remembered, she seemed to have the same faculty for critical observation, for although he knew that she used to bestow favours on other boys, she had refused to be anything more than nicely polite to him, and once suggested the reason by referring to another girl whom he . . . . But that was another story . . . . She had greatly improved since then, but . . . it certainly was rather irritating to feel continually her confidence in herself, so far as he was concerned. Not that it was obtrusive, or intentionally displayed -- he did not think it was a subtle challenge -- but it actually was there, and lent a peculiar coolness and aloofness to her most ordinary as to her more intimate remarks. Such self-assurance almost invites attack -- it is almost bound to rub people the wrong way -- o might almost be a challenge. Still a bargain was a bargain and besides . . . . He decided he would try not to notice this self-possession in future.

BC Archives, MS-2570 Box 1 File 6 / MIST, Henry Masterman, Ruhleben magazine, Prisoners' Pie, 1916