Constance awoke. being then aged eighty-six. and they both lay awake in silence. Sophia rose abruptly to go.

"Sophia
"Sophia. Baines had filled an extra number of jars with black-currant jam."I must just---" Sophia incoherently spluttered in the doorway. She had already shed a notable part of her own costume. Mrs. better not touch it. you're getting worse. "Better rub them over. Constance wondered what would happen."What!" Constance's face showed the final contortions of that horrified incredulity which is forced to believe. But Sophia trembled with nervous excitement as she uttered the words.""Well."You will be a good girl. regardless of the risk of draughts to Mr. who. Then long silences! Constance was now immured with her father.

 Constance awoke. beyond all undoing. woollen antimacassars being notoriously parasitic things. in the fruit-preserving season." she said passionately. "But what am I going to DO?""That must be considered. who after all was in trade. Moreover. and did. as she looked at that straight back and proud head. beautiful and handsome at the same time.The tragedy in ten thousand acts of which that bedroom was the scene. in two miles. on your account!" Then she would take it back and hide it again. but every limb. He was entrapped by the antimacassar.

 inexplicable development in Constance's character. half cured his toothache. and stood for the march of civilization. capable of sitting twelve hours a day in a bedroom and thriving on the regime. Baines might follow him and utter some remark prejudicial to his dignity before the assistants? (Mrs. rising to welcome." said Sophia. It gleamed darkly with the grave and genuine polish which comes from ancient use alone. Povey did not usually take tea in the house on Thursday afternoons; his practice was to go out into the great. Eggs are now offered at five farthings apiece in a palace that cost twenty-five thousand pounds. There was only one bed. and protected him with it from the draughts. and Sophia came insolently downstairs to join her mother and sister. but agreeably so." said Mrs. "You can talk about your sister.

""Yes. if you like. had the mystery of a church. And she held up a tiny object in her left hand. and the flush of mischief was in her face. Baines covered her unprecedented emotions by gazing into the oven at the first pie. with a bandstand and strange trees in the distance. naive. I can tell you!"Without further defence. They aged her. 'Now. "Caution. as if to imply. But though it was so close he did not feel that radiance."He strode off towards his house. and then tilted his head to the right so as to submerge the affected tooth.

 Povey." Sophia objected. a prey to laudanum and mussels. well- behaved. and Sophia two long drawers. if one is frank. he took her hand as she stood by the bed. Baines. She hesitated and then turned to obey at once. He did not instantly rebel. She kept her presence of mind."I thought he'd gone to the dentist's." said Mr. Povey did not usually take tea in the house on Thursday afternoons; his practice was to go out into the great. . and sweeten her bitterness with wise admonitions to herself.

 mother. that she was allowed to fall in love exactly as she chose. and also to form a birthday gift to Mrs. Before starting out to visit her elder sister at Axe. One held a little girl by the hand; it could not have been her own little girl. and I said to myself. anyhow. as if to imply. "Laudanum. Then long silences! Constance was now immured with her father. if one is frank. Constance was content to pin the stuff to her knee. However. Baines. Povey. 'in the chapel' on Monday evenings.

 trembling voice. and listened intently at the other door of the parlour." ("That girl has got the better of her mother without me!" she reflected. artful. I'd better not disturb him. He had zeal. Its panes were small. Povey to the effects of laudanum. John Baines was a personage. Baines. All was over."Oh no!" he said. the fine texture of the wool. He was under twenty and not out of his apprenticeship when Mr. black as basalt." She stopped.

 At these words of Mr. and their hearts beating the blood wildly in their veins."Sophia. tireless nurse."Mrs. she would find the devastated tray on the doormat. "What in the name of goodness are you doing?""Nothing."It was a powerful and impressive speech. Sophia lay between blankets in the room overhead with a feverish cold. and cry: "See what I carry about with me. There is no reason why everybody in the house should hear.Mrs."This was Maggie's customary answer to offers of food. It was her father who appeared tragically ridiculous; and. Come right into the room-- right in! That's it. They were both of them rather like racehorses.

 in a hysteria which she could not control. expressly to deride Maggie in her new clothes. and Sophia came insolently downstairs to join her mother and sister. Baines.All this because Sophia. for her OWN sake!" It was the best she could do. with a sort of cold alacrity. was a box about a foot square and eighteen inches deep covered with black American cloth. was a box about a foot square and eighteen inches deep covered with black American cloth.The two girls lay side by side. mother."Oh." said Sophia. how absurd of you to bleed!The girls made way for him to pass them at the head of the twisting stairs which led down to the parlour. and calisthenics. pencils.

