They belong to the half smart set, eager to conceal beneath a show of raffishness their plentiful lack of intellect and their fundamental bourgeois respectability.

In spite of Pasquale's brilliance and Carlotta's rapturous enjoyment I sat mumchance and depressed, out of my element.
My work is at a standstill, and Carlotta is my life.

I fear I am deteriorating.
On Judith, whom I have seen once or twice since Carlotta's return, I called this afternoon.

She is unhappy.

Although I have not confessed to my thraldom, her woman's wit, I feel sure, has penetrated to the heart of my mystery.