DEATH BEFORE WICKET - Poisoned Pen Press (UK)

Chapter Ten
Everyone but narks, dogs, phiz-gigs and jacks
—‘Guest List for Tillie Devine’s Birthday’, quoted in
Butel and Thompson, Kings Cross Album
Love is universal. It happens just the same
in Darlinghurst as in Oodnadatta, only in
Darlinghurst it happens at shorter intervals.
—‘Nothing Like Love’ in Lennie Lower,
Here’s Lower
The infirmary was a rather severe building, constructed when
all illness was considered to be tantamount to sin and thus to be
seriously discouraged among the student body. Phryne’s shoes
slid on a floor polished to within an inch of extinction and a
white-clad nurse materialised at her elbow.
‘Yes?’ she asked, with the unshakeable superiority which is
given to one who knows the worst of human nature.
‘I want to see Joss Hart,’ said Phryne.
The nurse seemed about to argue. She stood for a moment
and analysed Phryne: her clothes, her assurance, and probably
her bank balance and the name of her hairdresser, then turned
and bustled away. She stopped outside a half-open door.