To be mischievous was natural enough.

This man took himself so seriously, too.

She would have been made of different stuff or have acquired a greater knowledge of Palgrave's curious temperament to have been able to resist the temptation to tantalize.
"Aren't you, by any chance, a little on the rude side this morning, Gilbert ?" "If you call the truth rude," he said, "yes." "I do.Very.The rudest thing I know." He looked down at her.

She was leaning against the narrow wooden back of a beach chair.

Her hands were clasped round her white knees.