He never drank or took to other vices, and lived a life of such decorum, so far as his own action was concerned, a life of such interest and science and literature, as to be the most delightful and unconscious of companions even when his coat was at the last shabbiness and you didn't dare to look at him for fear of betraying your own vulgar Misintelligence.
"Notes of a Son and Brother"
Henry James
And so she was committed-the more helplessly for her dense Misintelligence of both sides of the question-to the policy of conciliating the opposing influences which had so uncomfortably chosen to fight out their case on the field of her poor little existence: theoretically siding with her husband, but surreptitiously, as he well knew, giving aid and comfort to the enemy, who were really defending her own cause.
"The Fruit of the Tree"
Edith Wharton
In such an air it had seemed that no petty egotism could hamper their growth, no Misintelligence obscure their love; yet all the while this pure happiness had been unfolding against a sordid background of falsehood and intrigue from which his soul turned with loathing.
"The Fruit of the Tree"
Edith Wharton