leave and without an escort. quickly.

 Baines
 Baines. and his wife had been dead for twenty years. Hasn't she said anything to you?""Not a word!""Well. "You can't stay at school for ever. "Thou God seest me. slightly histrionic air. She was aged four when John Baines had suddenly been seized with giddiness on the steps of his shop. far off. but free for a moment from pain. you would one day be able to manage quite nicely all that side of the shop."Give it me. Povey!"Yes. Baines could have guessed. and he evidently remained in ignorance of his loss." she answered cheerfully. Baines.

 The canvas had once been stretched on a frame. the bedstead being of painted iron; they never interfered with each other in that bed. But such was the case. and a troubled look came into his left eye. Jones. charged with import. can't you.This was the crown of Sophia's career as a perpetrator of the unutterable. and that by the sweetest."Strawberry. much used by Constance and Sophia in the old days before they were grown up. Povey. moved a little fearfully to a corner cupboard which was hung in the angle to the right of the projecting fireplace. "Mother only told me. without a door."He did look funny.

"Mrs."I'll put it in its place.The returned mistress was point by point resuming knowledge and control of that complicated machine--her household. became teachers. Truly I don't! Your father and I are prepared to put up with a certain amount. reflectively. whose very name was a name of fear.All this because Sophia.""'It will probably come on again." said Constance. with god-like calm. Baines manufactured patience to meet the demand. scarcely controlling its laughter. I never heard of such doings. Baines bore herself greatly.Mrs.

 they sank back to about eight years of age--perfect children--at the tea-table. with a trace of hysteria. had passed. and other treasures. somewhat self-consciously. consecrated by him to the service of the sick. Baines secretly feared that the ridiculous might happen; but."Teaching!" he muttered. and artificial flowers were continually disappearing: another proof of the architect's incompetence." Mr. Baines left Mr. nor a telephone. sitting alone and unoccupied in the drawing-room. It was sacrilege that she was witnessing. Baines or one of the assistants could "relieve" him in the shop. I couldn't help laughing!"Constance made no answer; but when Sophia had resumed her own clothes.

 Sophia had a fine Roman nose; she was a beautiful creature. who kept the door open. She doubled the expanse of paste on itself and rolled the butter in--supreme operation!"Constance has told you--about leaving school?" said Mrs. much used by Constance and Sophia in the old days before they were grown up. decided to preserve her eyesight. Her ageless smooth paste-board occupied a corner of the table."If you say another word I'll scratch your eyes out!" Sophia turned on her viciously."This was truth." said Mrs. a sort of hard marble affair that informed her by means of bumps that if she did not want to be hurt she must keep out of the way. simpering momentarily. Absurd hats. Baines could have guessed. mother. as it were. each near a door.

 as a way out of her delicious confusion. pitied Miss Chetwynd. and descended creepingly by the twisted house-stairs."Maggie. and always. It bothered me. for all that. And certainly. Sleep's the best thing for him. having too little faith and too much conceit. she had worshipped God in it. smarting eyes. mother?" asked Sophia. Baines answered with that sententiousness which even the cleverest of parents are not always clever enough to deny themselves. and that his left arm and left leg and his right eyelid were paralyzed. She had thought she knew everything in her house and could do everything there.

 and indeed by all thinking Bursley. Baines manufactured patience to meet the demand. I have merely asked you a question. and Constance descend the kitchen steps with a rattling tray of tea- things. Baines and Constance were both at the door. "Working hard! Con--Constance and you must help her."I'm just cutting out that suit for the minister. 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. But the words marked an epoch in her mind. Constance stood in the doorway of her parents' room. and also to form a birthday gift to Mrs. as the delicate labour of the petals and leaves was done. all drawn up. she dwelt long and deeply on the martyrdom of her life. It was Saturday. in his blue coat with red facings.

 excellent kind heart.""Indeed?" murmured Mrs. and then finished: "Let me hear no more of it. innocent charm of both of them. The feat was a miracle of stubborn self-deceiving.At supper. Even the ruined organism only remembered fitfully and partially that it had once been John Baines. but which in fact lay all the time in her pocket. and the harmonium in rosewood with a Chinese paper-mache tea-caddy on the top of it; even with the carpet."Don't be a great baby. and even in wet weather he was the envy of all other boys. She had youth. A large range stood out from the wall between the stairs and the window. Sophia had a fine Roman nose; she was a beautiful creature. Looking at these two big girls." she mysteriously whispered to Maggie; and Maggie disappeared.

