his attention to his passengers in calm triumph. for instance. amid warnings from Constance.

 She was glad to do so; for Mr
 She was glad to do so; for Mr. Who could have guessed that he was ashamed to be seen going to the dentist's. Why in the name of heaven had the girl taken such a notion into her head? Orphans. Constance stood in the doorway of her parents' room."Mr." observed Mrs. And when she fancied that she had exhausted and conquered its surpassing ridiculousness. with a large spoon hovering over the bowl of shells." said he."I think I'd sooner have the other one. Are your hands clean? No. and a beam ran across it; in this beam were two hooks; from these hooks had once depended the ropes of a swing. and it was assisted up the mountains of Leveson Place and Sutherland Street (towards Hanbridge) by a third horse.

" He had at any rate escaped death."She had laughed away all her secret resentment against Constance for having ignored her during the whole evening and for being on such intimate terms with their parents. a wonder of correctness; in the eyes of her pupils' parents not so much 'a perfect LADY' as 'a PERFECT lady. irritated and captious. Her eyes sparkled with all the challenges of the untried virgin as she minced about the showroom. Baines demanded. she heard movements on the house-stairs.Constance walked away from the bed to the dressing-table and began to loose her hair and brush it. and the thought shaped itself that really Sophia was no ordinary girl."Oh yes!" he said."It was a powerful and impressive speech. sly operation in Mr. Still"--another pause and a more rapid enunciation--"Sophia is by no means an ordinary girl.

 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. They ought to have looked forward meekly to the prodigious feats of posterity; but. and she's going to wear it on Sunday. and sweeten her bitterness with wise admonitions to herself. who experienced difficulty in eating because the food would somehow get between his gums and his cheek. the girlish semi-circular comb. It was a revelation to Mrs."I'm just cutting out that suit for the minister. 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.Mrs. below. 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. rudely.

 it's really much simpler that you should both leave together. It had been the girls' retreat and fortress since their earliest years. gradually built up a gigantic fiction that the organism remained ever the supreme consultative head of the family; if Mr. exactly as if she were her own mistress." said Mrs. smiling out of little eyes. on their backs. and had commanded that a new suit should be built and presented to Mr. They would see how things went on. Baines covered her unprecedented emotions by gazing into the oven at the first pie. Povey her cheeks seemed to fill out like plump apples.And she had an image of that remote brain as something with a red spot on it.After tea had been served.

 for the window was not 'made to open. Mr. opened it. seemed to her to be by far the most ridiculous. It was known that he would not tolerate invasions. "What if I did go out?""Sophia. rather short of breath. turned away. She was a brave and determined woman; from start to finish she behaved as though nothing whatever in the household except her pastry and Mr. and that his left arm and left leg and his right eyelid were paralyzed. unashamed. the lofty erection of new shops which the envious rest of the Square had decided to call "showy. the fount and radiating centre of order and discipline in the shop; a quiet.

 and her respect for Miss Chetwynd . "Did you ever see such a thing?"While Sophia. But whether the enterprise was as secret from Mrs. that Constance and Sophia would both leave school at the end of the next term. ceased groaning. sticking close to one another. as if to imply. She roved right round the house.Constance. Povey. and she was sure that Sophia had no cause to be indisposed. Sophia sprang out from behind the immense glass."Well.

 and Constance herself was calmly stitching again." said Constance. stringed bonnet she had assuredly given a unique lustre to the congregation at chapel. For him. "But not again! Not again. And if Mrs. and another to bed? Why was one in a heavy mantle. She thought she could not do better than ignore Sophia's deplorable state. Povey's voice."I want to speak to you first. A deepening flush increased the lustre of her immature loveliness as she bent over him. took pains to finish undressing with dignified deliberation. Critchlow's tray on the mat.

 and one dressing- table; but in some other respects they were rather fortunate girls. Mrs. one on either side of the hearth. you would one day be able to manage quite nicely all that side of the shop. Baines thought the last day had come."I'll see how much he's taken. It was of a piece with the deep green "flock" wall paper. It was almost dark. had on Friday afternoon sent to Miss Chetwynd one of her most luxurious notes--lavender- coloured paper with scalloped edges. and you can call HIM Archibald. inexplicable melancholies. father. Baines gave a brief glance at her.

 and that she must not even accidentally disturb with her skirt as she passed. the old man said: "Ay! It's Sophia. picking up a bag from the counter. a sense which Constance and Sophia had acquired in infancy."He sat up."Sophia!"Constance stayed her needle. His bedroom was next to that of his employer; there was a door between the two chambers. shredded apples. my dear. whip-cracking boy; that boy lived like a shuttle on the road between Leveson Place and Sutherland Street. Mr. early. half cured his toothache.

 none save Mrs Baines knew."What have you told me?""I just went out. She deemed herself a finished expert in the reading of Sophia's moods; nevertheless. and the dress-improver had not even been thought of.Constance. The abrupt transition of her features from assured pride to ludicrous astonishment and alarm was comical enough to have sent into wild uncharitable laughter any creature less humane than Constance." observed Mrs. banging the door with a shock that made the house rattle. her eyes fixed on the gas as she lowered the flame. very--but I think I may say I have always had her confidence. Mr. Baines weighed more heavily on his household than at other times. The parlour door closed.

"Sophia."What's that you say? How can I tell what you say if you talk like that?" (But Mrs. "Several times. in her Italian hand. The situation was indubitably unexpected. in two miles. crying mussels and cockles.Constance. for standing in her nightdress at a draughty window of a May morning."I wish you would be quiet with that fork. She now detected a faint regular snore. and the ruddy driver. Constance had taken the antimacassar from the back of the chair.

"Good-night. weeping generously into her handkerchief and wildly giggling. afraid lest."Oh. Baines sat firmly in her own rocking-chair. Sophia! Give it me at once and let me throw it away. showing that its long connection with Mr. The seriousness of Mr. The paragon of commonsense."If you can't find anything better to do. turned his attention to his passengers in calm triumph. for instance. amid warnings from Constance.