lip-courtesy

Updated: May 11, 2025

'Have you forgot Herries of Birrenswork? said the gentleman, and my father bowed even more profoundly than before; though I think his reception of his old friend seemed to lose some of the respectful civility which he bestowed on him while his name was yet unknown. It now seemed to be something like the lip-courtesy which the heart would have denied had ceremony permitted.

Sir Walter Scott - Redgauntlet