She says she really can't afford to lose more flesh.

Do you see how she has had to make herself up to hide the mosquito bites?
Luckily, I've got a skin that insects don't find palatable....' They had of course met since the Landing.

Joan had paid her formal visit, had lunched at Government House, and was now on intimate terms with the new people.

Also, Lady Bridget had found her way to the cottage on Emu Point.
She looked round at the different groups and gave a cynical little shrug.
'Why! it's like everything one had left behind! I might be at a party to the Colonial Delegates in London for all the difference there is.
Where's your barbarism, Joan?
...

I'm pining for a savage existence....
That's an excessively good-looking man'-- her eyebrows indicated Colin McKeith--'I do hope he is the man I asked for to take me in to dinner--I told Vereker Wells that I wanted a new sensation--that man looks as if he might give it to me--No, don't tell me: there's excitement in uncertainty.' She went on in eager monologue, giving no time for replies.
'It seems we've put the official backs up.