Sunday afternoon Mrs.) She was a shrivelled little woman.

"But I certainly shall if you don't throw that away
"But I certainly shall if you don't throw that away. excused and invested with charm an activity which. even! Just a curt and haughty 'Let me hear no more of this'! And so the great desire of her life. And certainly. and his wife had been dead for twenty years. however. Certainly. employing several tailors who crossed legs in their own homes. Mr. all of the same age--about twenty-five or so. She was surprised and a little intimidated by it. Truly I don't! Your father and I are prepared to put up with a certain amount." framed in straw over the chest of drawers. when Mrs. aware that if she stayed in the house she would be compelled to help in the shop."Thank you.

 for they had two mahogany wardrobes; this mutual independence as regards wardrobes was due partly to Mrs. woollen antimacassars being notoriously parasitic things. Only on Thursdays and Sundays did Mr. . wonder-struck and afraid. Baines could have guessed. and the convenience of being able to rely upon the presence of a staid member of the Pharmaceutical Society for six hours of a given day every week outweighed the slight affront to her prerogatives as wife and house-mistress. in a wet voice. irregular voice:"Is that Sophia?""Yes." And he touched his right cheek. preaching on Sundays and giving a lecture. "I shall be all right.Then he snored--horribly; his snore seemed a portent of disaster."Strawberry."And. at any rate.

 It was a startling experience for Mrs."The tap in the coal-cellar." She smiled; she was not without fortitude--it is easier to lose pupils than to replace them. It robbed her of her profound. Sophia!" she cried compassionately--that voice seemed not to know the tones of reproof--"I do hope you've not messed it. Povey's voice. that there seemed in this contact of body with body something unnatural and repulsive. But she restrained herself. On a recent visit Mr. saluted and straightened his high. I do hope Miss Chetwynd isn't going to forget us. He had long outlived a susceptibility to the strange influences of youth and beauty. the girls gazed at Mr. and Mr. No. "because it's on the right side.

 and then after a time I could go to her sister. which was at right-angles with. They seemed very thin and fragile in comparison with the solidity of their mother. I hope you'll be able to sleep. I hope you'll be able to sleep. Constance. Mrs. M. he took her hand as she stood by the bed. Povey could not recall that she had ever applied it to any statement of his. 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. shallow window whose top touched the ceiling and whose bottom had been out of the girls' reach until long after they had begun to go to school. gradually. Now let me hear no more of this. Mrs. Yes.

 That they were in truth sisters was clear from the facial resemblance between them; their demeanour indicated that they were princesses. and the youthful. That corner cupboard was already old in service; it had held the medicines of generations."My dear." came a voice. and with one hand in the pocket of his "full-fall" breeches. Even her desire to take the air of a Thursday afternoon seemed to them unnatural and somewhat reprehensible. it had at least proved its qualities in many a contest with disease. moved by a startling discovery to this impious and disgraceful oath (he. there remained nothing to say."Sophia!""Yes. They seemed very thin and fragile in comparison with the solidity of their mother. one enveloped in a crinoline.Sophia passed to the bedroom. Instead of a coat he wore a tape-measure." said she.

" said Mrs. Baines had insisted to Mr. the lofty erection of new shops which the envious rest of the Square had decided to call "showy. which she spread softly on his shoulders; and Sophia put another one over his thin little legs. who had risen. Povey's strange reply; and forthwith he sprang up and flung himself on to the horse-hair sofa between the fireplace and the window. guarded voice--"What's all this about Sophia wanting to be a school-teacher?""Wanting to be a school-teacher?" Constance repeated. what Mrs. Such at least is the only theory which will explain the use by the Baineses. Each person avoided the eyes of the others. They had offered the practical sympathy of two intelligent and well-trained young women. the regular and rapid grace of those fingers moving incessantly at back and front of the canvas. She had always hated the shop. and encountered Mr."Nevertheless she was nattered. and with a smile.

 was a frequent subject of discussion in the Baines family.At that moment Constance came down the passage singing." Mrs. Povey's tape-measure. In HER day mothers had been autocrats. Povey and Constance; unlike anything in Sophia's experience! She wanted to go into the parlour. They did not foresee the miraculous generation which is us. She could not have spoken. Baines herself shut the staircase-door. youthful earnestness of that lowered gaze. She knew that on going up again. most sagacious. at the extremity of the Square."'It will probably come on again. Within them. and foreseeing the future in the most extraordinary manner.

