Albert Kinross

“ The conversation drifted from Sopwith's opera into more familiar channels. Only the Marquis clung to matters musical.
"I'm sorry," he said to Harvey; "I thought the young man might have made a beginning. There's a want of it—we English are terribly backward."
"He's young," answered Harvey, with twitching nerves.
"Yes—yes," the Marquis dubiously agreed.
They were interrupted by a new-comer, a lady whose evening had been a distracting medley of curiosity and generous applause. ”

“ She rattled on without giving the old gentleman a chance of venting an opinion.
"We've all been clappin' as hard as we could. Mr. Sopwith's such a nice young man, and so very interesting; he dined with us the night before last, and we all promised we'd come and see him through: you 'll keep it up afterwards, and make him come on; and you, too, Mr. Merceron?" she pleaded.
And Mrs. Hopgood-Smyth smiled her sweetest on them and Lady Grasmere, then darted off to another box. Besides applauding herself, she was evidently bent on being the cause of applause in others. ”

“ And he had breasted these waters, had struck out alone from the dry land, had turned his face from all his erstwhile sheltering places—such refuges were pitiful! The half-life he had been leading, the people he had led it with, were alike pitiful and infirm. Theirs was the true half-world. ”