keen-witted

All the afternoon he sat in the stalls wrapped in the most perfect happiness, gently waving his long, thin fingers in time to the music, while his gently smiling face and his languid, dreamy eyes were as unlike those of Holmes, the sleuth-hound, Holmes the relentless, keen-witted, ready-handed criminal agent, as it was possible to conceive.

Sole Music 2010

Dumay withdrew, his heart torn with anxiety, believing that the wretched Butscha had worn the skin of the poet to deceive Modeste; whereas Butscha himself, keen-witted as a prince seeking revenge, and far cleverer than any paid spy, was ferretting out the life and actions of Canalis, escaping notice by his insignificance, like an insect that bores its way into the sap of a tree.

Modeste Mignon 2007

Had it not been for a restraining glance from me, you would have proclaimed to the most sharp-sighted, keen-witted, and unsparing of Paris salons, that your inspiration was drawn from Armande – Louise-Marie de

Letters of Two Brides 2007

From a glance at his feet, he might have been taken for a girl in disguise, and this so much the more easily from the feminine contour of the hips, a characteristic of keen-witted, not to say, astute, men.

Two Poets 2007

From a glance at his feet, he might have been taken for a girl in disguise, and this so much the more easily from the feminine contour of the hips, a characteristic of keen-witted, not to say, astute, men.

Two Poets 2007

The German Minister, a keen-witted man of the world, made a sign to the Duke and Tullia, and the three disappeared with the first symptoms of vociferous nonsense which precede the grotesque scenes of an orgy in its final stage.

A Distinguished Provincial at Paris 2007

Again, keen-witted dendrochronologists are ever on the look-out for shifting sand dunes, as a temperature-limited proxy may lurk nearby.

Dulan Junipers and the Silk Road « Climate Audit 2007

In this respect Sir Louis was perhaps more keen-witted than Dr Thorne.

Doctor Thorne 2004

He was very keen-witted and in all countries fools outnumber the rest; no doubt, if he had lived in Germany the German fools defending an unjust cause with passionate folly would — have equally irritated him; but living in France, the French fools, defending a just cause with passionate folly, irritated him no less.

Time Regained 2003

But he thought himself forever beyond the reach of the wily, keen-witted detective; and in this he was wrong.

The Honor of the Name �mile Gaboriau 2003