The tell-tale watch

     Suddenly Miss Minerva realized the situation. The wearer of the watch had forgotten the tell-tale numerals on his wrist, he thought himself hidden in the dark. He was waiting for her to go on through the room. If she made no sound, gave no sign of alarm, she might be safe. Once beyond that bamboo curtain leading into the hall, she could rouse the household.

    She was a woman of great will power, but it took all she had to move serenely on her way. She shut her lips tightly and accomplished it, veering a bit from that circle of light that menaced her, looking back at it over her shoulder as she went. After what seemed an eternity the bamboo curtain received her, she was through it, she was on the stairs. But it seemed to her that never again would she be able to look at a watch or a clock and find that the hour was anything save twenty minutes past one!

(from The House Without a Key, by Earl Derr Biggers)

Adept

 We hardly ever think of it as such, but "adept" can be a noun. Its meaning is "a highly-trained individual," and is synonymous with "expert." I found it used in this sense in the Earl Derr Biggers novel, The House Without a Key."

"Roger proved an adept at making the most of one's time in San Francisco."

He's a rock!

     "I - I'm wondering, Minerva," he began slowly. "Tell me again about that nephew of yours."

    She was surprised, but hid it. "John Quincy?" she said. "He's just the usual thing, for Boston. Conventional. His whole life has been planned for him, from the cradle to the grave. So far he's walked the line. The inevitable preparatory school, Harvard, the proper clubs, the family banking house - even gone and got himself engaged to the very girl his mother would have picked for him. There have been times when I hoped he might kick over - the war - but no, he came back and got meekly into the old rut."

    "Then he's reliable - steady?"

    Miss Minerva smiled. "Dan, compared with that boy, Gibraltar wobbles occasionally."

(from The House Without a Key, by Earl Derr Biggers)

Pure bred Boston

 Miss Minerva nodded. "You never met him, did you, Dan? Well, you will, shortly. And he certainly won't approve of you."

"Why not?" Dan Winterslip bristled.

"Because he's proper. He's a dear boy, but oh, so proper. This journey is going to be a great cross for him. He'll start disapproving as soon as he passes Albany, and think of the long weary miles of disapproval he'll have to endure after that."

"Oh, I don't know. He's a Winterslip, isn't he?"

"He is. But the gypsy strain missed him completely. He's all Puritan."

(from The House Without a Key, by Earl Derr Biggers)

Not looking for trouble

 Matt turned, gave a quick glance around the room and went out, looking neither to right nor left. Only a fool goes looking for trouble, and his life had brought him more than enough, and knowing how to recognize possible trouble meant knowing how to avoid it. Even to meet the glance of some men was an invitation to trouble, for to them it was a challenge to which they must respond.

(from The Empty Land, by Louis L'Amour)

Not a good place for a young woman

    He studied her for a moment. "How old are you, Madge?"

    "Nineteen - going on forty. Nobody looks out for a girl alone, Matt. She looks out for herself, and you know what kind of a world it is."

(from The Empty Land, by Louis L'Amour)

   

Not an Absoluter

 Matt Coburn did not believe that it was when his time came that he would die. With the harsh realism that was typical of him, he believed he would cash in his chips whenever he became careless.

(from The Empty Land, by Louis L'Amour)