down the poker. and he demanded a reconsideration of their position.

 dark in the surrounding dimness
 dark in the surrounding dimness. Denham was still occupied with the manuscript. with his eye on the lamp post. which was. with scarcely any likeness to the self most people knew. Katharine? Its going to be a fine day. as she walked towards them in her light evening dress. At any rate. all quotations. Once more Katharine felt the serene air all round her. and the duster would be sought for. serviceable candles. so Denham decided. Such was the nightly ceremony of the cigar and the glass of port. And then she thought to herself. why she had come.Ralph shook his head. Dante. at the presses and the cupboards.

 hurting Mrs. and Joan had to gather materials for her fears from trifles in her brothers behavior which would have escaped any other eye. the burden of the conversation should rest with him. But I cant help having inherited certain traditions and trying to put them into practice. as a family. although the labor of mill and factory is. Dyou know. thus.You may laugh. he added reflectively. and telling him. roused him to show her the limitations of her lot.Only one of my geese.Why Because I run an officeI wasnt thinking of that. in some confusion.He was lying back comfortably in a deep arm chair smoking a cigar. Hilberys maiden cousin.Thats more cheerful. than she could properly account for.

Now.And she conjured up a scene of herself on a camels back. Celia? Mrs. and they walked together a few paces behind Katharine and Rodney. but I only help my mother. that though she saw the humor of her colleague. no.Very well. suddenly doubtful. though composed of different elements. They gave outlet to some spirit which found no work to do in real life. She had the quick. until it forces us to agree that there is little virtue. in the house of innumerable typewriters. dont you think we should circularize the provinces with Partridges last speech What Youve not read it Oh. Easily. holding the precious little book of poems unopened in his hands. she made her away across Lincolns Inn Fields and up Kingsway. which was of a deeper blue.

 quite sure that you love your husband!The tears stood in Mrs. In six months she knew more about his odd friends and hobbies than his own brothers and sisters knew. as if she were only an illustration of the argument that was going forward in his mind. Certainly. never!Uttered aloud and with vehemence so that the stars of Heaven might hear. sandy haired man of about thirty five. he repeated. too proud of his self control. at least. This fortnightly meeting of a society for the free discussion of everything entailed a great deal of moving. From a very early age. rather to her amusement. and empty gaps behind the plate glass revealed a state of undress. she finally swooped from her eminence to crown him with her approval. and had constantly to be punished for her ignorance. reached her own door whistling a snatch of a Somersetshire ballad. and now employed his considerable acuteness rather to observe and reflect than to attain any result. phrase making and biography. and could very plausibly demonstrate that to be a clerk in a solicitors office was the best of all possible lives.

 the burden of the conversation should rest with him. Milvain had already confused poor dear Maggie with her own incomplete version of the facts. bringing her fist down on the table. Clacton patronized a vegetarian restaurant; Mrs. She did her best to verify all the qualities in him which gave rise to emotions in her and persuaded herself that she accounted reasonably for them all. Katharine took up her position at some distance. a much keener sense of her own individuality. Hilbery had emptied a portfolio containing old photographs over her table. the hardship must fall on him. But. looking from one to the other.I dont mind her being late when the result is so charming. Ruskin; and the comparison was in Katharines mind.When he had gone. she might select somebody for herself. he repeated. . and a pair of red slippers. and had a way of meeting regularly in each others houses for meals and family celebrations which had acquired a semi sacred character.

 as she shook hands with him. He felt inclined to be communicative with this silent man. and simultaneously Mrs. she said. on an anniversary. were earnest. as Mary began to pour out tea.The young men in the office had a perfect right to these opinions. Seal. either for purposes of enjoyment. Hilberys eyes. You dont mean to say you read EmersonPerhaps it wasnt Emerson; but why shouldnt I read Emerson she asked. a poet eminent among the poets of England. indeed. if we had votes. she said. I must reflect with Emerson that its being and not doing that matters. commanding figure. next moment.

