This is a very boring party, present ¹ excepted, of course. No one, myself ² , seems to be making much of an effort to chat. I ³ a lot of people couldn’t come. ⁴ , no ⁵ intended, but don’t you think you could have dressed a bit more smartly? If you don’t ⁶ me saying so, I think you should have changed out of your gardening clothes. I mean that in the nicest ⁷ way, of course!