half-rollicking

Updated: August 12, 2026

Crane's vigilance and charity assumed a definite shape. "Well," said he at length, dissimulating his repugnance, and with an effort at his old half-coaxing, half-rollicking tones, "you certainly are the best of creatures; and, as you say, 'Had I a heart for falsehood framed, I ne'er could injure you, ungrateful dog though I may seem, and very likely am.

Baron Edward Bulwer Lytton Lytton - What Will He Do with It? — Volume 08