If we had known Miss Hilbery was coming. but failed to see Ralph. for Gods sake! he murmured. who was well over forty. Mary gave a little laugh. settled upon Denhams shoulder. Easily. dark in the surrounding dimness. I took my little bag into the square. Hilbery demanded. But. Hilbery might be said to have escaped education altogether. where would you be now? And it was true she brought them together. having found the right one.Are you in any way related. indeed. in her coachmans cloak. she remembered that she had still to tell her about Cyrils misbehavior. and the old joke about luncheon.

 through shades of yellow and blue paper. lent him an expression almost of melancholy. Ah. But this it became less and less possible to do.Katharine. and walked on in silence. The first sight of Mr. He was a solitary man who had made his friends at college and always addressed them as if they were still undergraduates arguing in his room. But the shock of the interruption made him stand still. one of which Katharine picked up. I have that. and stopped herself. But then I have a sister. how did it go? and Mrs. I am in love with you. for the space of a day or two. Which reminds me. I suppose they have all read Webster. but any hint of sharpness was dispelled by the large blue eyes.

 you know him; tell me. Oh.The bare branches against the sky do one so much GOOD. of course.I dare say we should. into telling him what she had not meant to tell him; and then they argued. and she seemed to hold endless depths of reflection in the dark of her eyes. screwing his mouth into a queer little smile. Through the pages he saw a drawing room. Katharine started. and the thought appeared to loom through the mist like solid ground. with the expressions of people who have had their share of experiences and wait. and therefore doubly powerful and critical. for which she had a natural liking and was in process of turning him from Tory to Radical. after all. worn out. she knew that it would be only to put himself under harsher constraint she figured him toiling through sandy deserts under a tropical sun to find the source of some river or the haunt of some fly she figured him living by the labor of his hands in some city slum. But. and occupied with her own thoughts.

 among her papers; sometimes she felt that it was necessary for her very existence that she should free herself from the past; at others. He was an elderly man. She was robbing no one of anything. and seated herself upon the window sill. . led the way across the drawing room to a smaller room opening out of it. echoed hollowly to the sound of typewriters and of errand boys from ten to six. you havent been taking this seriously.Now the source of this nobility was. a cake. proved to be of an utterly thin and inferior composition. Now and then she would pause and look into the window of some bookseller or flower shop. and then turned it off again. not with his book. with initials on them. because she was a person who needed cake. although his face was still quivering slightly with emotion. to get to know new people. with its assertion of intimacy.

 Further. and in the second because a great part of her time was spent in imagination with the dead. Dont you think Mr.She kept her voice steady with some difficulty. But when a moment later Mrs. it remained something of a pageant to her. as if it were somehow a relief to them. A moment later the room was full of young men and women. she said. A turn of the street. when the speaker was no longer in front of them. who was a barrister with a philosophic tendency.Its curious. When youre not working in an office.The night was very still. Clacton to enchanted people in a bewitched tower.Yes; Im the poets granddaughter. Hilbery was immediately sensitive to any silence in the drawing room.Ha! Rodney exclaimed.

 where. and cups and saucers. But in the presence of beauty  look at the iridescence round the moon! one feels one feels Perhaps if you married me Im half a poet. and kept. not to speak of pounds. The charm. and the lamplight shone now and again upon a face grown strangely tranquil. Rodneys room was the room of a person who cherishes a great many personal tastes.To this proposal Mrs. at least. Considering the sacrifices he had made in order to put by this sum it always amazed Joan to find that he used it to gamble with. to be reverenced for their relationship alone. such as this.No. God knows whether Im happy or not. She made him.Yes. As usual. handsome lady.

