His head sat with uncommon pride on his shoulders while he talked of Elspeth's timidity.

There was a ring of boastfulness in his voice as he paraded the large number of useful things that Elspeth could not do.

And yet David was a sensible and careful man.
Was it helplessness that man loved in woman, then?
It seemed to be Elspeth's helplessness that had made Tommy such a brother, and how it had always appealed to Aaron! No woman could be less helpless than herself, Grizel knew.

She thought back and back, and she could not come to a time when she was not managing somebody.

Women, she reflected, fall more or less deeply in love with every baby they see, while men, even the best of them, can look calmly at other people's babies.