. The red wine with supper didn't hurt, either.

(If I put in the Library story that Kai and Irene have been to see "yet another Maria Marten remake" at the theatre, I wonder if anyone will get it?)

---

He [Judge Dee] stepped up to the Marshal and asked diffidently: "May I take the liberty of asking you a favour, sir?"

The Marshal righted himself. He asked peevishly: "Eh? What is it now?"

"I would like you to review a case against a captain, sir. He's going to be beheaded at dawn, but he is innocent."

The Marshal grew purple in his face. He roared: "With the fate of our Empire in the balance, you dare to bother me, the Marshal, with the life of one wretched man?"

Judge Dee looked steadily into the one rolling eye. He said quietly: "A thousand men must be sacrificed if military necessity dictates it, sir. But not even one man must be lost if it's not strictly necessary."

The Marshal burst out in obscene curses, but he suddenly checked himself. With a wry smile he said: "If ever you get sick of that tawdry civilian paperwork, Dee, you come and see me. By God, I'll make a general officer out of you!"

-- The Coffins of the Emperor, from the anthology Judge Dee at Work, by Van Gulik

Comments

[flemmings.livejournal.com]

I won't get it, but I'm very out of the loop on most things.

The reminder of Judge Dee, however, was exactly what I needed on this sneezy blowy allergy-laden day. An easy comfort read. Thank you.

[incandescens]

I was thinking of Maria Marten, or The Murder in the Red Barn, a "classic" melodrama, while imagining the sort of London that might have it as a continuously remade show.

I'm glad to have reminded you of Judge Dee at a moment when it could be useful. :)