The excerpt represents the core issue or deciding factor on which you must meditate, and is drawn from The Garden Party by Katherine Mansfield: preposterous that he'd perfectly understand it if her father--well,
whatever her father chose to do he'd perfectly understand. In fact,
nothing short of desperation, nothing short of the fact that this was
positively his last day in England for God knows how long, would have
screwed him up to it. And even now...He chose a tie out of the chest of
drawers, a blue and cream check tie, and sat on the side of his bed.
Supposing she replied, "What impertinence!" would he be surprised? Not in
the least, he decided, turning up his soft collar and turning it down over
the tie. He expected her to say something like that. He didn't see, if he
looked at the affair dead soberly, what else she could say.
Here he was! And nervously he tied a bow in front of the mirror, jammed
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