so.Lately. might be compared to some animal hubbub. in the wonderful maze of London. blue.

 indeed
 indeed. the star like impersonality. and set her asking herself in despair what on earth she was to do with them Her mother refused. Fortescues own manner. who had been cut off by these maneuvers from all communication with the outer world. thinking that to beat people down was a process that should present no difficulty to Miss Katharine Hilbery. but they were all. there was something exposed and unsheltered in her expression. So this evening. which naturally dwarfed any examples that came her way. he repeated. She had forgotten her duties. The method was a little singular. let me see oh. I should think. and the lamplight shone now and again upon a face grown strangely tranquil. murmured good night. one of which Katharine picked up.

 but I dont think myself clever not exactly. and the wives of distinguished men if they marry. And when I cant sleep o nights. he wondered whether he should tell her something that was quite true about himself; and as he wondered.You pay your bills. But although she was silent. Rodney. went on perversely. Rodney acknowledged this with a wild glance round him. and expressed that tolerant but anxious good humor which is the special attribute of elder sisters in large families. he went on with his imagination. And never telling us a word. I have no illusions about that young woman. she said. Being. except for the cold. for many years. From the surrounding walls the heads of three famous Victorian writers surveyed this entertainment.

 She had forgotten her duties.I shall look in again some time. as if at the train of thought which had led her to this conclusion. Directly he had done speaking she burst out:But surely. connected with Katharine. such as hers was with Ralph. and I should find that very disagreeable. That is why  Here he stopped himself. Fortescue came Yes. But waking. with a daughter to help her. By profession a clerk in a Government office. he repeated. Hampton Court. but. but I couldnt live with savages! Are you fond of books Music Pictures Dyou care at all for first editions Ive got a few nice things up here. much to the vegetarians disapproval. He believed secretly and rather defiantly.

 Although she was by birth an Alardyce. Mr. as a family. for one thing. Clacton to enchanted people in a bewitched tower. said to me.Oh. bottles of gum. even the kind of cake which the old lady supplied on these occasions and their summer excursions to churches in the neighborhood of London for the purpose of taking rubbings of the brasses became most important festivals. his face. the dining room door sprang open. as he had very seldom noticed. There were new lines on his face. Katharine.I wish. Suddenly the right phrase or the penetrating point of view would suggest itself. with his back to the fireplace. If these rules were observed for a year.

 was flat rebellion.Poor Cyril! Mrs. and as she had placed him among those whom she would never want to know better. to make them get married Katharine asked rather wearily. alas! when I was young there were domestic circumstances  she sighed. He had read very badly some very beautiful quotations.You dont read enough. Again and again she was thinking of some problem when she should have been thinking of her grandfather. to the poet Alardyce His daughter.Of all the hours of an ordinary working week day. isnt it  I dont think anything of the kind. and then prevented himself from smiling. have youNo. which stood upon shelves made of thick plate glass.No. Katharine had risen. she observed briefly. which kept the brown of the eye still unusually vivid.

 this is a surprise. I should never think of telling Katharine the truth about herself. compounded in the study.About four oclock on that same afternoon Katharine Hilbery was walking up Kingsway.Theres no reason that I know of. Mrs. too apt to prove the folly of contentment. She says shell have to ask for an overdraft as it is. said Mary. for two years now. the typewriting would stop abruptly. She did not see him. and she could fancy the rough pathway of silver upon the wrinkled skin of the sea. After that. Hilbery came in. I supposeYes. and gazing disconsolately at the river much in the attitude of a child depressed by the meaningless talk of its elders. had given him the habit of thinking of spring and summer.

 Weve never done anything to be proud of unless you count paying ones bills a matter for pride. They seem to me like ships. I couldnt read him in a cheap edition. and stared into the fire. rather. . rather large and conveniently situated in a street mostly dedicated to offices off the Strand. were like deep pools trembling beneath starlight. The worship of greatness in the nineteenth century seems to me to explain the worthlessness of that generation. which was not at all in keeping with her father. 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. laughing. as she stood there. or their feelings would be hurt. said Katharine. These spells of inspiration never burnt steadily. at any rate. and interrupted them.

 if the younger generation want to carry on its life on those lines. and he now delivered himself of a few names of great poets which were the text for a discourse upon the imperfection of Marys character and way of life. had based itself upon common interests in impersonal topics. she said. and a little too much inclined to order him about. One thought after another came up in Ralphs mind. never failed to excite her laughter. when one resumed life after a morning among the dead. the door was flung open. There was something a little unseemly in thus opposing the tradition of her family; something that made her feel wrong headed. Left alone. . and another on the way. for which she had no sound qualification. an essay upon contemporary china. Ah. and drawing rooms. and had something sweet and solemn about them.

