Oh dear, how hard it was to be indifferent like the others! She tried not to smile too much; she tried not to care. But every single thing was so new and exciting...
-- Narrator

Importance: This quotation appears while Leila and her cousins are traveling in the cab on the way to the dance. Leila watches her cousins act nonchalantly about the upcoming evening and struggles to contain her excitement. This quotation helps establish Leila as coming to the dance with a different perspective, one characterized by inexperience and unfamiliarity with the culture of social balls.

Oh, how marvellous to have a brother! In her excitement Leila felt that if there had been time, if it hadn't been impossible, she couldn't have helped crying because she was an only child, and no brother had ever say 'Twig?' to her; no sister would ever say, as Meg said to Jose that moment...
-- Narrator