Quotation from: Nostromo: A Tale of the Seaboard

Written by: Joseph Conrad

His disdain grew like a reaction of his scepticism against the action
into which he was forced by his infatuation for Antonia. He soothed
himself by saying he was not a patriot, but a lover.

The ladies came in bareheaded, and Mrs. Gould sank low before the little
tea-table. Antonia took up her usual place at the reception hour--the
corner of a leathern couch, with a rigid grace in her pose and a fan in
her hand. Decoud, swerving from the straight line of his march, came to
lean over the high back of her seat.