"Smooth" Sam Fisher
An intellectual kind of crook, "Smooth" Sam Fisher got his nickname for his silky manners as much as for his slippery scheming. He has bright, humorous brown eyes and a plump and rosy complexion, and makes a regular business of trying to kidnap Ogden Ford, a.k.a. The Little Nugget.
He first tried in 1906, in New York, and makes several attempts during Ford's sojourn at Sanstead House. Inveigling himself into the house in the guise of a butler named White, Fisher later proclaims himself, when discovered by Peter Burns chasing villains from the grounds with a revolver, to be a detective from the Pinkerton agency. A master of disguise, he makes a highly convincing butler, and keeps many fooled with his detective story for some time.
He later reveals his true identity to Burns, knowing that Burns' own plans to kidnap the boy will prevent him from revealing it. Burns repeatedly scuppers Fisher's schemes, until he is at last forced to team up with his more brutal rival, Buck MacGinnis. With MacGinnis' help, Ford is successfully taken, and Fisher steals him from the hapless MacGinnis and takes a job as the boy's bodyguard, in lieu of ransom.
Read more about this topic: P. G. Wodehouse Minor Characters
Famous quotes containing the words smooth, sam and/or fisher:
“or the warm soft side
Of the resigning yet resisting bride.
The kiss of virgins first-fruits of the bed;
Soft speech, smooth touch, the lips, the maidenhead;
These and a thousand sweets could never be
So near or dear as thou wast once to me.”
—Robert Herrick (1591–1674)
“So Sam enters the universe of sleep, a man who seeks to live in such a way as to avoid pain, and succeeds merely in avoiding pleasure. What a dreary compromise is life!”
—Norman Mailer (b. 1923)
“... most bereaved souls crave nourishment more tangible than prayers: they want a steak. What is more, they need a steak. Preferably they need it rare, grilled, heavily salted, for that way it is most easily digested, and most quickly turned into the glandular whip their tired adrenals cry for.”
—M.F.K. Fisher (1908–1992)