...supplementing narrative commentary which seeks to supply that want. The amplification is everywhere. 'Mrs Beever was so "early Victorian" as to be almost...to move amid massive mahogany and sit upon banks of Berlin wool.' It is crucial in establishing character: Tony has 'a certain quality of passive excess...

...dame of the house that, in the scene quoted above, obscures its lesser occupants, she perceive [s] once for all how the difference of the setting made...massive mahogany and sit upon banks of Berlin-wool. . . . Jean knew that the great social event of her younger years had been her going to a fancy-ball...