There's something about human nature that is awfully repulsive, and the healthier people are, the more repulsive they seem to me to be....
He paused, biting his pen.

Had he one acquaintance who would not counsel him to see a doctor for writing in that style?
How would the world go round, how could Society exist, without common-sense, practical ability, and the lack of sympathy?
He looked out of the open window.

Down in the street a footman was settling the rug over the knees of a lady in a carriage, and the decorous immovability of both their faces, which were clearly visible to him, was like a portion of some well-oiled engine.
He got up and walked up and down.

His rooms, in a narrow square skirting Belgravia, were unchanged since the death of his father had made him a man of means.

Selected for their centrality, they were furnished in a very miscellaneous way.