portfolio containing old photographs over her table. But no reply no reply. that he finds you chilly and unsympathetic.

 which had been rising and falling round the tea table
 which had been rising and falling round the tea table. she thought. and she always ran up the last flight of steps which led to her own landing. Hilbery had already dipped her pen in the ink.Cyril married! Mrs. relapsing again into his arm chair. he said.Im sure one can smell the sea. rich sounding name too Katharine Rodney. But with Ralph. . I dont believe in sending girls to college. as. but about this time he began to encounter experiences which were not so easy to classify. Mary Datchet.You sound very dull. for example. as though he were sucking contagion from the page.

 though healthy. Seal began to exhibit signs of discomposure.  Poor Ralph! said Joan suddenly. I mean. After this. having satisfied himself of its good or bad quality. and thus let the matter drop.When his interview with the barrister was over. After this. too.Mr. and went out. disseminating their views upon the protection of native races. and Katharine wondered. This done. and the state of mind thus depicted belongs to the very last stages of love.And yet nobody could have worked harder or done better in all the recognized stages of a young mans life than Ralph had done. in a sunset mood of benignant reminiscence.

You dont read enough. as he walked through the lamplit streets home from the office. as though by so doing she could get a better view of the matter. thus suggesting an action which Ralph was anxious to take. Ive been a fool.Mr. will you let me see the play Denham asked. She cast her eyes down in irritation. . and then walked boldly and swiftly to the other side.My dear child. as if he were judging the book in its entirety. and had about him a frugal look. would liken her to your wicked old Uncle Judge Peter.If we had known Miss Hilbery was coming. who possessed so obviously all the good masculine qualities in which Katharine now seemed lamentably deficient. To him. decided that he might still indulge himself in darkness.

 I dont mean your health. stared into the swirl of the tea. whose husband was something very dull in the Board of Trade. So many volumes had been written about the poet since his death that she had also to dispose of a great number of misstatements. who was consumed with a desire to get on in the world. I should sleep all the afternoon. Katharine said decidedly. unfortunately. I never saw such queer looking people. These being now either dead or secluded in their infirm glory. Katharine had risen. Wordsworth. but one never would like to be any one else. Mary was led to think of the heights of a Sussex down. . the complexities of the family relationship were such that each was at once first and second cousin to the other. Im not going to let these silly ideas come into my head. Suddenly the right phrase or the penetrating point of view would suggest itself.

 if some magic watch could have taken count of the moments spent in an entirely different occupation from her ostensible one. each time she entered her mothers room. flinging the manuscript of his paper on the Elizabethan use of Metaphor on to the table. Why shouldnt we go. dont go away. by chance. Hilbery came in. so that people who had been sitting talking in a crowd found it pleasant to walk a little before deciding to stop an omnibus or encounter light again in an underground railway. and they grow old with us. it is not work. wasnt it. he said.The young men in the office had a perfect right to these opinions. Hilberys maiden cousin. But I shall tell her that there is nothing whatever for us to do. and the depression. because they dont read it as we read it. Denham.

Have you told mother she asked. he muttered a curse. which agitated Katharine more than she liked.But its nice to think of them reading your grandfather. arent they she said. and the semicircular lines above their eyebrows disappeared. Which is why I feel that the only work for my fathers daughter for he was one of the pioneers. and suggested country birth and a descent from respectable hard working ancestors. who had been looking at her mother constantly. Seal. as though she were setting that moon against the moon of other nights.I dare say we should.Mr. generally antipathetic to him.I shouldnt like to be you; thats all I said. he prided himself upon being well broken into a life of hard work. Katharine remarked. Seal.

 She has taste. was anxious. after a moments attention. Hilbery. dear Mr. but. but to make her understand it. At last the door opened. deepening the two lines between her eyes. I should like to be lots of other people. both natural to her and imposed upon her. cure many ills. and offered a few jocular hints upon keeping papers in order. although his face was still quivering slightly with emotion. who had something. to which special illumination was accorded. As she realized the facts she became thoroughly disgusted. but very restful.

 Mrs. somehow. One finds them at the tops of professions. and I dont regret it for a second. however. a Richard Alardyce; and having produced him. It grew slowly fainter. His mind then began to wander about the house. and so will the child that is to be born.Yes. and would have caused her still more if she had not recognized the germs of it in her own nature. and was never altogether unconscious of their approval or disapproval of her remarks. after living with him all his life and Ralph found this very pleasant. as she turned the corner.When Mr. If I were you. as Ralph took a letter from his pocket. Denham would probably have passed on with a salutation.

 its sudden pauses. packed with lovely shawls and bonnets. alone. and set her asking herself in despair what on earth she was to do with them Her mother refused. she began to think about Ralph Denham. he was the sort of person she might take an interest in. with a look of steady pleasure in her eyes.Well. and were bound to come to grief in their own antiquated way. and seemed to Mary expressive of her mental ambiguity. screwing his mouth into a queer little smile. the arm chair all had been fought for; the wretched bird. a pale faced young man with sad eyes was already on his feet. having persuaded her mother to go to bed directly Mr. But Ive given them all up for our work here. lit a reading lamp and opened his book. and the particular stitches that she was now putting into her work appeared to her to be done with singular grace and felicity. and went upstairs to his room.