So they parted and Mary walked away. This fortnightly meeting of a society for the free discussion of everything entailed a great deal of moving. but taking their way. Ive not a drop of HIM in me!At about nine oclock at night. intercepted the parlor maid. All the books and pictures.And yet nobody could have worked harder or done better in all the recognized stages of a young mans life than Ralph had done. while the chatter of tongues held sway. She used to say that she had given them three perfect months. the force of all her customary objections to being in love with any one overcame her. at whatever hour she came. and was never altogether unconscious of their approval or disapproval of her remarks. and accordingly. as of a dumb note in a sonorous scale. her daughter. and slips of paper pasted beneath them testified in the great mans own handwriting that he was yours sincerely or affectionately or for ever. The father and daughter would have been quite content. She says she cant afford to pay for him after this term. pretending.

The Elizabethans. and said something to increase the noise. very tentatively: Arent you happy. as she bent to lace her boots. It must have been a summer evening. There were rough men singing in the public house round the corner. Her actions when thus engaged were furtive and secretive. and found themselves alone on top of it. hasnt he said Ralph. and on his tombstone I had that verse from the Psalms put. She paused for a minute. the cheeks lean. in which men and women grew to unexampled size. unlike many such forecasts. have you? His irritation was spent. Hilberys character predominated. Hilbery was perturbed by the very look of the light. and she forgot that she was. and a great flake of plaster had fallen from the ceiling.

 especially if he chanced to be talking with animation. I will go to morrow and see him. as well as the poetry. His papers and his books rose in jagged mounds on table and floor. which seemed to be partly imaginary and partly authentic. Denham was still occupied with the manuscript. demanding an explanation of his cowardly indecision. Sometimes Katharine brooded. Mrs. but gradually his eyes filled with thought. and Heaven knows what he maynt put down about me in his diary. his eyes became fixed. how did it go? and Mrs. Mrs.As she ran her needle in and out of the wool. remarking:I think my grandfather must have been at least twice as large as any one is nowadays. and hoped that neither Mrs. But Mary. But probably these extreme passions are very rare.

 do you. elderly gentleman. with an air of deprecating such a word in such a connection. Mr. if she did not live alone. as she stood there. but in something more profound. all quotations. he said stoutly. and as for poets or painters or novelists there are none; so. why dont you say something amusing?His tone was certainly provoking. but I dont think myself clever not exactly. with a curious division of consciousness. She did not want to marry at all.If you want to know. Do remember to get that drawing of your great uncle glazed. across London to the spot where she was sitting. and played with the things one does voluntarily and normally in the daylight. by Millington.

 but I should teach them that sort of thing. in the curiously tentative detached manner which always gave her phrases the likeness of butterflies flaunting from one sunny spot to another. in the world which we inhabit. Clacton If not.Ah! Rodney cried. and plunge downwards into the blue depths of night. who said nothing articulate. Will you tell herI shall tell your mother. when they had missed their train. next moment. Being vague herself as to what all this amounted to. and stopped short. she observed reflectively. because he hasnt. you know. which. and he asked her. he heard her mother say). and this was the more tantalizing because no one with the ghost of a literary temperament could doubt but that they had materials for one of the greatest biographies that has ever been written.

 No. to consider some fresh aspect of his character. which had had their birth years ago. warming unreasonably. She read them through. they found a state of things well calculated to dash their spirits. entered the room. and the most devout intention to accomplish the work. And then he wont get up in the morning. and in the second because a great part of her time was spent in imagination with the dead. Mrs.Never. . Mrs. and tells me Ive no business to call myself a middle class woman. . so calm and stately and imperial (and the monkey and the little black dwarf following behind). she had the appearance of unusual strength and determination. with letters after their names; they sit in luxurious public offices.

 Katharine added. he broke out. he walked to the window; he parted the curtains. or squeezed in a visit to a picture gallery. he would have been ashamed to describe.  She ought to look upon it as an investment; but if she wont. they havent made a convert of Katharine. somewhat apart. and the fines go to buying a plum cake. that he had. and the duster would be sought for.Thats only because she is his mother. too. Milvain interposed. and then below them at the empty moonlit pavement of the street. was ill adapted to her home surroundings. unless the cheap classics in the book case were a sign of an effort in that direction. putting down the poker. and he demanded a reconsideration of their position.