A polite distance away, two servants, a man and a woman, waited patiently.

He came up the steps to be near me, but kept a polite distance.

People kept a polite distance, occasionally sending free drinks to her.

I got a chair and moved it up to a polite distance, and sat.

The robots remained at a polite distance, but their presence was a constantly felt threat.

He seems disappointed, she thought, but he's maintaining a polite distance.

Finally, I managed to sit down facing the pair of them, but a polite distance away.

Mostly she keeps a polite middle distance from the Matthaeis.

Jack faded back, taking up a position on the front fender of a car a polite distance away.

Not at a polite distance, as he now expected, but mere inches from his own.