And as he read, he would digress into talk, the careless audacity of which would sometimes distress or repel, and sometimes absorb her; till suddenly, perhaps, she realised how far she was wandering from that common ground where she and George had moved together, and would try and find her way back to it.

She was always learning some new thing; and she hated to learn, unless George changed and learnt with her.
* * * * * Meanwhile Captain Marsworth was walking along the road from Grasmere to Rydal with a rather listless step.

As a soldier he was by no means satisfied with the news of the week.

We ought to have been in Lille and weren't.

It seemed to him that was about what the Loos action came to; and his spirits were low.