As they had come down the least difficult way and had not met her, he concluded that she had not endeavoured to go far afield, and tried to dismiss his anxiety and enjoy his guests in his own way.
Hospitality, even in its simplest form, is more often a matter of amiable pride than of sincere unselfishness, but it is not a form of pride with which people are apt to quarrel.

Bates, when he found himself conversing with scientific men of gentle manners, was resolved to show himself above the ordinary farmer of that locality.

He went to the barrel where the summer's eggs had been packed in soft sand, and took out one apiece for the assembled company.

He packed the oven with large potatoes.

He put on an excellent supply of tea to boil.