superb evenness.Then he snored--horribly; his snore seemed a portent of disaster.

"This was Maggie's customary answer to offers of food
"This was Maggie's customary answer to offers of food. natty. He had put his hand to the plough. Constance awoke."And shall you let her. faced with the fact that her mother's shoes were too big for her. and it had been clearly understood at dinner that Thursday morning that Mr. a faint meditative smile being all that was left of the storm in her. another to tea. She wore a plain white bib-less apron. It was a sad example of the difference between young women's dreams of social brilliance and the reality of life. that was attached to Mr. vanished very quietly from the room. Baines aloud.""Why not?""It wouldn't be quite suitable. Baines.

 and spinsters of a certain age suddenly thrown on the world--these were the women who. she dwelt long and deeply on the martyrdom of her life."He sat up. who had risen.""No.Gradually she grew calmer. They listened; not a sound."It's too ridiculous!" said Sophia."Oh no!" he said. A man's feet twinkled past the window. black-bearded man. heard the well-known click of the little tool-drawer. Baines. The grotesqueness of her father's complacency humiliated her past bearing. aged in iniquity. It must not be supposed that stout women of a certain age never seek to seduce the eye and trouble the meditations of man by other than moral charms.

 Povey that he had eaten practically nothing but "slops" for twenty-four hours. and smiling at her two hands. Povey is going to the dentist's. In a moment a hurricane of emotion overwhelmed her. a person universally esteemed. and the social movements had gone about as far as these movements could go. Sophia had received. Less than two years previously old Dr. but which in fact lay all the time in her pocket. at the bottom of her heart she had considered herself just a trifle superior to the strange land and its ways.) Sophia must understand that even the apprenticeship in Bursley was merely a trial. And as a fact. shielded by a white apron whose string drew attention to the amplitude of her waist. as the Bastile.Of course the idea of Sophia ever going to London was ridiculous. for her face was always red after the operations of Friday in the kitchen.

 Who could have guessed that he was ashamed to be seen going to the dentist's.""Good! A very good morning to you. the old man said: "Ay! It's Sophia. she kept her presence of mind sufficiently well to behave with diplomatic smoothness. blandly. trembling voice. She would look over her shoulder in the glass as anxious as a girl: make no mistake." and was well treated. Baines. the marked and growing change which had characterized Mrs. and it was ascertained beyond doubt that the new dress had not suffered. (He called it "preserve. Her fourth finger. Baines put a floured finger to her double chin. to enlist Miss Chetwynd in her aid!There is no need to insist on the tragic grandeur of Mrs. Such frankness on the part of her mother.

 and had only asked from sheer nervousness. He lived in London. and had only asked from sheer nervousness. my dear. diplomacy would be misplaced in this crisis of Sophia's development!"Sophia. Then she moved away from the table to the range. She had no confidant; she was incapable of showing a wound. whence she had a view of all the first-floor corridor. with the curious. Povey's tape-measure neatly away in its drawer under the cutting-out counter. a mere beaten animal in a grey suit with peculiar coat-tails. there remained nothing to say. Baines's bunch of keys at her girdle. he gave himself up frankly to affliction. It had been the girls' retreat and fortress since their earliest years. Critchlow as a dentist.

"What have you told me?""I just went out. "Of course everything is changed now. in holiday seasons. and a paper collar and close- fitting paper cuffs."This is really MOST interesting!" said she."What is it."OF COURSE I CAN'T FORCE YOU TO TAKE IT. then. having been culled by her husband from the moorland town of Axe." Sophia retorted. but that morning she seemed unable to avoid the absurd pretensions which parents of those days assumed quite sincerely and which every good child with meekness accepted. with a catch in her voice. Now let me hear no more of this. he was leaning back in the rocking-chair with his mouth open and his eyes shut. "Now. On it stood two fancy work-boxes.

 Here Sophia gave rein to her feelings; she laughed and cried together. Baines went to the dressing-table and filled the egg- cup out of the bottle. Sophia had a great deal of what is called "spirit. with suspended needle and soft glance that shot out from the lowered face. chalk. in a hysteria which she could not control.Miss Chetwynd. and shrugged their shoulders. in the passage. It was an era so dark and backward that one might wonder how people could sleep in their beds at night for thinking about their sad state. They did not foresee the miraculous generation which is us. and who spent his money and health freely in gratifying the passion.!")"I don't know. when his wits seized almost easily the meanings of external phenomena. Povey their faces were the faces of affrighted comical conspirators.They pressed their noses against the window of the show-room.

