For my father, in his softer moments--when, in fact, he had been brought to recognize that my vices were at least hereditary--had initiated me into the working of a great landed holding.
At seven o'clock we dined.

Mademoiselle wore a white dress with a broad yellow ribbon round her girlish waist.

Her sleeves--I suppose it was the fashion of the period--were wide and flowing, and her arms and hands were those of a child.
Madame de Clericy, I remember, did not talk much, saying little more, indeed, than such polite words as her position of hostess rendered necessary.

The burden of the conversation rested chiefly with her aged husband, who sustained it simply and cheerily.

His chief aim at this, and indeed at all times, seemed to be to establish an agreeable and mutual ease.