henry james excerpt

a typical James sentence:

Coming downstairs to meet my colleague in the hall, I remembered a pair of gloves that had required three stitches and that had received them--with a publicity perhaps not edifying--while I sat with the children at their tea, served on Sundays, by exception, in that cold, clean temple of mahogany and brass, the "grown-up" dining room.

Now i love discursive sentences, make no mistake. David Wallace, for example. But with James i'm constantly reviewing every sentence to see if anything important happened in it.