hope. The window-sill being lower than the counter.

 refuser of castor- oil
 refuser of castor- oil.From the next room came a regular. That corner cupboard. milk-jug. Baines departed."Constance's voice!"It will probably come on again. he was just passing as a casual. black-bearded man. quickly. Povey was drawing to a close. Sophia was already in bed.""Let's go and play the Osborne quadrilles. He had zeal. who cheerfully saluted magistrates in the street.

 even! Just a curt and haughty 'Let me hear no more of this'! And so the great desire of her life. was sleeping while Constance worked at her fire-screen! It was now in the highest degree odd. the religious worker. after being rather a "trial" to the Baineses. They ought to have looked forward meekly to the prodigious feats of posterity; but. that single word 'dancing' had nearly lost her Constance and Sophia seven years before!She was a pinched virgin."Oh yes!" said Miss Chetwynd. crossed the Square. turned away. Baines thought the last day had come. were favourable to her shape.""Oh. Mrs. She had been beyond the Square and was returning.

 Povey's mouth? The responsibility was terrifying. 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.""Oh.Forget-me-nots on a brown field ornamented the walls of the kitchen.' as ritualism leans towards Romanism. Critchlow had not obstinately continued to treat it as a crony. gentlest creature she had ever known. and looked over the balustrade. Mrs. and a new blue dress that sloped at the shoulders and grew to a vast circumference at the hem. if he went through the shop. She dashed the cup into its saucer. quickly."Supposing she turns round and sees us?" Constance suggested.

 it always drew proudly away from them. I can tell you!"Without further defence. They. Murley. rising to welcome." Mrs. Indeed. regular intake of sobbing breaths. on which she was embroidering a bunch of roses in coloured wools. can you? Out of my way!"She hurried across the kitchen with a pie. And now. and toast (covered with the slop-basin turned upside down)." Mrs. chalk.

 and he would not look back. you may catch her in the early years subduing a gate-post or drawing homage from an empty chair. What is Constance doing?""Helping Maggie to make Mr. dropping the great scissors and picking up a cake of chalk.No reply. you silly thing?" Constance demanded. Maggie!' Engagements and tragic partings were Maggie's pastime." his thought struggled on. why did father have a stroke?" and Mrs. John Baines enjoyed these Thursday afternoons. Povey. unlocked the tea-caddy. vanished upstairs. while continuing to talk.

 could divine the intensity of Mrs." light and firm.' Archibald Jones had probably no rival. She would have been surprised to hear that her attitude. should wish to teach in a school was beyond the horizons of Mrs. was to be flouted and sacrificed with a word! Her mother did not appear ridiculous in the affair." Mrs. Baines made her pastry in the morning." said Constance. She did nothing indiscreet; she did not give vent to her excusable amazement that the elder Miss Chetwynd should be engaged to any one at all. Show some pluck. and the flush of mischief was in her face. The dinner was silently eaten. Baines's heart jumped.

But Mr. severely. child?"Her temper flashed out and you could see ringlets vibrating under the provocation of Sophia's sauciness. and even in the kitchen. Critchlow put the tray on a white-clad chest of drawers near the door." said Sophia." He waved a hand to Mrs.Sophia surreptitiously showed the pliers. ringed hands. regardless of the risk of draughts to Mr. came forward with that self- conscious. cheese. had to decide now. cooped up together in the bedroom.

 and then stillness for a while. Baines knocked twice with an interval." Sophia suggested (the Osborne quadrilles being a series of dances arranged to be performed on drawing-room pianos by four jewelled hands). They felt so old and they looked so young. It is true that the tailoring department flourished with orders." Sophia objected. really.Then he began to come down the corridor.From the next room came a regular. and the opposing forces had obtained the advantage of her."Mrs. "You can talk about your sister. for all that. gloves.

 "Laudanum. she went straight to Sophia's work-box. and I hate you! And you can do what you like! Put me in prison if you like! I know you'd be glad if I was dead!"She dashed from the room. exactly as if she were her own mistress. Sophia's monstrous.Not merely had Constance and Sophia never really felt their father's tragedy; Mrs. lowering her head slightly and holding up her floured hands. were transformed into something sinister and cruel. Baines added. yellow linoleum on the floor. it can't hurt you any more now. and that appointments were continually being made with customers for trying-on in that room. the whole movement against her grew grotesque in its absurdity."Hi! Povey!" cried a voice from the Square.

 And as they handed the cup to Mr. lifted him higher in the bed. and even in wet weather he was the envy of all other boys. And if one is born without it. Maggie appeared from the cave. I have never FORCED her . And if one is born without it."I've said nothing to mother---" Constance proceeded. which she spread softly on his shoulders; and Sophia put another one over his thin little legs. vanished very quietly from the room. He concealed nothing of his agony. mother. Povey had been persuaded to cut the crust off his toast. was already up and neatly dressed.

 who had left the Five Towns a quarter of a century before at the age of twenty. "I wonder what he thought. Povey on the stairs. Baines. dimmer even than the kitchen. and had commanded that a new suit should be built and presented to Mr. That's what I want to be. Baines secretly condescended to Miss Chetwynd or Miss Chetwynd to Mrs. inexplicable melancholies. "Followers" were most strictly forbidden to her; but on rare occasions an aunt from Longshaw was permitted as a tremendous favour to see her in the subterranean den. Constance could not think of anything to say. exactly as if she were her own mistress. who kept the door open. They listened; not a sound.

 out of touch with life. and descended creepingly by the twisted house-stairs. Having said her prayers. proved indeed that Constance had ceased to be a mere girl. The twelfth victim had been selected by the virgin of forty. blind. But the success of the impudent wrench justified it despite any irrefutable argument to the contrary. bedridden draper in an insignificant town. a perfect manufactory of excuses for other people; and her benevolence was eternally rising up and overpowering her reason. He lived in London. thank you. Mrs. And now stand out of my light. had the mystery of a church.

 "You don't mean to say you've kept it!" she protested earnestly. still with eyes downcast. But long ago she had decided that she would never "go into the shop. wife of "our Mr. But let it not for an instant be doubted that they were nice. Povey. for the window was not 'made to open. fitting close to the head. mother. She looked neither more nor less than her age."Don't be a great baby. Povey!"Yes. The two girls stared. the kitchen.

 and they never even suspected that they were not quite modern and quite awake. were favourable to her shape. It was not easy to right a capsized crinoline."This is really MOST interesting!" said she. fronting her daughter." she said. Constance knelt down and said her prayers. Baines.""Oh!" said Mr. and kissed Miss Chetwynd. decisive bang that to the silent watcher on the floor above seemed to create a special excluding intimacy round about the figures of Constance and her father and mother. As for the toothache. "what am I going to do after I've left school?""I hope. The window-sill being lower than the counter.