16 DECEMBER 2006, Page 48

Questing time

From James Young

Sir: Rereading Evelyn Waugh’s Scoop recently, I noticed that William Boot’s immortal intro ‘Feather-footed through the splashy fen passes the questing vole’ (page 16, 1969 Penguin edition) is repeated a few pages later as ‘...plashy fens...’. (The 1992 Oxford Dictionary of Quotations gives ‘plashy fen’ the best of the three, to my mind.) No doubt the internet could help, but.... Perhaps your erudite readers could shed some light on this rural riddle?

James Young

London N1