He's just over military age, and there he sits in a Devonshire valley, with a pile of books.

I happen to know a particular department in a public office that's a bit hustled for want of men, and I suggested that he should lend a hand.

He said it was his business to keep culture going!' 'Well ?' said Bridget.
The challenging obstinacy of her look daunted him.

He laughed.
'You think it natural--and right--to take the war like that ?' 'Well, I don't see who's got a right to interfere with you if you do,' she said, stiffly.

Then, however, it occurred even to her obtuse and self-centred perception, that she was saying something unexpected and distasteful to a man who was clearly a great friend of the Farrells, and therefore a member of the world she envied.