distrait

— But to return to our friend Desmond:—he was too well bred to have asked such an unfair question, had he not been completely distrait. When the mind is absent without leave, the deputy it leaves behind to secure its unmolested retreat most resembles that apish faculty, memory, and mechanically imitates the manners, and repeats the phrases of others. (Published anonymously, though some citations refer to her pseudonym Madame Panache. Note: Frances Brooke is a different person)http://www.gutenberg.org/files/40160/40160-h/40160-h.htmhttps://books.google.com/books?id=egs4AQAAMAAJ&pg=PA125&lpg=PA125&dq=madam+panache+francis+moore&source=bl&ots=bagphpXFAX&sig=Q4AFbNwC35ZlIpdBq_VCEPLJirM&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiZ96PEkoLUAhVn04MKHZBSDW4Q6AEIRzAJ#v=onepage&q=madam%20panache%20francis%20moore&f=false