high-toned

It's nice to see you again, dear, Mom said in her most momlike voice, but I noticed her giving Lindsay this steady, questioning look.

[…]but it can be asserted with confidence that Natal will for some years yet be free from the possibility of an invasion of the disease to the same degree as the epizootic of 1896 and 1897.

They are the eerie half-human attendants at anything that is new on Broadway — the dead-pans of the Theatre Guild openings.