"A county fair," she echoed in a leaden tone.

Darrah heard the leaden tone in his own voice.

'We have by no means reached a solution,' said the Professor, in a leaden tone.

The opening, in which a woman reads to dancers sprawling about her on the floor, has a leaden, obligatory tone.

'You said just now that you had heard the story,' said the tramp in a leaden tone.

Ragnar could tell he was doing his best to sound cheerful but could not keep the leaden tones of fear from his voice.

'And then there were three,' he said in a leaden tone.

'Precisely one minute,' he said in a leaden tone.

'The game is up,' said he in a leaden tone.

One key is to use not just any leaden tone, but the right one.