half-regretful

He was half-ashamed of his own suit because of the lowliness of his position, half-regretful that he should have induced such a girl as Nora

He Knew He Was Right 2004

She, too, was flushed and glittering, but with excitement and enjoyment of her own plotting, half-regretful that her share must end here.

One Corpse Too Many Peters, Ellis, 1913-1995 1979

And Anton himself was bitterly aware of the expression of half-puzzled, half-regretful disdain that he encountered so often in Ivan's eyes.

The Genius Margaret Horton Potter

"I've never been there yet," cried Josie, in a half-regretful tone.

Marguerite Verne Rebecca Agatha Armour

For it was set down at the Ensor House, which we are to leave to-night, half-regretful at not having seen the scorpion by which we always expected to be bitten; for we had heard such accounts of it, patrolling the galleries with its venomous tail above its head, that we had thought a sight might be worth a bite.

The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 04, No. 25, November, 1859 Various

Mr. Vernon rose from the sofa on which he had seated himself, and bowed with a half-impatient, half-regretful air.

Nell, of Shorne Mills or, One Heart's Burden Charles Garvice

I have never been able to look upon mountain or valley with other than my corporal eyes, and I have always admired those places in a half-regretful way, where the print of human footsteps is unknown.

The Doctor's Daughter [pseud.] Vera

Have you ever, reader, taken up an old journal written in early youth, and thought how those intensely black and white days have now mingled into unnoticeable grey, half-thankful that the old ghosts are laid, half-regretful for that keener susceptibility to joy and sorrow gone by?

Bluebell A Novel Mrs. George Croft Huddleston

With Terence gone, might not the emotion that Rubrick had felt for her have faded soon into an only half-regretful memory?

Died in the Wool Marsh, Ngaio, 1895-1982 1945

He was never sure whether they were deliberate traps, or merely the half-regretful, backward looking of a woman to whom life lately had not been kind.

The Hidden Places Bertrand W. Sinclair 1926