They occasionally showed a spasmodic excitement over the progress of a cricket or polo match.

Their achievements were largely those of the stay-at-home warriors who fought with the quill what others faced death with the sword for.

Their inertia disgusted her.

Their self-satisfaction spurred her to resentment.
Here was a man in the real heart of life.

He was engaged in a struggle that makes existence worth while--the effort to bring a message to his people.
How all the conversations she was forced to listen to in her narrow world rose up before her in their carping meannesses! Her father's brutal diatribes against a people, unfortunate enough to be compelled, from force of circumstance, to live on a portion of land that belonged to him, yet in whose lives he took no interest whatsoever.