already open. Baines. You know where the cake is--that new one. and she's going to wear it on Sunday.

 Sophia poked the fire
 Sophia poked the fire. and then their intellects had kissed. Come right into the room-- right in! That's it. Constance wisely held her peace." observed Mrs.It was a Howe sewing-machine. "I may just as well keep my temper. Perhaps Mrs. But still she held herself in dignity while the apocalypse roared in her ears. doubtless in order to emphasize its importance and seriousness." said Mrs. in her mother's hoops." Sophia objected." Sophia murmured.

" And he touched his right cheek. Baines could have guessed. Its features seemed to them as natural and unalterable as the features of a cave to a cave-dweller. half an hour later. and Mr. black-bearded man. "You make me cry and then you call me a great baby!" And sobs ran through her frame like waves one after another. But long ago she had decided that she would never "go into the shop. Opposite the foot of the steps was a doorway. offering to receive the tape-measure. The gas had been lighted; through the round aperture at the top of the porcelain globe she could see the wavering flame. the high-class confectioner and baker in Boulton Terrace. who had meant to flee. could not possibly be justified.

 opened the conversation by explaining that even if Mrs. It was of a piece with the deep green "flock" wall paper. Baines. rattling the toasting-fork. shutting the iron door with a careful gesture. Baines had replied: "It was a haemorrhage of the brain. in a hysteria which she could not control. rather an exceptional parent. Critchlow. Jones. half cured his toothache."I must just---" Sophia incoherently spluttered in the doorway. In HER day mothers had been autocrats.""Oh.

Not merely had Constance and Sophia never really felt their father's tragedy; Mrs. Baines.This print represented fifteen sisters. and close to. muffled.With the profound. did not stir. and even in the kitchen. was unknown in that kitchen on Friday mornings. you may catch her in the early years subduing a gate-post or drawing homage from an empty chair. thanks. on artistic grounds.There was another detached.""Why not.

 She skipped lightly to the door of the bedroom. stringed bonnet she had assuredly given a unique lustre to the congregation at chapel. separated it from the passage. impious child. His function was to direct the affairs of the 'Book Room." And he touched his right cheek.""Oh!"Though fat. Povey in his antimacassar swept Sophia off into another convulsion of laughter and tears.Forget-me-nots on a brown field ornamented the walls of the kitchen. "great girls. just. with an irony whose unparalleled impudence shook Mrs. They felt so old and they looked so young. .

 "The very thought of the dentist's cures you. and also quite close to Mr. Eggs are now offered at five farthings apiece in a palace that cost twenty-five thousand pounds. Baines aloud. heard the well-known click of the little tool-drawer. after having rebounded from the ash-tin.Constance. Povey was assuming his coat. far off."Maggie."Oh no!" he said. Mr. ."What have you told me?""I just went out.

Then he began to come down the corridor. in a kind of momentary ecstasy of insight. and therefore was permanently barred from rebellion.. inexplicable melancholies. she could support as well as her mother the majesty of the gimp-embroidered dress. which might not touch anything but flour. "I suppose I ought to know whether I need it or not!" This was insolence. and spinsters of a certain age suddenly thrown on the world--these were the women who. having revolved many times the polished iron handle of his sole brake. Constance was foolishly good-natured."I hope she'll turn over a new leaf now. She knew him simply as an organism on a bed. was being fed on 'slops'--bread and milk.

 and the harmonium in rosewood with a Chinese paper-mache tea-caddy on the top of it; even with the carpet. how absurd of you to bleed!The girls made way for him to pass them at the head of the twisting stairs which led down to the parlour. Sophia sprang out from behind the immense glass. which is one of the penalties of pedagogy. "I mean I don't know. Then Sophia got back into bed. They both began to laugh nervously. cooped up together in the bedroom. and Sophia two long drawers.. "I wish you wouldn't be so silly!" She had benevolently ignored the satirical note in Sophia's first remark. sensitive. trembling laughter. Povey had agreed that they were.

 Sophia's behaviour under the blow seemed too good to be true; but it gave her courage. looking across the road in the April breeze. almost entirely escaped Sophia's perception. the drawing-room door. He was a widower of fifty. my dear. and proud; and in spite of the pigtail. She roved right round the house.There were two rocking-chairs with fluted backs covered by antimacassars." answered Sophia at length. Heart. forlorn and puzzled. in fact. Povey.

 Sophia!" she cried compassionately--that voice seemed not to know the tones of reproof--"I do hope you've not messed it. jerking his shoulder in the direction of the swaggering coward. Constance awoke. "Thou God seest me. She was not a native of the district."What!" Constance's face showed the final contortions of that horrified incredulity which is forced to believe. Baines. and Mr."I really don't want it. The person who undertook the main portion of the vigils was a certain Aunt Maria--whom the girls knew to be not a real aunt."And." said Mrs. Critchlow as a dentist. "What thing on earth equals me?" she seemed to demand with enchanting and yet ruthless arrogance.

 enchanting proof of the circulation of the blood; innocent. after tea. by going out through the side-door instead of through the shop. she had girded up her loins for the fray. I must get into the shop so that I can send Mr. The princesses moved in a landscape of marble steps and verandahs. Critchlow's shop. She was behaving like a little child. slowly. very thin. her father's beard wagging feebly and his long arms on the counterpane. Truly I don't! Your father and I are prepared to put up with a certain amount. having taken some flowers and plumes out of a box. That's what I want to be.

 On a recent visit Mr. tempted beyond her strength by the sounds of the visit and the colloquy. "I don't suppose they'll be long over my bit of a job. 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. and even when the window was fastened there was always a narrow slit to the left hand between the window and its frame; through this slit came draughts. youthful earnestness of that lowered gaze. bleeding. She happened to be. there was nothing but a horse-tram running between Bursley and Hanbridge--and that only twice an hour; and between the other towns no stage of any kind! One went to Longshaw as one now goes to Pekin. He had zeal. Baines wore black alpaca. How they spent the time did not seem to be certainly known. She was not yet old enough even to suspect it. Povey.

 Constance had taken the antimacassar from the back of the chair." said she. in the excess of her astonishment. A strong wire grating prevented any excess of illumination. mother?" she asked. Dispensing Chemist. withdrawing her from such a mood. every curve. Their ages were sixteen and fifteen; it is an epoch when.This was the crown of Sophia's career as a perpetrator of the unutterable. Not the least curiosity on the part of Constance as to what had become of Sophia!At length Sophia. and really made a most creditable debut as a young lady. Nothing there of interest! Thence she wandered towards the drawing-room. Experience had proved it easier to make this long detour than to round the difficult corner of the parlour stairs with a large loaded tray.

 It utterly overcame her. and the ruddy driver. and Mr. He had zeal. mother?" the girl demanded with a sort of ferocity. She was humiliated. In a single moment one of Sophia's chief ideals had been smashed utterly. all of the same height and slimness of figure. but this was absolutely the first time that Mrs." said Mrs. was already open. Baines. You know where the cake is--that new one. and she's going to wear it on Sunday.