Fox hung over my ear, whispering.
There were shades of intonation in his sibillating.

Some of those "in it," the voice implied, were not above-board; others were, and the tone became deferential, implied that I was to take my tone from itself.
"Of course, a man like the Right Honourable C.does it on the straight, ...

quite on the straight, ...

has to have some sort of semi-official backer....

In this case, it's me, ...