After lunch Milly and her mother were sitting as usual on the balcony beyond the salon, admiring for the five hundredth time the stocks, the roses, the small, bright grass beneath the palms, and the oranges against a wavy line of blue, when a card was brought them by Marie.
-- Narrator

Importance: These are the opening lines of the story, and they work to introduce both the primary setting and the two of the central characters, Mother and Milly. Here, the narrator uses hyperbole in the assertion that the women are admiring the flowers "for the five hundredth time" in order to convey Milly's boredom with their quotidian life at the villa. From the very beginning of the story, therefore, the narration inhabits Milly's perspective and underscores the disparity between her thoughts and her behavior.

But as a matter of fact it was extremely awkward. Mother’s mouth shook. Milly squeezed her...
-- Narrator