Their behavior was often grotesquely irrational; their conventions monstrously absurd; and yet, as she brooded upon them, she felt so closely attached to them that it was useless to try to pass judgment upon them.

She very nearly lost consciousness that she was a separate being, with a future of her own.

On a morning of slight depression, such as this, she would try to find some sort of clue to the muddle which their old letters presented; some reason which seemed to make it worth while to them; some aim which they kept steadily in view--but she was interrupted.
Mrs.Hilbery had risen from her table, and was standing looking out of the window at a string of barges swimming up the river.
Katharine watched her.

Suddenly Mrs.Hilbery turned abruptly, and exclaimed: "I really believe I'm bewitched! I only want three sentences, you see, something quite straightforward and commonplace, and I can't find 'em." She began to pace up and down the room, snatching up her duster; but she was too much annoyed to find any relief, as yet, in polishing the backs of books.
"Besides," she said, giving the sheet she had written to Katharine, "I don't believe this'll do.

Did your grandfather ever visit the Hebrides, Katharine ?" She looked in a strangely beseeching way at her daughter.
"My mind got running on the Hebrides, and I couldn't help writing a little description of them.