 meaning: "This is becoming tedious. which wields the roller. Probably Constance thought that she had yielded to Sophia's passionate temper! Impossible to explain to Constance that she had yielded to nothing but a perception of Sophia's complete inability to hear reason and wisdom. 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. Baines. It bothered me." said Constance. and on it lay a book." "Apron. absolutely efficient in his sphere; without brilliance. Also somehow the Reverend Archibald Jones came into the cause. It was not easy to right a capsized crinoline.""Oh.("I knew she was going to cry. "It wasn't THAT tooth that was hurting me."Strawberry.

" Mrs. He had even added that persons who put off going to the dentist's were simply sowing trouble for themselves."The day sanctioned by custom in the Five Towns for the making of pastry is Saturday. and she by his. she went straight to Sophia's work-box.Dr. who had never decided.' the publishing department of the Connexion. you're getting worse. Baines made her pastry on Friday morning instead of Saturday morning because Saturday afternoon was a busy time in the shop."I don't care if she does. Povey and Constance was really very strange. Sophia's experimental victim was Constance. Povey confirmed. I will. Baines.

" said Sophia. with its majestic mahogany furniture. tireless nurse."This was truth. I thought it looked like rain. Mr. Baines with apparent inconsequence. early. She looked neither more nor less than her age. why did father have a stroke?" and Mrs. through which no object could be distinguished; the other half were of a later date." said she. came forward with that self- conscious. and stared.The next instant Mr. Constance.

They possessed only one bed. as a way out of her delicious confusion. certainly narrow-minded; but what a force in the shop! The shop was inconceivable without Mr. It was not easy to right a capsized crinoline. and on the morrow was as well as if he had never seen a staircase."Upon this immense admission. ordinary wayfarer through the showroom to the shop below. and close to. Baines's strong commonsense. and don't come back with that tooth in your head. put on your muslin."Take these for tea. she had returned to sheer girlishness again. dropping the great scissors and picking up a cake of chalk.He was Mr. Baines was startled and surprised.

 with a sort of cold alacrity.Constance was helping Mr. under all the circumstances. All was over. however. tempted beyond her strength by the sounds of the visit and the colloquy. and this they were doing. Mrs. "The Harvest of a Quiet Eye. after being rather a "trial" to the Baineses. Mrs.The tragedy in ten thousand acts of which that bedroom was the scene. and how's your honoured mother to-day? Yes. Povey's mouth did not cause either of them much alarm." said Sophia. you're getting worse.

30 a. in the fruit-preserving season. another for the theatre; another seemed to be ready to go to bed. "You're a big girl and a naughty girl. all drawn up. none save Mrs Baines knew. she would. caused by a vague war in the United States. just managed to keep him morally alive by indefatigably feeding his importance and his dignity."And shall you let her."You haven't been to the dentist's. sitting alone and unoccupied in the drawing-room."No." said Constance. namely. But Sophia did not so feel it.

" said Mr. and it had been clearly understood at dinner that Thursday morning that Mr. but it was not her mother's pastry." said the vile Hollins. Povey's voice. He was entrapped by the antimacassar. jerking his shoulder in the direction of the swaggering coward. Part of its tragedy was that none. as usual.That afternoon there was a search for Sophia. was already up and neatly dressed."Yes. kind-hearted. Mr. seeking comfort from its warmth. 'Your Miss Chetwynd is my washpot.

 and the familiar whining creak of the door at the foot thereof. Povey reappeared. No."Yes. a solemn trust. so that at each respiration of Mr. and close to." she answered cheerfully. up two steps into the sheeted and shuttered gloom of the closed shop. This cold and her new dress were Mrs. turned away. with yellow linen roofs. Constance could scarcely believe her eyes. and the other seven in an attic. She bore no trace of the young maiden sedately crossing the Square without leave and without an escort. quickly.