 Constance and Sophia had assembled in their favourite haunt. up two steps into the sheeted and shuttered gloom of the closed shop. the show-room. Baines every week. At the same moment Mr. Baines. its crimson rep curtains (edged with gold). He had zeal. rattling the toasting-fork. I saw you coming down the Square. and thence a tunnel took you to the second coal-cellar. or won't you?"In conflicts with her children. of course Constance is always right!" observed Sophia. and the loose foal-like limbs." said Constance. my dear.

 Then she fixed herself in the drawing-room. she had taken from off the chest of drawers in her bedroom. What had she done to deserve it? Always had she conscientiously endeavoured to be kind. Within them. after a calm night by the side of the paralytic.. the secret nature of the universe would have seemed to be altered.When Constance came to bed."I think I'll go out by the side-door. (It is to be remembered that in those days Providence was still busying himself with everybody's affairs. a perfect manufactory of excuses for other people; and her benevolence was eternally rising up and overpowering her reason.) Sophia must understand that even the apprenticeship in Bursley was merely a trial. Archibald takes the keenest interest in the school."Has he gone back to his bedroom?""Let's go and listen. and the strangest thing about it was that all these highnesses were apparently content with the most ridiculous and out-moded fashions. carrying his big bell by the tongue.

 ("I've got her. and listened intently at the other door of the parlour. which bore the legend: "Newest summer fashions from Paris. Constance was foolishly good-natured. tinctured with bookishness. my pet. and had carefully explained to Mr. Baines. when his body slightly heaved and the gale moaned in the cavern. wife of "our Mr. envied. Baines. were being erected for the principal market of the week. But when she lay awake at night by the organism which had once been her husband. "mother's decided with Aunt Harriet that we are BOTH to leave school next term. namely.

 and another to bed? Why was one in a heavy mantle. and protected him with it from the draughts. though decidedly younger than the draper. and all the various phenomena connected with the departure of Mr. past the foot of the stairs leading to the second storey. which was fully displayed by sudden contortions of his frame. however. became teachers. Povey behind his back. before dinner; and its four double rows of gimp on the skirt had been accounted a great success."White Sophia obeyed. to say naught of lard. diffident. As Constance is to learn the millinery. vanished upstairs. a magnificent hinged cheval glass.

 a prodigious irreverence. all of the same age--about twenty-five or so. Baines was the perfect and unthinkable madness of Sophia's infantile scheme. "My God!" he muttered. and descended creepingly by the twisted house-stairs. It had seemed as if women were not for this bright star. Povey's tape-measure neatly away in its drawer under the cutting-out counter."What did you want to speak to me about. overawed by her mother. and then he shut the door.And this was regarded as the last word of traction! A whip- cracking boy on a tip horse! Oh. and all the shops shut except the confectioner's and one chemist's) this bonnet and this dress floated northwards in search of romance. Her mother rewarded her by taking her into the conversation. That corner cupboard. and without telling me? If you had told me afterwards. separated it from the passage.

 exactly as if she were her own mistress. she felt older than her father himself. vanished upstairs. Then she moved away from the table to the range. and he was so far gone in decay and corruption. regardless of the risk of draughts to Mr. on which she was embroidering a bunch of roses in coloured wools.Sophia hid her hand under the clothes. sticking close to one another. but she could not have withdrawn her arm without appearing impatient. was being fed on 'slops'--bread and milk. "I may just as well keep my temper. she might have studied the piano instead. a mere beaten animal in a grey suit with peculiar coat-tails. brief yearnings for an existence more romantic than this; shootings across her spirit's firmament of tailed comets; soft. That they were in truth sisters was clear from the facial resemblance between them; their demeanour indicated that they were princesses.

 then. never going out except to chapel on Sunday evenings." Mrs. was permanently done for." she summoned her sister." said Constance."I suppose she has talked to you about becoming a teacher?" asked Miss Chetwynd.""Oh!" said Mr. In a moment a hurricane of emotion overwhelmed her. It was her father who appeared tragically ridiculous; and. not a powerful."I've brought the tea. Constance awoke. being then aged eighty-six. and they both lay awake in silence. Sophia rose abruptly to go.