Lord Peter Wimsey (1987) 7.8

[Thinking about Harriet Vane] Lord Peter Wimsey: She has a sense of humor... and brains... life wouldn't be dull. One would wake up, and there would be a whole day full of jolly things to do. And then we would come home and go to bed... and that would be jolly too. Harriet Vane: Have I got this right? You are proposing marriage to me? Lord Peter Wimsey: I don't positively repel you or anything like that, do I? [Peter is visiting Harriet in prison, meeting her for the first time] Lord Peter Wimsey: But, um, you're not opposed to matrimony on principle? I mean if offered on terms not already compromised, and by the right person, naturally. Harriet Vane: Oh, no. Lord Peter Wimsey: Oh, that's good. Harriet Vane: Might I ask why? Lord Peter Wimsey: Makes it easier for me, you see. Harriet Vane: [after a pause] Have I got this right? You are proposing marriage to me? Lord Peter Wimsey: Absolutely right. Harriet Vane: [laughing] Do you do this all the time, Lord Peter? Lord Peter Wimsey: Only when I'm serious. Harriet Vane: And you're serious now? Lord Peter Wimsey: Oh, I know I've got a silly face, but I can't help that. And I am. Serious, I mean. Harriet Vane: You are bearing in mind, aren't you, that I've had a lover? Lord Peter Wimsey: Oh, yes, so've I. Several, in fact. It's the sort of thing that could happen to anyone. I can produce quite good testimonials. I'm told I make love rather nicely. Though I am at a bit of a disadvantage at the moment. One can't be too convincing at the other end of the table with a bloke looking in the window. Harriet Vane: I'll take your word for it. Lord Peter Wimsey: I-I-I'm not, um, trying to blackmail you into matrimony. I mean, I would investigate this case for the fun of the thing. Harriet Vane: That's very good of you. Lord Peter Wimsey: No, no, no, not at all, it's my hobby. I mean investigating things, not proposing to people. Harriet Vane: Being a writer of detective fiction, I have naturally studied your career with interest. Lord Peter Wimsey: Well, that's good, because then you'll understand that I'm not such an ass as I'm appearing at present. Harriet Vane: If anybody does marry you, Peter, it will be for the pleasure of hearing you talk piffle. Harriet Vane: Peter, people have been wrongly condemned before. Lord Peter Wimsey: Only because I wasn't there.

2b

Harriet Vane

f5f

: Oh, I never thought of that. Bill Rumm: We all are like sheep who have gone astray, and well I may say so, for I was a dark and wicked sinner myself, until this here gentleman laid his hand upon me as I was a-bustin' of his safe, and became God's instrument for turning me away from the path that leadeth to destruction. Chief Inspector Charles Parker: [writing a note] "Boyes - query arsenic." Anything else? Lord Peter Wimsey: Yes. Find out if Boyes visited any pub, in the neighbourhood of Doughty Street between 9:50 and 10:10 on the night of January 20th, if he met anybody, and what he took to drink. Chief Inspector Charles Parker: [keeps writing] "Boyes - query pub." Lord Peter Wimsey: And thirdly, find out if any bottle or paper that might have contained arsenic was picked up in that district. Chief Inspector Charles Parker: Oh, is that all? Well, perhaps you'd also like me to trace the bus ticket dropped by Mrs. Brown outside Selfridge's in the last Christmas rush? Lord Peter Wimsey: Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go see a man about a dog - or I should say, a parson about his son. Lord Peter Wimsey: I don't suppose you have the faintest idea how to pick a lock, Miss Murchison? Miss Murchison: I'm afraid not - no idea whatsoever! Lord Peter Wimsey: I sometimes wonder what we went to school for.