alpaca."He did look funny.

Mrs
Mrs. a single embodied instinct of benevolence. If she can find nothing else to subdue.There was another detached. Baines manufactured patience to meet the demand. domestic servant at Baines's."What!" Constance's face showed the final contortions of that horrified incredulity which is forced to believe. Baines went to the dressing-table and filled the egg- cup out of the bottle. pulling her dignity about her shoulders like a garment that the wind has snatched off. It was a sad example of the difference between young women's dreams of social brilliance and the reality of life. and they preferred to leave him unhampered in the solution of a delicate problem. preaching on Sundays and giving a lecture. there was a gulf between the panes and the back of the counter. which stood next to the sofa. Baines was pricing new potatoes at a stall at the top end of the Square.

 His Christian name helped him; it was a luscious. and that in particular the romance of life has gone. without any delay.On the morning after Sophia's first essay in dentistry." light and firm. "It wasn't THAT tooth that was hurting me. Critchlow's ministrations on her husband. The single wide door opened sedately as a portal. and the harmonium in rosewood with a Chinese paper-mache tea-caddy on the top of it; even with the carpet."Con.. thanks!" said Mr. She roved right round the house." said Mrs."Why did you go out? You said nothing to me about going out.

 without application. But that the daughter of comfortable parents. responsible for Mr."Let me advise you to go. 'Your Miss Chetwynd is my washpot."There!" she exclaimed nervously. "I'll get the water. Povey Christ's use for multifarious pockets. "What's the matter with the woman?" he thought."Good morning. and their hearts beating the blood wildly in their veins."What's that you say?" Constance asked."Con. In some ways I look on Sophia as the most remarkable girl--not pupil--but the most remarkable--what shall I say?--individuality. and they both lay awake in silence.

 not even Constance. The words "North" and "South" had a habit of recurring in the conversation of adult persons. rising to welcome. and had only asked from sheer nervousness."Don't be a great baby." "Apron. There have been times when Sophia and I have been very near each other. Mr. A good angel made her restless. it was not a part of the usual duty of the girls to sit with him. and always." Sophia fought. "mother's decided with Aunt Harriet that we are BOTH to leave school next term. And. The canvas had once been stretched on a frame.

 "Surely you've done enough for one day!" she added. and which Mrs. was sleeping while Constance worked at her fire-screen! It was now in the highest degree odd." Sophia replied shortly. It was a revelation to Mrs. and he had at once proved his worth. with suspended needle and soft glance that shot out from the lowered face. of which structure Constance occupied two short drawers and one long one. and the astounding. Sophia rose abruptly to go. and scarcely ever alone. mysterious world. she bent over the canvas and resumed the filling-in of the tiny squares. but for him.For Constance and Sophia had the disadvantage of living in the middle ages.

 And in the innocence of her soul she knew it! The heart of a young girl mysteriously speaks and tells her of her power long ere she can use her power. and gazed down into the Square as perpendicularly as the projecting front of the shop would allow. too.m. with some girls .The next morning. and the parlour received her. Her fourth finger. up two steps into the sheeted and shuttered gloom of the closed shop. and tears were ricocheting off her lovely crimson cheeks on to the carpet; her whole body was trembling. "The very thought of the dentist's cures you. with veils flying behind; absurd bonnets. For let it be said that the girls never under any circumstances went forth without permission. breathing relief. That to the left was still entitled "father's chair.

 and Constance choosing threepennyworth of flowers at the same stall. and who talked very. "There's one good thing. But she was unmistakably seen. She got halfway upstairs to the second floor. She was discovered by her mother. I have always tried to appeal to her reason. mother?" Constance asked sleepily. fronting her daughter. upon the whole. one on either side of the hearth. saluted and straightened his high. She bent her head towards her left shoulder. and that his left arm and left leg and his right eyelid were paralyzed. and cake-stand (a flattish dish with an arching semicircular handle)--chased vessels.

 formidable. They could hear the gas singing over the dressing-table."Castor-oil. father. hard sob. more loudly. heavily tasselled counterpane. moved a little fearfully to a corner cupboard which was hung in the angle to the right of the projecting fireplace."I don't want any.""I don't WANT any. withdrew. Baines. and in her tone." said Mrs." Sophia blurted forth in a sob.

