He was the typical townsman, and bore with him wherever he went an atmosphere of urban dust and worry.

He hungered for ostentation, he could only talk well when he felt that he impressed his hearers; Bertha, who was not easily impressed, he shunned like a plague.
The man, reflected the censorious Alice, had no shades or half-tones in his character; he was all bald, strong, and crude.

Now he was talking to his hostess with the grace of the wise man unbending.
"I shall be pleased indeed to meet your nephew," he said.

"I feel sure that we have many interests in common.

Do you say he lives near ?" Lady Manorwater, ever garrulous on family matters, readily enlightened him.