bruskness

"There they are -- waiting for you on the porch," he said, rather subdued it would seem by her bruskness.

Ruth Fielding on the St. Lawrence The Queer Old Man of the Thousand Islands Alice B. Emerson

"I feel that we have exhausted this subject," answered the Millionaire with the bruskness of a man whose nerves have worn thin; with the menace, too, of one who, having divorced his first wife, would divorce the second on small provocation.

Defenders of Democracy; contributions from representative men and women of letters and other arts from our allies and our own country, edited by the Gift book committee of the Militia of Mercy

For, despite Mrs. Henry Sherwood's bruskness and masculine appearance,

Nan Sherwood at Pine Camp or, the Old Lumberman's Secret Annie Roe Carr

Winn was there for her, just as he had been on the Schatz Alp; his eyes looked the same, and the intentional bruskness which he put into his voice was quite insufficient to hide its eagerness.

The Dark Tower Phyllis Bottome 1923

On further acquaintance I concluded that Mr. Spear's bruskness was assumed, and that beneath the tough husk there beats a very tender heart.

Little Journeys To the Homes of the Great Hubbard, Elbert, 1856-1915 1916

Within a week there was a deep line between Philip's brows and a return to some of his original bruskness of speech and manner.

The Course of True Love: Kentucky Mountain Sketch 1912

Flint had been direct and business-like almost to the point of bruskness.

The Blood Red Dawn Charles Caldwell Dobie 1912

"No," with a bruskness which was startling by comparison with her cheeriness upstairs.

The Devolutionist and the Emancipatrix Homer Eon Flint 1908

"Quite right!" said Dion, with firmness, almost with bruskness.

In the Wilderness Robert Smythe Hichens 1907

He was totally unaware of the bruskness of such a question asked of a woman whom he had never seen before.

In the Wilderness Robert Smythe Hichens 1907