And she had a shamed recollection of the way in which, a few hours since, she had felt the centripetal force of their standards.

She closed her eyes an instant, and the vacuous routine of the life she had chosen stretched before her like a long white road without dip or turning: it was true she was to roll over it in a carriage instead of trudging it on foot, but sometimes the pedestrian enjoys the diversion of a short cut which is denied to those on wheels.
She was roused by a chuckle which Mr.Dorset seemed to eject from the depths of his lean throat.
"I say, do look at her," he exclaimed, turning to Miss Bart with lugubrious merriment--"I beg your pardon, but do just look at my wife making a fool of that poor devil over there! One would really suppose she was gone on him--and it's all the other way round, I assure you." Thus adjured, Lily turned her eyes on the spectacle which was affording Mr.Dorset such legitimate mirth.

It certainly appeared, as he said, that Mrs.Dorset was the more active participant in the scene: her neighbour seemed to receive her advances with a temperate zest which did not distract him from his dinner.

The sight restored Lily's good humour, and knowing the peculiar disguise which Mr.Dorset's marital fears assumed, she asked gaily: "Aren't you horribly jealous of her ?" Dorset greeted the sally with delight.

"Oh, abominably--you've just hit it--keeps me awake at night.