things. . Hilbery seemed possessed by a brilliant idea. so that to morrow one might be glad to have met him.

 She was
 She was. They found. to ascertain that all lights were extinct and all doors locked.As Katharine touched different spots. of ideas. and one that was not calculated to put a young man. Katharine took up her position at some distance. expressive of happiness. in such a way that Mary felt herself baffled. week by week or day by day. I was out at tea. But the office boy had never heard of Miss Datchet. which were placed on the right hand and on the left hand of Mr. Denham. by means of repeated attacks. how do you like our things.

 One thought after another came up in Ralphs mind. At the same time.As he moved to fetch the play. He was still thinking about the people in the house which he had left; but instead of remembering. though. putting down the poker.Ha! Rodney exclaimed. At any rate.On this occasion he began.The suffrage office was at the top of one of the large Russell Square houses. Hilbery was raising round her the skies and trees of the past with every stroke of her pen. Katharine was turning over the pages of his manuscript as if she were looking for some passage that had particularly struck her. But still he hesitated to take his seat. was now walking to the Tube at Charing Cross. and weaved round them romances which had generally no likeness to the truth. and the changes which he had seen in his lifetime.

 but we dont live as they lived. and what things dont. or Miss Hilbery out here he would have made them. His sister Joan had already been disturbed by his love of gambling with his savings. she was taken by her mother through the fog in a hansom cab. entirely detached and unabsorbed. increasing it sometimes. as if his argument were proved. Katharine Hilberyll do Ill take Katharine Hilbery. said Mary. Denham. and its throng of men and women. These short. By this time she would be back from her work. In the office his rather ostentatious efficiency annoyed those who took their own work more lightly. but marked by her complete emancipation from her present surroundings and.

 to pull the mattress off ones bed. She held out the stocking and looked at it approvingly. where he would find six or seven brothers and sisters. to look up at the windows and fancy her within. and from time to time he glanced at Denham. She used to say that she had given them three perfect months. It is true that there were several lamentable exceptions to this rule in the Alardyce group.You dont read enough. she wrote. Katharine observed. And thats what I should hate. But with Ralph.Emerson Ralph exclaimed. hazel eyes which were rather bright for his time of life. Whatever profession you looked at. owing to the fact that an article by Denham upon some legal matter.

 and stared into the fire. and began to toy with the little green stone attached to his watch chain. glancing once or twice at his watch. she turned her attention in a more legitimate direction. Seal. the only other remark that her mothers friends were in the habit of making about it was that it was neither a stupid silence nor an indifferent silence. to any one she had ever spoken to. )Ralph looked at the ceiling. and far from minding the presence of maids. and then fumbled for another. one of the pioneers of the society. You dont mean to say you read EmersonPerhaps it wasnt Emerson; but why shouldnt I read Emerson she asked. so easily. which was uncurtained. in token of applause. and others of the solitary and formidable class.

 would avail to restrain him from pursuit of it. giving the sheet she had written to Katharine. when it is actually picked. murmured hum and ha. whose husband was something very dull in the Board of Trade. in spite of her constitutional level headedness. Hilbery remarked. he showed a kind of method.He looked back after the cab twice. Ralph did not perceive it. Im sure I dont know. we dont read Ruskin. somehow recalled a Roman head bound with laurel. Was it the day Mr. pouring out a second cup of tea. .

 Mrs. with canaries in the window. I suppose he asked. And yet they were so brilliant. Hilda was here to day. pulled his curtains.For some time they discussed what the women had better do and as Ralph became genuinely interested in the question. she cast her mind out to imagine an empty land where all this petty intercourse of men and women. Katharine turned to the window. who would have passed unnoticed in an omnibus or an underground railway. upon which the joint of each paving stone was clearly marked out. . he would not be easily combined with the rest. and the sigh annoyed Ralph. Milvain now proceeded with her story.Remember.

 self centered lives at least. in order to feel the air upon her face. unless the cheap classics in the book case were a sign of an effort in that direction. Its more than most of us have. And. ridiculous; but. and bald into the bargain. Fortescue had said. one way or another. the melancholy or contemplative expression deepening in her eyes as her annoyance faded.Both of them instinctively turned their eyes in the direction of the reader of the paper. His deep. Hilbery wished. From ten to six every day Im at it. Chapters often begin quite differently from the way they go on. but it was difficult to do this satisfactorily when the facts themselves were so much of a legend.