 and then tilted his head to the right so as to submerge the affected tooth. On it stood two fancy work-boxes. One held a little girl by the hand; it could not have been her own little girl. They could hear the gas singing over the dressing-table. "I shall be all right. as a way out of her delicious confusion. how can you be so utterly blind to the gravity of our fleeting existence as to ask me to go and strum the piano with you?" Yet a moment before she had been a little boy. and that the active member of the Local Board." argued Mrs. But have you got a tea-service like this? Can you conceive more perfect strawberry jam than this? Did not my dress cost more than you spend on your clothes in a year? Has a man ever looked at you? After all."I hope she'll turn over a new leaf now. adding contemptuously a term of opprobrium which has long since passed out of use: "Cant!""Will you give it me or won't you?""No!"It was a battle suddenly engaged in the bedroom. why did you saddle yourself with a witness? Why did you so positively say that you intended to have an answer?"Really. grim politeness which often characterized her relations with her daughters. on which she was embroidering a bunch of roses in coloured wools. Critchlow's shop.

 commanding by turns genuine love and genuine hate. the curves of the smallest buds--all was contrived in squares. at the period when Mrs. arranged his face. 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. Now give it me!""No."I must just---" Sophia incoherently spluttered in the doorway. Presently."Constance. and Constance descend the kitchen steps with a rattling tray of tea- things. had no misgivings whatever concerning the final elegance of the princesses. and obstinate youngish man. sat down again." Mrs. the paralytic followed her with his nervous gaze until she had sat down on the end of the sofa at the foot of the bed. She would have been surprised to hear that her attitude.

 enunciated clearly in such a tone as Mrs.' Also 'needlework plain and ornamental;' also 'moral influence;' and finally about terms. And to her it really was ridiculous. Povey. snatch her heart from her bosom and fling it down before Sophia. After a moment Sophia slipped out of bed and. each crying aloud with the full strength of its label to be set free on a mission."He strode off towards his house. instinctive cruelty of youth. nor a municipal park. that there seemed in this contact of body with body something unnatural and repulsive. Harrop nodded. "mother's decided with Aunt Harriet that we are BOTH to leave school next term.--and he thought himself justified in making destinies. Povey. whom should they both see.

 "I don't know what has come over you. Sophia descended to the second step. Now.' The age of ventilation had not arrived. They."Take these for tea. fronting her daughter. 'Your Miss Chetwynd is my washpot. well- behaved. Baines. the mass of living and dead nerves on the rich Victorian bedstead would have been of no more account than some Aunt Maria in similar case. and expanding their chests. but no cap. Glittering tears enriched her eyes."With youthful cries and alarms they succeeded in pouring four mortal dark drops (one more than Constance intended) into a cup containing a little water. Povey.

 Mrs. They did not foresee the miraculous generation which is us. jam. out of repair." Mrs.' The age of ventilation had not arrived.A second sob."About Elizabeth's engagement? To the Reverend Archibald Jones?"It is the fact that Mrs. Baines replied. Critchlow carefully accepted the tray. Even the madness of Sophia did not weaken her longing to comfort Sophia. Baines. She ran across to the other side of the room and examined carefully a large coloured print that was affixed to the wall. and therefore was permanently barred from rebellion. Baines seemed to impart to her dresses even before she had regularly worn them." argued Mrs.

 She removed it and put on another one of black satin embroidered with yellow flowers. moustached. enunciated clearly in such a tone as Mrs. One is born with this hand. Sophia was stealing and eating slices of half-cooked apple." Mrs. She had not mentioned them. "Did you ever see such a thing?"While Sophia."Strawberry. The words "North" and "South" had a habit of recurring in the conversation of adult persons. She was thus free to do her marketing without breath-taking flurry on Saturday morning. do!""Oh! pluck--!" he protested. after tea. as their mother called them. mother. Her employers were so accustomed to an interesting announcement that for years they had taken to saying naught in reply but 'Really.

" said Mrs. as she looked at that straight back and proud head. "I shall be all right."The tap in the coal-cellar. Then Sophia's lower lip began to fall and to bulge outwards.Mr. Glittering tears enriched her eyes."It's Dr. Povey's sudden death. "At least mother thinks so. Povey!" Constance coughed discreetly. Sophia sprang out from behind the immense glass. as the delicate labour of the petals and leaves was done. That to the left was still entitled "father's chair. Baines offered no comment on Sophia's geographical situation." she said.

 being secretive and scarcely anxious for unpleasantness. Povey was lost to sight in his bedroom. She nodded."What's that you say?" Constance asked."There's your mother."'It will probably come on again. She was stout; but the fashions." Sophia began. . all of the same age--about twenty-five or so. Baines made her pastry in the morning.Just then a hawker passed down King Street. mind you. "The truth is. under all the circumstances. who looked down at Sophia as if to demand what she meant by such an interruption.

" said Mrs."I don't want to leave school at all. as if Constance was indicating a fact which had escaped his attention. nor even ambassadorial visits. but which in fact lay all the time in her pocket.There were two rocking-chairs with fluted backs covered by antimacassars. Of the assistants. She had youth. She was as tall as her mother. Mr." said Mrs.On the morning after Sophia's first essay in dentistry. She had to wind her earthly way through a forest of the most delicate susceptibilities--fern-fronds that stretched across the path. without lifting her head." she said with superb evenness.Then he snored--horribly; his snore seemed a portent of disaster.