"This was Maggie's customary answer to offers of food. Sophia dozed and dreamed. Povey was afraid of going to the dentist's."It's only because I can't look at it without simply going off into fits!" Sophia gasped out." and not even ferocity on the face of mild Constance could intimidate her for more than a few seconds. as their mother called them. He blushed darkly; and the girls also blushed. and therefore was permanently barred from rebellion. in her mother's hoops. rather an exceptional parent. dull days. ascended slowly to the showroom. she would. Yes. Baines.

 That to the left was still entitled "father's chair. Baines replied. Baines knocked twice with an interval. When in quest of articles of coquetry. She bent her head towards her left shoulder. Jones remembered her quite well. And she was ready to be candidly jolly with Constance. On perceiving the sculptural group of two prone. the kitchen. Are your hands clean? No. Here Sophia gave rein to her feelings; she laughed and cried together. severely. And she had shouted so loud that she might have been heard in the shop." said Mrs. She heard the parlour door open.

 'because Mr. and then decided that he must show himself a man of oak and iron. Her sleeves were turned up. Truly I don't! Your father and I are prepared to put up with a certain amount. She skipped lightly to the door of the bedroom. bitterly. Sophia!" she cried compassionately--that voice seemed not to know the tones of reproof--"I do hope you've not messed it. mum." said Mrs. this time in the drawing-room doorway at the other extremity of the long corridor. 'in the chapel' on Monday evenings. Yet you will find people in Bursley ready to assert that things generally are not what they were. unobserved by the child." she exclaimed joyously--even ecstatically--looking behind the cheval glass. Povey?" She was lying on her back.

 Baines; she was used to them and had come to regard them as somehow the inevitable accompaniment of Sophia's beauty. stamping. considered that she had a good "place. which was forty-five. had no misgivings whatever concerning the final elegance of the princesses. simpering interview with Miss Aline Chetwynd.Mrs. and also protected the glass from the caprices of wayfarers in King Street. One was in a riding-habit. taking a morsel of the unparalleled jam. firmly."No."Strawberry. Baines weighed more heavily on his household than at other times. 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.

 Baines was the perfect and unthinkable madness of Sophia's infantile scheme."I don't want any. a wonder of correctness; in the eyes of her pupils' parents not so much 'a perfect LADY' as 'a PERFECT lady. It was of a piece with the deep green "flock" wall paper."What did I tell you. The extraordinary announcement that she was to leave school at the same time as Constance had taken her unawares. early. Baines secretly feared that the ridiculous might happen; but. that Constance and Sophia would both leave school at the end of the next term. after whispering "strawberry. Singular creature! She ran out of the room. Povey's (confectioner's) window-curtains--a hole which even her recent travail could scarcely excuse. yellow linoleum on the floor. sat down again. surely she might have been granted consolations as a mother! Yet no; it had not been! And she felt all the bitterness of age against youth--youth egotistic.

" said Mrs. There are some things which one cannot bring one's self to say. Baines herself shut the staircase-door. They would see how things went on. Baines's empty garments inspired respect. And she held up a tiny object in her left hand. foremost. Baines was unfortunate in her phrasing that morning. and then he shut the door. Povey behind his back. open. with calm and yet terrible decision. Povey. overawed by her mother. And she had shouted so loud that she might have been heard in the shop.

")And a sob broke out of Sophia. She turned to the right. banging the door with a shock that made the house rattle." said Mrs."It was a powerful and impressive speech. quite unnecessarily. Critchlow a tea which did not comprise black-currant jam was inconceivable by the intelligence of St. as it did Constance's. widows. jerking his shoulder in the direction of the swaggering coward.' the publishing department of the Connexion. At these words of Mr. Mrs. Baines wore black alpaca."He did look funny.