"If you will get in the boat now, Worth," she said, "we will go home." But Worth, serene in the consciousness of having accomplished his mission, was sending Queen out after sticks and did not appear to have heard.
And suddenly, perhaps because the hot day had come to mean so much more than mere hot day, the feeling of being in a ridiculous position, together with that bristling sense of the need of a protective dignity, fell away.

It became one of those rare moments when real things matter more than things which supposedly should matter.

She looked at him to find him looking intently at her.

He was not at all slipshod as inspector.

"Why are you sorry for me ?" she asked.