“No more so than your adenoids and your bad manners.”
Why it's great
Instead of explaining herself she turns the insult back, refusing to be the only odd one.
Register
Informal
Use it yourself
My desk is messy? No more so than yours.
00:00 / 03:59
00:00 / 03:59
Lucy Barges In on a Publisher, Explained
The Ghost and Mrs. Muir · 1947
Chapter 12 of 18 · 3'59"
Lucy has come all the way from the coast with a manuscript, only to be told she can't see Mr. Sproule "without an appointment." Fairley — bored, sharp, and waiting for the same man — needles her, then hands her his slot. What looks like a favor is really a stranger deciding her fate for her.
Key moments
Start here, then watch the full scene- 2:15–2:50
❝ Monologue · 6 lines Sproule Kicks Lucy Out, Then Reads Her Book
35s
Lucy Barges In on a Publisher, explained
What happens
At a London publishing house, Lucy Muir asks to see the publisher, Mr. Sproule. The clerk refuses her — no appointment, no meeting. Another waiting author, Fairley, mocks her manuscript, then gives her his own appointment and tells Sproule she's desperate to meet him. Inside, Sproule dismisses her book; Lucy snaps back, then pitches it as a sailor's unvarnished life, and he agrees to read a few pages.
What's really going on
The reception desk is a gate, and Lucy has no key: "Can't see Mr. Sproule without an appointment." Fairley is the scene's real engine. He's an author who has been kept waiting, so he toys with Lucy because he can, then hands her his appointment. His line to Sproule, "She's mad about you," is a joke at her expense, not a kindness. Inside, Sproule's rudeness is professional, not personal: "20 million discontented females in the British Isles and every blessed one of them is writing a novel." Lucy survives it by refusing to be small — "No more so than your adenoids and your bad manners" — and by giving him a hook. The second she says "unvarnished," the publisher of trash starts listening.
Key lines & what they mean
- “No more so than your adenoids and your bad manners.”
- Lucy's comeback: her manuscript isn't half as strange as his nasal voice and his rudeness. 'Adenoids' were blamed for a stuffy, upper-class drawl — a pointed insult about how he sounds.
- “Then see him you shall, and it is your good fortune that I'm not only irresponsible, but also unreasonable.”
- Fairley grants her wish with mock ceremony, claiming his flaws as the reason he can help: because he's careless and rule-breaking, he'll simply give her his appointment.
- “She's mad about you. Couldn't you tell?”
- Said to Sproule as Fairley goes in: a teasing claim that Lucy is smitten with the publisher, when really she is only desperate to see him about her book.
- “20 million discontented females in the British Isles and every blessed one of them is writing a novel.”
- Sproule's dismissal of Lucy as one more bored housewife with a manuscript; 'blessed' is sarcastic, and the number is pure bluster.
- “Bless my soul, madam, I've got to publish this bilge in order to stay in business, but I don't have to read it.”
- 'Bilge' is the dirty water in a ship's hold — so trash. Sproule admits he sells rubbish to keep the firm alive, yet insists he needn't actually read it.
- “It's the unvarnished record of a sailor's life.”
- Lucy's pitch: no varnish, no polishing — a plain, true account. It is the phrase that finally gets Sproule to look up and offer to read a few pages.
Theme
- Ambition — Lucy travels miles and refuses to leave until a publisher reads her manuscript.
- Class — A coastal widow must get past a clerk, an author, and a sneering publisher to be heard.
What this chapter teaches
Teaching points
Review right after watchingMy level2/6
A1–C2 is the CEFR scale. Cards above the level you pick fade, and playback will not auto-pause on them.
Language points
Click a card to jump to its moment in the videoGolden lines
A great line in its own right — why and how to use it“Then see him you shall, and it is your good fortune that I'm not only irresponsible, but also unreasonable.”
Why it's great
He grants the favour by confessing his own faults, making mischief sound like gallantry.
Register
Formal
Use it yourself
Then a seat you shall have, and it is your good fortune that I owe you one.
“She's mad about you. Couldn't you tell?”
Why it's great
A bystander names the attraction the two of them have missed entirely.
Register
Informal
Use it yourself
He's mad about you. Couldn't you tell from the way he writes?
“20 million discontented females in the British Isles and every blessed one of them is writing a novel.”
Why it's great
One manuscript becomes a national epidemic in a line that sounds like a census of contempt.
Register
Informal
Use it yourself
A million podcasts, and every blessed one of them is about success.
“Bless my soul, madam, I've got to publish this bilge in order to stay in business, but I don't have to read it.”
Why it's great
In one breath he admits the trade is rubbish and refuses any part in reading it.
Register
Informal
Use it yourself
I write these ads in order to pay rent, but I don't have to like them.
“It's the unvarnished record of a sailor's life.”
Why it's great
One word turns the manuscript into a selling point: a life told without polish.
Register
Formal
Use it yourself
It's the unvarnished record of a nurse's life on the ward.
Monologue
One character carrying the scene — shadow the whole passage❝ Sproule's dismissal
Of course you have. 20 million discontented females in the British Isles and every blessed one of them is writing a novel. Don't tell me what's in it. I know. Bless my soul, madam, I've got to publish this bilge in order to stay in business, but I don't have to read it. No, madam, I do not. And now if you'll pardon me, I'm busy.
Six lines move from mock sympathy to open contempt and a firm dismissal.
Up next · 13a weakness forThe scene: Lucy Meets Miles in a CabTakeaways
What you walk away with- A polite office can be the rudest place in the film.
- One precise word can reverse a publisher's decision.
- Turning an insult back takes nerve and timing.
- Sproule's trade talk hides real contempt for writers.
People also search
Questions, then the linesWho is Fairley, and why does he give up his appointment?
Fairley is a waiting author whose new book Sproule is about to tear apart. He has already been kept waiting once, so he toys with Lucy at the desk, then hands her his 11 o'clock slot — part mischief, part a game with the publisher. It costs him nothing; the appointment is his to waste.
Why does Sproule dismiss Lucy's manuscript before reading it?
He assumes it is the usual book from '20 million discontented females in the British Isles,' each one writing a novel. His business depends on publishing such books, so he's cynical about all of them. He only pauses when Lucy stops sounding like every other would-be author.
What is a 'grampus,' and why does Lucy call Sproule one?
'Grampus' is an old word for a large sea mammal, or figuratively a fat, snorting person. As Sproule walks off, Lucy shouts it after him — then immediately apologizes for losing her temper and blurting it out.
Why does Sproule agree to read her book after all?
Lucy says it is 'the unvarnished record of a sailor's life.' 'Unvarnished' means plain and unpolished, and Sproule repeats the word back. He challenges whether she really knows sailors, but she stands her ground, and he allows that he may have time for a few pages.
Is Lucy really 'mad about' Sproule?
No. Fairley says 'She's mad about you' to Sproule as a joke — Lucy is only frantic to see the publisher about her manuscript. The line is a tease, not a fact, and it plays on how easily others read a woman's determination as romance.