- Nero Wolfe: [to Susan] You are either a poisonous cockatrice or a witling, and you have brought Mr. Goodwin to a desperate pass!
- Archie Goodwin: [interrupting] You said this was my affair!
- Nero Wolfe: Yes, it was... until it threatened me.
- [to Susan]
- Nero Wolfe: Miss McLeod, I cannot function properly, let alone comfortably, without Archie Goodwin. I depend on him. Because of you, he is in grave jeopardy.
- [to Archie]
- Nero Wolfe: Archie, from now on, this is our joint affair, by your leave.
- Inspector Cramer: When did you know that Kenneth Faber had shoved you out and taken Sue over?
- Archie Goodwin: Your Honor, I object to the question, on the grounds that it's insulting, impertinent, and disgusticulous! Because it assumes that I am shovable. Not only that, but also I can be shoved from a place where I have never been!
- Nero Wolfe: Objection sustained. You will rephrase the question, Mister Cramer.
- Sergeant Purley Stebbins: [nastily as he sees Archie with a plate of jail food] What's the matter, Goodwin? Not gourmet enough for you?
- Archie Goodwin: [sardonically] Edible would have been enough.