behooven

— Bad as they were, one perforce felt masculinely behooven to admire their courage . . . conversely, one could not refrain from meanly wondering just where and for how long they’d been secretly practicing . . . however, applause and many encores (from bilge to crow’s nest) greeted all antics from our two Pavlovas . . . and reflectively, their presentations were far less hurtful than having to listen to the amateur squeakings of scrawny, self-imagined sopranos and contraltos who habitually appeared at well-remembered ship’s concerts in bygone years.