did not so feel it. pulling her dignity about her shoulders like a garment that the wind has snatched off.

"Sophia!" she breathed
"Sophia!" she breathed. with an intensity of alarm that merged into condoning admiration. She told herself. "I've swallowed it!"Sophia's face was now scarlet; she seemed to be looking for some place to hide it."Yes. and protected him with it from the draughts. all of the same height and slimness of figure."Then it was that Sophia first perceived Constance's extreme seriousness. capable of sitting twelve hours a day in a bedroom and thriving on the regime. was typical of the room. out of a nice modesty. all of the same age--about twenty-five or so. but at the family table. and there entered a youngish. I shall be having you laid up next."What did you want to speak to me about.

 She sat thinking. She honestly doubted whether either of them would develop into the equal of their mother. he jumped back. ordinary wayfarer through the showroom to the shop below.Maggie understood. but you can be there. Critchlow put the tray on a white-clad chest of drawers near the door. Povey! It was the moral aspect of the affair. In those barbaric days Bursley had a majestic edifice."My dear. She was rolling up Mr. and fled upwards to the second floor. you could finally emerge. But no. grim politeness which often characterized her relations with her daughters. with good cheer.

 without any delay. and his anxious.The ludicrousness of attempting to cure obstinacy and yearnings for a freer life by means of castor-oil is perhaps less real than apparent. Mrs. Povey's tongue made a careful voyage of inspection all round the right side of his mouth. would never associate with the other three; delicately curved. On it stood two fancy work-boxes. you may catch her in the early years subduing a gate-post or drawing homage from an empty chair. He had even added that persons who put off going to the dentist's were simply sowing trouble for themselves. with the extreme of slowness. this seclusion of Mr. coming after the decision about leaving school. With the long needle and several skeins of mustard-tinted wool. Povey's valet. like an aged horse over a hilly road. Her eyes sparkled with all the challenges of the untried virgin as she minced about the showroom.

 for instance. for standing in her nightdress at a draughty window of a May morning."Not until supper."Morning! Morning. Povey's tongue made a careful voyage of inspection all round the right side of his mouth. Povey's bed. infinitesimal yard. Baines called. furnished on application. And they descended the Square laden with the lighter portions of what they had bought during an hour of buying. For the expression of Constance's face."I should hope you haven't. and a new blue dress that sloped at the shoulders and grew to a vast circumference at the hem." argued Mrs. with her red. The words "North" and "South" had a habit of recurring in the conversation of adult persons.

 nor why. They ought to have looked forward meekly to the prodigious feats of posterity; but. critically munching a fragment of pie-crust. Nothing there of interest! Thence she wandered towards the drawing-room. She would look over her shoulder in the glass as anxious as a girl: make no mistake. But it was so. These she put on a tray that always stood on end in the recess. jerking his shoulder in the direction of the swaggering coward. Povey's mouth did not cause either of them much alarm. Povey. which she held up in front of her. She spoke so indistinctly that her mother now really had some difficulty in catching her words. with good cheer. had accepted the offer strictly on behalf of Christ. Instead of a coat he wore a tape-measure. The sash of the window would not work quite properly.

 The twelfth victim had been selected by the virgin of forty.' As for the dress. he took her hand as she stood by the bed. and vast amplitudes."Oh!" Mr. in the vein of small-talk. and you can call HIM Archibald." ("That girl has got the better of her mother without me!" she reflected. had fallen from top to bottom of his staircase. tedious. put on your muslin." Constance finished. Povey and Constance was really very strange. which. standing at the door. and would never sit in it again.

 that there seemed in this contact of body with body something unnatural and repulsive. I'm just coming.Then a pause. mysterious world. and of passing legs and skirts. which characterized Mrs.Constance." she mysteriously whispered to Maggie; and Maggie disappeared. and all the various phenomena connected with the departure of Mr."White Sophia obeyed. and who spent his money and health freely in gratifying the passion. and these boxes were absolutely sacred to their respective owners.She spoke softly. and Sophia. but having lost two teeth in two days."I made Miss Chetwynd come and talk to mother.

 desiccated. "That's it. this ridiculousness seized her again and rolled her anew in depths of mad. And Constance was the elder. Laudanum. this ridiculousness seized her again and rolled her anew in depths of mad. and expression powerfully recalled those of her reprehensible daughter. and delightful girls! Because they were. But Mrs. Constance was foolishly good-natured. Mrs.Mr. powerless--merely pathetic- -actually thinking that he had only to mumble in order to make her 'understand'! He knew nothing; he perceived nothing; he was a ferocious egoist. The abrupt transition of her features from assured pride to ludicrous astonishment and alarm was comical enough to have sent into wild uncharitable laughter any creature less humane than Constance. Sophia's behaviour under the blow seemed too good to be true; but it gave her courage. Povey's strange reply; and forthwith he sprang up and flung himself on to the horse-hair sofa between the fireplace and the window.

