Never before in his life had his pleasures depended on the humour or caprice of anyone, but he had learned with dismal surprise that a word or a look from this woman could make or mar the day for him.

He gave her a sidelong look, and saw she was angry by a certain hardness in her profile, and, as he stared moodily at the water, he wondered if all women were as mutable and capricious.

In his dealings with women--shop-hands who moved at his bidding like machines--he had never suspected these gusts of emotion that ended as suddenly as they began.

Ada had the nerves of a cow.
Over the way the Manly boat was filling slowly with mothers and children and stray couples.

A lamentable band on the upper deck mixed popular airs with the rattle of winches.