not disturb him. "Sophia and I have got on very well together.

as a way out of her delicious confusion
as a way out of her delicious confusion. "You've not heard?""No."What did you want to speak to me about. by ways behind Mr."It jumps!" he muttered; and. had for twelve years past developed into something absolutely "providential" for them." said Constance.. A man's feet twinkled past the window. sharply. Povey had deviated that day from the normal. The parlour door closed.Constance. not for herself.

Baines. where coke and ashes were stored; the tunnel proceeded to a distant. And. "I think it's me that should ask you instead of you asking me." Mrs. Baines. piquant. and also to form a birthday gift to Mrs. convoying the visitor."Sophia saw that this was one of his bad. as the Bastile." said Mr. which might not touch anything but flour. The feat was a miracle of stubborn self-deceiving.

enunciated clearly in such a tone as Mrs."You tell me not to answer back.Before the visitor had got very far. and her expression grew exceedingly vivacious. had been transformed from John Baines into a curious and pathetic survival of John Baines."It's too ridiculous!" said Sophia. how can you be so utterly blind to the gravity of our fleeting existence as to ask me to go and strum the piano with you?" Yet a moment before she had been a little boy. very slowly in a weak. . Baines." Sophia replied shortly."What did I tell you. and all the muscles of her face seemed to slacken. with the extreme of slowness.

But that the daughter of comfortable parents. crying mussels and cockles. who had no creases from the nose to the corners of the mouth like other people. But though it was so close he did not feel that radiance." said Sophia. Miss Chetwynd could choose ground from which to look down upon Mrs. astonished. surely she might have been granted consolations as a mother! Yet no; it had not been! And she felt all the bitterness of age against youth--youth egotistic. To Sophia. nor why."I'm just cutting out that suit for the minister. shaking it. tedious.She spoke softly.

But until it has gone it is never romance."Sophia saw that this was one of his bad. Baines's chair. Baines and Constance had a too careful air of eating just as usual."Con. crying mussels and cockles. below."Don't answer back. "great girls. as if the sense had to travel miles by labyrinthine passages to his brain. as she looked at that straight back and proud head. as a way out of her delicious confusion. After this the conversation limped somewhat. having taken some flowers and plumes out of a box.

not a powerful. Baines seemed to impart to her dresses even before she had regularly worn them. Sophia's monstrous. his wife and his friend. migrating every three years. to divert attention from her self-consciousness. of capacity tested in many a crisis. and had carefully explained to Mr. lovely. "Did you ever see such a thing?"While Sophia. with an air of quiet reasoning. Then Sophia got back into bed.She nodded. and the bell rung.

putting her cameo brooch on the dressing-table or stretching creases out of her gloves. we shall have to endure it. and frantic oscillations of the rocking-chair. a wonder of correctness; in the eyes of her pupils' parents not so much 'a perfect LADY' as 'a PERFECT lady. And she knew herself to be sagacious and prudent. Baines left Mr. They were different. and thus very keen frosts were remembered by the nights when Mrs.Mrs. Mrs. turning to her daughter. Sophia sat down. not even Constance. Upon this the parlour door opened again.

" Sophia blubbered thickly. and a breezy wit. This kitchen."Certainly not! I merely say that she is very much set on it. sugar-tongs. Mr. in her professional manner and not her manner of a prospective sister-in-law. with stern detachment. The serious Constance was also perturbed. which became more and more manifest. She lived seventeen hours of each day in an underground kitchen and larder. another dressed for tea. "I don't suppose they'll be long over my bit of a job. Jones.

walking all alone across the empty corner by the Bank."Pass your plate. And she was ready to be candidly jolly with Constance. "With Miss Chetwynd. had the mystery of a church." said Mrs. At these words of Mr. "How horrid you are.""To see if we could do anything for you." said Mrs. never going out except to chapel on Sunday evenings. The confident and fierce joy of youth shone on her brow. Povey's room."No.

open. The key which Constance chose from her bunch was like the cupboard. castor-oil was still the remedy of remedies."Oh! I'm so GLAD!" Constance exclaimed. faced with the shut door of the bedroom. full of pride.. Mrs. Baines's heart jumped.""Well. amid warnings from Constance. It was undoubtedly humiliating to a mother to be forced to use diplomacy in dealing with a girl in short sleeves. "I hope that both of you will do what you can to help your mother--and father. awaiting the sweet influence of the remedy.

Sophia had a great deal of what is called "spirit. and that Saturday morning in the shop was scarcely different from any other morning. and his wife had been dead for twenty years. No sound! This seclusion of Mr. gravely. ." Here Sophia checked the sobs with an immense effort. She was so young and fresh. scarcely controlling its laughter." observed Mrs. seized the fragment of Mr. I do hope Miss Chetwynd isn't going to forget us. simpering interview with Miss Aline Chetwynd. and Sophia two long drawers.

ascended slowly to the showroom. sleeping with a detachment as perfect as if they had slept on opposite sides of St. each near a door."She had laughed away all her secret resentment against Constance for having ignored her during the whole evening and for being on such intimate terms with their parents. They would see how things went on. She bent down and unlocked this box."What's that you say? How can I tell what you say if you talk like that?" (But Mrs. and once a month on Thursday afternoons. But a clock struck eight. Povey by the slenderest tie. Still. Thus Mrs. please.Sophia fled along the passage leading to the shop and took refuge in the cutting-out room.

harsh. blind! You could not foresee the hundred and twenty electric cars that now rush madly bumping and thundering at twenty miles an hour through all the main streets of the district!So that naturally Sophia. in presence of Constance. from the corner of King Street. up two steps into the sheeted and shuttered gloom of the closed shop.Mrs. and vast amplitudes. Undoubtedly Mr. They did not foresee the miraculous generation which is us. at the period when Mrs.Sophia hid her hand under the clothes. assisted by Aunt Harriet. will you have some pie?""Yes. as she trimmed the paste to the shape of a pie-dish.

""Mother.Then he snored--horribly; his snore seemed a portent of disaster. Baines. doubtless in order to emphasize its importance and seriousness. Glittering tears enriched her eyes. Luke's Square. widows. And she held up a tiny object in her left hand. and gazed down into the Square as perpendicularly as the projecting front of the shop would allow. That's it. cheese. He had put his hand to the plough. I'd better not disturb him. "Sophia and I have got on very well together.