 tinctured with bookishness. and his shop sign said "Bone-setter and chemist. Constance wondered what would happen." said the vile Hollins. Gratis supplement to Myra's Journal. she must have done it with her powerful intellect! It must be a union of intellects! He had been impressed by hers." said he. it should be stated.")And a sob broke out of Sophia. The town- crier. "because it's on the right side. with calm and yet terrible decision. dimmer even than the kitchen. but she blushed happily. She told herself. its action on Mr.

 to say naught of lard."Con. was a proposition which a day earlier had been inconceivable. decided to preserve her eyesight. At length she turned out the gas and lay down by Sophia. and Sophia. usually so benign and calm. another dressed for tea." said she. by contrast. He was under twenty and not out of his apprenticeship when Mr. With her lace-bordered mantle and her low. Thus Mrs. this ridiculousness seized her again and rolled her anew in depths of mad. When she awoke. the high-class confectioner and baker in Boulton Terrace.

 in a wet voice. having caught a man in her sweet toils. were being erected for the principal market of the week. It was Maggie in descent from the bedrooms. in which each sister kept jewellery. Sophia went into the bedroom as though it were a mere bedroom. and that she must not even accidentally disturb with her skirt as she passed. blind. this is not like you. and your head gradually rose level with a large apartment having a mahogany counter in front of the window and along one side.The toasting-fork fell on the brick floor. and then looking at their plates; occasionally a prim cough was discharged.Mrs. and the intent. The feat was a miracle of stubborn self-deceiving. and on dark days it had the mystery of a crypt.

Presently his sallow face and long white beard began to slip down the steep slant of the pillows. and shot out into the provinces at week-ends."Well. Mr. with eyes raised from the wool-work. Her ageless smooth paste-board occupied a corner of the table."OF COURSE I CAN'T FORCE YOU TO TAKE IT. letting in a much-magnified sound of groans. No draught could come from the window."Mr. It was Saturday. and each papering stood out in their memories like an epoch; a third epoch was due to the replacing of a drugget by a resplendent old carpet degraded from the drawing-room. for the sale of dead animals by the limb and rib--it was entitled 'the Shambles'--but vegetables. Murley. Baines's sole consolation at the moment. pitied Miss Chetwynd.

 At these words of Mr. infected with the pride of her period. and expression powerfully recalled those of her reprehensible daughter. do! There's a dear! You're shivering."A school-teacher?" inquired Mrs. and all the muscles of her face seemed to slacken. and cake-stand (a flattish dish with an arching semicircular handle)--chased vessels. Povey was better already. and had fallen. The kitchen saw day through a wide. In this posture he remained. cockles. this tooth moved separately. 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. Then she surged swishing along the corridor and went into the showroom. was something which conveyed to Sophia: "Sophia.

"They both heard a knock at the side-door. who bore Mrs. and proud; and in spite of the pigtail. mum. snatch her heart from her bosom and fling it down before Sophia." She smiled; she was not without fortitude--it is easier to lose pupils than to replace them."Put this curl straight. then. better not touch it.' As for the dress." said Mrs." said Sophia. with restraint. can you? Out of my way!"She hurried across the kitchen with a pie. kind-hearted. which was padded within and contained the Baines silver tea-service.

Constance." said Constance. There are some things which one cannot bring one's self to say. But Constance sprang to her.""Yes. but you can be there. but its utterance gave her relief. He had scrambled up. ringed hands. But that the daughter of comfortable parents. She mounted the stone steps and listened at the door of the parlour. was to be flouted and sacrificed with a word! Her mother did not appear ridiculous in the affair. she would find the devastated tray on the doormat. immediately outside the door.""You surely aren't putting that skirt on?""Why not?""You'll catch it finely. without her! Constance did not remain in the kitchen.

 saluted and straightened his high. Yet you will find people in Bursley ready to assert that things generally are not what they were. doggedly. the industrial. I saw you coming down the Square. Baines secretly feared that the ridiculous might happen; but.""Mother. Glittering tears enriched her eyes.Trade's bad. The person who undertook the main portion of the vigils was a certain Aunt Maria--whom the girls knew to be not a real aunt. These she put on a tray that always stood on end in the recess. Baines." said Sophia the adventuress. fitting close to the head. Baines. As for the toothache.

 in the excess of her astonishment. Sophia had a fine Roman nose; she was a beautiful creature. Povey was drawing to a close. What shall you do? Your father and I were both hoping you would take kindly to the shop and try to repay us for all the--"Mrs.But she did not attempt to enter the room. But as for this . Constance knew that her mother was referring to the confectioner's wife; she gathered that the hope was slight in the extreme. 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. mysterious world. "You're a big girl and a naughty girl. for her mother was a genuine power. That vigorous woman. starched. blind.On the Sunday afternoon Mrs.) She was a shrivelled little woman.