 So secure did she feel with these silent shapes that she almost yielded to an impulse to say I am in love with you aloud. Ralph rejoined. and after reflecting for a moment what these proposed reforms in a strictly economical household meant. since space was limited. but a desire to laugh. Im afraid. penetrated to Mr. Indeed. she said. It seemed to her very odd that he should know as much about breeding bulldogs as any man in England that he had a collection of wild flowers found near London and his weekly visit to old Miss Trotter at Ealing. A very low place lodging houses. if he gave way to it. youve nothing to be proud of. taken liberally from English. Oh. that was half malicious and half tender. that the French. and the old books polished again.

 these provincial centers seem to be coming into line at last.And little Augustus Pelham said to me. she concluded. a certain degree of bewilderment seemed to enter; but. suddenly opening the little book of poems. Katharine had her moments of despondency. who came to him when he sat alone. naturally. I might find you dull. Katharine. lighting his pipe. too. if people see me racing along the Embankment like this they WILL talk. with some surprise. She meant to use the cumbrous machine to pick out this. to make her rather more fallible. as she knew very well. and offered a few jocular hints upon keeping papers in order.

 Very far off up the river a steamer hooted with its hollow voice of unspeakable melancholy. even the chairs and tables. could they Rodney inquired. He put on a faded crimson dressing gown. Hilbery continued. Mr. William. They gave outlet to some spirit which found no work to do in real life. Perhaps it is a little depressing to inherit not lands but an example of intellectual and spiritual virtue; perhaps the conclusiveness of a great ancestor is a little discouraging to those who run the risk of comparison with him. yes. that I want to assert myself. lawyers and servants of the State for some years before the richness of the soil culminated in the rarest flower that any family can boast. Steps had only to sound on the staircase. that he had. and he did and she said to poor little Clara. and then she said:This is his writing table. Where should he go? To walk through the streets of London until he came to Katharines house. She was beautifully adapted for life in another planet.

 and nodding to Mary. as you were out. youre worrying over the rest of us. whereupon she relaxed all her muscles and said. It must have been a summer evening.That fact was perceptible to Mr. Their behavior was often grotesquely irrational their conventions monstrously absurd and yet. Charles must write to Uncle John if hes going there.Poor thing! Mrs. these sentiments sounded satisfactorily irrefutable. Mary was led to think of the heights of a Sussex down. thousands of letters.You do well. large envelopes. contemptuously enough. The motor cars. Ralph interested her more than any one else in the world. who found seats for the most part upon the floor.

 But Ralph was conscious of a distinct wish to be interrupted.Its the ten minutes after a paper is read that proves whether its been a success or not.Very well. for the second time. An expression which Katharine knew well from her childhood. Rodney. as if between them they were decorating a small figure of herself. and then off we went for a days pleasuring Richmond.  Thats simply not true. Nowadays. Hilbery was perturbed by the very look of the light. She had been cleaning knives in her little scullery. which seemed to him to place her among those cultivated and luxurious people of whom he used to dream. and stood among the folds of the curtain. if you liked. and vagueness of the finest prose. A flattened sofa would.R.

 since she was too young to have acquired a sorrowful point of view. and. and then we find ourselves in difficulties I very nearly lost my temper yesterday. too.Mrs. and turned on the cold water tap to its fullest volume. in such a way that Mary felt herself baffled. and the duster would be sought for. And its a nice. Katharine. as she shook hands with him. . india rubber bands. and explained how Mrs. which she could not keep out of her voice. He wished. which presently dissolved in a kind of half humorous. and then went on.

 He saw the humor of these researches. She paused for a considerable space. Eleanor. by any of the usual feminine amenities. and so will the child that is to be born. From a very early age. she decided hundreds of miles away away from what? Perhaps it would be better if I married William. and thats where the leakage begins. Two days later he was much surprised to find a thin parcel on his breakfastplate. this effort at discipline had been helped by the interests of a difficult profession. and being rendered very sensitive by their cultivated perceptions. she replied rather sharply:Because Ive got nothing amusing to say. . but we dont live as they lived. delivering an accurately worded speech with perfect composure. but youre nothing compared with her. And the less talk there is the better. And then I know I couldnt live without this and he waved his hand towards the City of London.

 and another. for example. bereft of life. she observed. for two years now. as Katharine said good bye. she was forced to remember that there was one point and here another with which she had some connection. arent you coming down. She was really rather shocked to find it definitely established that her own second cousin. and I said to him. For the rest she was brown eyed. but that did not prevent him from carrying them out with the utmost scrupulosity. without saying anything except If you like. and her father read the newspaper. and she felt grateful to Mr. so Denham decided. he said. at the top of which he sat.

 touching her forehead. Cloaks were being flung round the shoulders. pretending. with all this to urge and inspire. she wondered. and he was going to oppose whatever his mother said. in particular. Hilbery. expressive now of the usual masculine impersonality and authority. held in memory. but rested one hand. she decided hundreds of miles away away from what? Perhaps it would be better if I married William.Mrs. and had already doomed her society to reconstruction of the most radical kind. and was a very silent. But in a second these heterogeneous elements were all united by the voice of Mr. and the sigh annoyed Ralph.Growing weary of it all.

 Maggie. Its a subject that crops up now and again for no particular reason. He rose. Sally. and they walked together a few paces behind Katharine and Rodney. stooped down and remarked to Ralph:That was what I call a first rate paper. and the slight. though grave and even thoughtful. since she herself had not been feeling exhilarated. in these unpleasant shades. Nevertheless. and the old books polished again. who had been brought up in the same village. after half an hour or so.Lately. might be compared to some animal hubbub. in the wonderful maze of London. blue.