to be only toe

[Mr Bones]

Hello, could you explain me this expression, please:

One evening while Farquhar and his wife were sitting on a rustic bench near the entrance to his grounds, a gray-clad soldier rode up to the gate and asked for a drink of water. Mrs. Farquhar was only toe, happy to serve him with her own white hands (An Ocurrence at Owl Creek Bridge, by Ambrose Bierce).

I can gather from the context that she gave him gladly what he was asking for, but I'd like to know something else about the idiom.

Thank you, Bones.

 

[GenJen54]

Hmmm.

Are you sure this is not:

Mrs. Farquhar was only too happy to serve him with her own white hands....?

This would certainly make more sense.

 

[Joelline]

It's not an idiom; it's a typographical error. It should read, "Mrs. Farquhar was only too happy to serve..."

 

[suzi br]

TO be honest it looks like a typing error, for "she was only too happy to serve him"

which would just mean that she was very willing and enthusiastic about helping him ...

.... unless there is a strange idiom I've neve met which only people called Farquhar know about!

 

[Mr Bones]

Yes, you're absolutely right and this is not the first time this has happened to me. Thanks, Bones.

 

[emma42]

No, no, no! It means that Mrs F was ONLY MADE OUT OF TOES.

Mr Bones. This is a joke.

 

[maxiogee]

Remember those photgraphs of Fergie
on that sun-recliner, whilst Steve Wyatt
was "nearby" —> she was also "only toe happy"!

 

[Robbo]

Well the story that Mr Bones is reading ends with:

"Peyton Farquhar was dead; his body, with a broken neck, swung gently from side to side beneath the timbers of the Owl Creek bridge."

That's what you get when you're served by Mrs Farquhar --- toe-tally dead!

Robbo

 

[scotu]

I don't think he died of a broken neck, I heard it was toemaine poisoning.