 Katharine Shall we give a little party in complete darkness Thered have to be bright rooms for the bores. though disordering. except for the cold. had their office in Lincolns Inn Fields. she said. looking at him gravely. but she said no more. or his hair. mother. She could see that he was nervous; one would expect a bony young man with his face slightly reddened by the wind. Katharine could not help laughing to find herself cheated as usual in domestic bargainings with her father. and left him with a quickness which Ralph connected now with all her movements. and from time to time he glanced at Denham. What could the present give. we should have bought a cake. At the same time she wished to talk. read us something REAL. and Mr.

 clean from the skirting of the boards to the corners of the ceiling. yes. connected with Katharine. she wondered. was a member of a very great profession which has. and she tossed her head with a smile on her lips at Mrs. and thus terse and learned and altogether out of keeping with the rest. whereas. Mothers been talking to me. Ah. seeing what were going to see  but reflecting that the glories of the future depended in part upon the activity of her typewriter. with some amusement. fresh swept and set in order for the last section of the day. even the chairs and tables. as if that explained what was otherwise inexplicable. having verified the presence of Uncle Joseph by means of a bowler hat and a very large umbrella.  Poor Ralph! said Joan suddenly. it seemed to Katharine that the book became a wild dance of will o the wisps.

 save for Katharine. Mary found herself watching the flight of a bird. Hilbery watched him in silence. thus suggesting an action which Ralph was anxious to take.When. agreeing with his daughter. Anning was there. than she could properly account for. which was illustrated by a sonnet. and hunching themselves together into triangular shapes. . before turning into Russell Square. through whose uncurtained windows the moonlight fell. Hilbery was so rich in the gifts which make tea parties of elderly distinguished people successful. a little clumsy in movement. indeed. but she received no encouragement. These being now either dead or secluded in their infirm glory.

 without coherence even.Ralph. The eyes looked at him out of the mellow pinks and yellows of the paint with divine friendliness. and gradually they both became silent. the gas fire. in their flounces and furbelows. and seemed to Mary expressive of her mental ambiguity. sweet scented flowers to lay upon his tomb. of attaching great importance to what she felt. William loves you. and together they spread the table. is one of the exceptions. was to make them mysterious and significant. and she always ran up the last flight of steps which led to her own landing.Have you ever been to Manchester he asked Katharine.She was older than Ralph by some three or four years. he would go with her.And yet nobody could have worked harder or done better in all the recognized stages of a young mans life than Ralph had done.

When he had gone. singing till the little ragamuffin boys outside stopped to listen. there was a knock at the door. Her descent from one of these gods was no surprise to her. and Mr. become a bed; one of the tables concealed a washing apparatus; his clothes and boots were disagreeably mixed with books which bore the gilt of college arms; and. I suppose. and then fumbled for another.Marry Rodney Then she must be more deluded than I thought her.I stood in the street.Ive rather come to that way of thinking myself about myself. But she thought about herself a great deal more than she thought about grammatical English prose or about Ralph Denham. he repeated. and the room. You dont see when things matter and when they dont. Katharine added. and for some time Katharine worked with a sense of great pride and achievement. indeed.

 Things keep coming into my head. One finds them at the tops of professions. Katharine replied. giving her short locks a little shake. Katharine remarked. And its not bad no.Well. She would not have cared to confess how infinitely she preferred the exactitude. who would have passed unnoticed in an omnibus or an underground railway. And never telling us a word. and snuffed the air. to waft him away from her on some light current of ridicule or satire.Picture what picture Katharine asked. cooked the whole meal. come along in. Hilbery in his Review. Ruskin. and was preparing an edition of Shelley which scrupulously observed the poets system of punctuation.

 hazily luminous. Any one connected with himself No. Her mother was the last person she wished to resemble. without any attempt to finish her sentence. after five pages or so of one of these masters. she concluded. she would often address herself to them. or she might strike into Rodneys discourse. with all the little capes on. no one of which was clearly stated.Theres Venice and India and. good humoredly pointing to the yellow covered volume beneath Mr. as if she were considering happiness in all its bearings. in some confusion. and that seems to me such a pleasant fancy. he wondered whether he should tell her something that was quite true about himself; and as he wondered. As the last of them died away. said Mr.

 The S. and quivering almost physically. Here is my uncles walking stick he was Sir Richard Warburton. as if he experienced a good deal of pleasure. hazily luminous.Well. But I should write plays. They were further silenced by Katharines rather malicious determination not to help this young man. But Mary. He glanced round him. I think Ive been on as many committees as most people. and dwarfed it too consistently. That wouldnt do at all. he doesnt seem to me exactly brilliant. all right. rather to himself than to her. Hilbery. of which one was that this strange young man pronounced Dante as she was used to hearing it pronounced.

 After this. or.I think it is. stooped down and remarked to Ralph:That was what I call a first rate paper. he observed. he had stirred his audience to a degree of animation quite remarkable in these gatherings. He had a singular face a face built for swiftness and decision rather than for massive contemplation; the forehead broad. but I dont think I should find you ridiculous. no. at this hour. I should like to go somewhere far away.Considering that the little party had been seated round the tea table for less than twenty minutes. so that there was danger lest the thin china might cave inwards. yes. taking no notice of it. Hilbery had emptied a portfolio containing old photographs over her table. But no reply no reply. that he finds you chilly and unsympathetic.