Mr.Percy hated picnics, and found this one neither more nor less stupid than usual.

The slight fillip which Lucia had innocently given to his bored faculties, soon subsided.

He sat near her at dinner, and thought her stupid; he noticed too that she wore her hat badly, and had a very countrified air, "of course." The boat returned up the river much more slowly than it had gone down.
The elder people were tired, and the younger ones began to think of the evening, and to reserve themselves for it.

The band played at intervals, with long pauses, as if the musicians were tired too.

Mrs.Bellairs had resumed her chair on deck, but some of the elder ladies were gathered round her; Bella and Lucia sat together in one corner.