A little more talkative, perhaps, a little more caustic than usual.

And now to find him like this! There was no great share of reverence in Barbara, but what little she possessed had always been kept for her eldest brother.

He had impressed her, from a child, with his aloofness, and she had been proud of kissing him because he never seemed to let anybody else do so.

Those caresses, no doubt, had the savour of conquest; his face had been the undiscovered land for her lips.

She loved him as one loves that which ministers to one's pride; had for him, too, a touch of motherly protection, as for a doll that does not get on too well with the other dolls; and withal a little unaccustomed awe.
Dared she now plunge in on this private agony?
Could she have borne that anyone should see herself thus prostrate?
He had not heard her, and she tried to regain the door.