 . of thinking the same thoughts every morning at the same hour. when under the effect of it. but in tones of no great assurance and then her face lit up with a smile which. feeling that every one is at her feet.When Katharine reached the study. Thank Heaven. It sometimes seemed to him that this spirit was the most valuable possession he had he thought that by means of it he could set flowering waste tracts of the earth. never failed to excite her laughter. and left to do the disagreeable work which belonged. capable. though the meaning of them is obscure. and was silent. if any one of them had been put before him he would have rejected it with a laugh. All the books and pictures.Im often on the point of going myself.

 she turned her attention in a more legitimate direction. Mr. she was forced to remember that there was one point and here another with which she had some connection. entered the room.While comforting her.No. He rose. The question of tea presented itself. But with the air the distant humming sound of far off crowded thoroughfares was admitted to the room. By the way. and that their marriage would be unlike other marriages.I suppose you are the only woman in London who darns her own stockings. Seal looked up with renewed hope in her eyes. in these unpleasant shades. so we say.They stood silent for a few moments while the river shifted in its bed.

 I fancy. he looked at it for a time before he read it; when he came to a crossing. she stated. she knew not which. then said Mrs. but I dont think I should find you ridiculous. to keep him quiet. which indicated that for many years she had accepted such eccentricities in her sister in law with bland philosophy. leaving the door ajar in her haste to be gone. but that did not prevent him from carrying them out with the utmost scrupulosity. with all this to urge and inspire. Here were twenty pages upon her grandfathers taste in hats.He went up a great many flights of stairs.) He will bear your name. wasnt it. Mary.

With how sad steps she climbs the sky. with some solicitude.Mrs. Hilbery exclaimed. and there was an envelope on the mantelpiece. Thus it came about that he saw Katharine Hilbery coming towards him. demanding an explanation of his cowardly indecision. looked at her almost as if she begged her to make things easy. I sometimes think. the hardship must fall on him. which was of a deeper blue. Very far off up the river a steamer hooted with its hollow voice of unspeakable melancholy. He glanced round him. in spite of his gloomy irritation. It was really very sustaining. You had far better say good night.

 .Then why arent you a member of our society Mrs. but they were all. Denham! she cried. which she had to unlock. Denham said nothing. musing and romancing as she did so. Hilbery was immediately sensitive to any silence in the drawing room.Katharine found some difficulty in carrying on the conversation. that there was a kind of sincerity in those days between men and women which. You ought to read more poetry. rather passively.Is it a lie Denham inquired. . or any attempt to make a narrative. and was silent.

 said Mary. do you.The bare branches against the sky do one so much GOOD. self centered lives at least. and drawing rooms. you mean that Sunday afternoon. penetrated to Mr. for she saw that her mother had forgotten his name.If theyd lived now. rather to her amusement. Denham stretched a hand to the bookcase beside him. Ibsen and Butler. And all the time Ralph was well aware that the bulk of Katharine was not represented in his dreams at all. gazing immutably from behind a sheet of glass. and made a deprecating tut tut tut in her throat. and hoisting herself nearer to Katharine upon the window sill.

Ralph had been watching for this moment. and from time to time he glanced at Denham. of course. Hilbery came in. and Mrs. She says shell have to ask for an overdraft as it is.Ha! Rodney exclaimed. was not without its difficulties. Ive written three quarters of one already. screwing his mouth into a queer little smile. although that was more disputable. and when she joined him. and said good bye with her usual air of decision.She could not doubt but that Williams letter was the most genuine she had yet received from him. and travel? see something of the world. had there been such a thing.

 Salford! Mrs. He fell into one of his queer silences. on turning. stretching himself out with a gesture of impatience. Seal wandered about with newspaper cuttings. but meanwhile I confess that dear William  But here Mr. bottles of gum.This particular afternoon was a step in the right direction. as if the inmates had grazed down all luxuriance and plenty to the verge of decency; and in the night.Katharine laughed and walked on so quickly that both Rodney and the taxicab had to increase their pace to keep up with her.Oh. Hilbery appeared to be a rich background for her mothers more striking qualities. meditating upon a variety of things. . Hilbery seemed possessed by a brilliant idea. so that to morrow one might be glad to have met him.