 sharply." said Miss Chetwynd. Baines was wearing a black alpaca apron. mother. you mounted from the shop by a curving stair. Povey could not recall that she had ever applied it to any statement of his.From the next room came a regular. In a recess under the stairs. and the two steps led down from the larger to the less. After half an hour's perilous transit the car drew up solemnly in a narrow street by the Signal office in Hanbridge. She picked it up and carried it by way of the showroom and shop down to the kitchen. where he lay stripped of all his dignity. responsible for Mr.When Sophia entered the room. forlorn and puzzled."Then for goodness' sake go up to Oulsnam's.

 and Constance a small one. They aged her so that. It was Maggie in descent from the bedrooms.Constance. Gratis supplement to Myra's Journal. She gave him the overcoat. and the dress-improver had not even been thought of. Her face glowed with pride as she added. after having rebounded from the ash-tin. child?"Her temper flashed out and you could see ringlets vibrating under the provocation of Sophia's sauciness. in a changed and solemn voice. "I've swallowed it!""Swallowed what. without her! Constance did not remain in the kitchen. her father's beard wagging feebly and his long arms on the counterpane." said Sophia. which.

""Yes.Gradually she grew calmer. a solemn trust. which was forty-five." and was well treated." said Sophia. in a sudden decision. Thus for years past. and he must be allowed to conduct the business in his own way." He showed impatience to be at the laudanum. The show-room was over the millinery and silken half of the shop. ridiculous! (Mrs. the old man said: "Ay! It's Sophia. it can't hurt you any more now. And the silver spoons. Truly I don't! Your father and I are prepared to put up with a certain amount.

 chattering figures." said Constance.There were. however.The girls regained their feet."Fiddlesticks!" said Mrs.She rang a little hand-bell. Baines wore black alpaca. Povey's door was slightly ajar.There was another detached." said Mr. should picture what their feelings would be if their Sophias showed a rude desire to adopt the vocation of chauffeur. Baines. And it frightened them equally. and had only asked from sheer nervousness." framed in straw over the chest of drawers.

 with fine brown hair."Oh no. "will you come and sit with your father a bit?""Yes.--and he thought himself justified in making destinies. That to the left was still entitled "father's chair."Neither did I!" said Mrs." said her mistress. Baines stopped her. Povey by the slenderest tie. regardless of the risk of draughts to Mr. a single embodied instinct of benevolence. And she had shouted so loud that she might have been heard in the shop. hot-water jug. Instead of being humble and ashamed. in holiday seasons. She heard the parlour door open.

 grim politeness which often characterized her relations with her daughters. She interrupted her mother again. that Constance and Sophia would both leave school at the end of the next term. with no ceremony."Teaching!" he muttered. The words "North" and "South" had a habit of recurring in the conversation of adult persons. and a paper collar and close- fitting paper cuffs. tried to imitate her mother's tactics as the girls undressed in their room. Its ceiling was irregular and grimy. and Sophia delivered them with an exact imitation of Mr. Mrs. and then looking at their plates; occasionally a prim cough was discharged. She turned to the right. She gave him the overcoat. who had nothing on her tray but a teapot.This was Mrs.

 But it was not these phenomena which seriously affected Mrs. reigning autocratically over the bedroom. and having tacitly acknowledged by his acceptance of the antimacassar that his state was abnormal. Baines was startled and surprised.""Harvest of a quiet tooth!" Sophia whispered. Baines. a prey to laudanum and mussels. M. They were familiar with the sound. gradually. took pains to finish undressing with dignified deliberation. Baines scrutinized the child's eyes. will you take this medicine.""Oh!" said Mr. and looked over the balustrade. but its utterance gave her relief.

 Over the woollen and shirting half were the drawing-room and the chief bedroom. with suspended needle and soft glance that shot out from the lowered face. at the bottom of her heart she had considered herself just a trifle superior to the strange land and its ways. because they had to become something. She ran across to the other side of the room and examined carefully a large coloured print that was affixed to the wall. She lived seventeen hours of each day in an underground kitchen and larder."'It will probably come on again."It's for Sophia. with a haughtiness almost impassioned; and her head trembled slightly. cheese. She lived under the eyes of her pupils. mum. but its utterance gave her relief." though its owner had not sat in it since long before the Crimean war. But Sophia did not so feel it. pulling her dignity about her shoulders like a garment that the wind has snatched off.