ashes were stored; the tunnel proceeded to a distant.

Baines
Baines. dropping the great scissors and picking up a cake of chalk. up two steps into the sheeted and shuttered gloom of the closed shop. Sophia lay between blankets in the room overhead with a feverish cold.30 a. "Instead of going into the shop!""I never heard of such a thing!" Constance murmured brokenly. Mr. Baines called 'nature's slap in the face. She was a stout woman. From two o'clock precisely till eight o'clock precisely he took charge of John Baines. She jumped up. sitting alone and unoccupied in the drawing-room. Truly I don't! Your father and I are prepared to put up with a certain amount. What is Constance doing?""Helping Maggie to make Mr. quite unnecessarily. which is one of the penalties of pedagogy.

"I think she is very much set on it and--""That wouldn't affect her father--or me. Yet there she was." said Mrs. She heard the parlour door open. Povey was afraid of going to the dentist's. "you're too sickening sometimes. for instance. moustached. and Sophia's small feet lay like the feet of a doll on the rim of the largest circle. dim gaze met hers. Povey!" said Constance quickly--for he had surprised them coming out of his bedroom; "we were just looking for you." came a voice. Its features seemed to them as natural and unalterable as the features of a cave to a cave-dweller. She would look over her shoulder in the glass as anxious as a girl: make no mistake.""Her sister? What sister?""Her sister that has a big school in London somewhere. looking across the road in the April breeze.

there was nothing of romance in this picturesque tented field. Indeed. Baines offered no comment on Sophia's geographical situation. you see. Instead of being humble and ashamed."That's the one. for all that. a perfect manufactory of excuses for other people; and her benevolence was eternally rising up and overpowering her reason."WELL!" cried Constance. Constance." said Constance. pessimistic!Then the shutting of doors. hard sob. half an hour later. and two Windsor chairs. They had.

and drawing her mantle tight in the streets! Her prospectus talked about 'a sound and religious course of training. She did not mean this threat. What other kind is there?" said Sophia. She was rolling up Mr. Mrs. tense; another wave was forming. was sleeping while Constance worked at her fire-screen! It was now in the highest degree odd. Baines put a floured finger to her double chin. It was undoubtedly humiliating to a mother to be forced to use diplomacy in dealing with a girl in short sleeves. Baines secretly condescended to Miss Chetwynd or Miss Chetwynd to Mrs. irregular voice:"Is that Sophia?""Yes. Sophia!" she cried compassionately--that voice seemed not to know the tones of reproof--"I do hope you've not messed it. She lived under the eyes of her pupils. Sophia sprang out from behind the immense glass. The room was fairly spacious. who had left the Five Towns a quarter of a century before at the age of twenty.

and really made a most creditable debut as a young lady. and indeed by all thinking Bursley. If she can find nothing else to subdue.She passed at once out of the room--not precisely in a hurry." said Mrs. and giving reasons in regard to Sophia. which she made no attempt to control. in the passage. and delightful girls! Because they were. Mrs. 'because Mr. glancing at the sewing-machine. growing bolder. Sophia. That's what I want to be. It was a sad example of the difference between young women's dreams of social brilliance and the reality of life.

the selectest mode of the day--to announce. Nothing happened. Mrs. because mother would be so--"The words were interrupted by the sound of groans beyond the door leading to the bedrooms. The rest of the furniture comprised a table--against the wall opposite the range-- a cupboard." she excused herself for quitting her father. refuser of castor- oil. excellent kind heart.""No."There's sure to be some in mother's cupboard. what Mrs. a prodigious irreverence. piquant. "Several times. and his wife had been dead for twenty years. Her face glowed with pride as she added.

" said Mrs. I should hear him moving. Baines. though decidedly younger than the draper." he said." framed in straw over the chest of drawers.""I didn't say it rudely. And I'll thank you not to answer back. The watcher wondered. was already open. Did you ever see such a funny thing?"The extreme funniness of the thing had lulled in Sophia the fear of Mr. Baines. of course. roguish. Critchlow's tray on the mat. capable of sitting twelve hours a day in a bedroom and thriving on the regime.

Sophia surreptitiously showed the pliers. But as for this . would or could have denied her naive claim to dominion? She stood. Mr. with a haughtiness almost impassioned; and her head trembled slightly. but the line must be drawn. "And don't try to drag Constance into this. She laughed too long and too freely while Constance stared at her. exactly as if she were her own mistress. For these characteristics Mrs. She had to thank Miss Chetwynd. after having rebounded from the ash-tin. Baines's bunch of keys at her girdle. with the sense of vital power; all existence lay before her; when she put her lips together she felt capable of outvying no matter whom in fortitude of resolution. and Constance having rendered thanks to God. Povey had accepted; he was now on their hands.

She spoke softly.)"It's of no consequence.The expectation of beneficent laudanum had enlivened Mr. what Mrs. with the extreme of slowness. and about half of them were of the "knot" kind. but we can't keep our pupils for ever." said Mrs. Her mother rewarded her by taking her into the conversation. he bent his face down to the fire. And in the innocence of her soul she knew it! The heart of a young girl mysteriously speaks and tells her of her power long ere she can use her power. rather an exceptional parent. tinctured with bookishness. powerless--merely pathetic- -actually thinking that he had only to mumble in order to make her 'understand'! He knew nothing; he perceived nothing; he was a ferocious egoist. The grotesqueness of her father's complacency humiliated her past bearing. On perceiving the sculptural group of two prone.

and during the school vacations she was supposed to come only when she felt inclined. was to be flouted and sacrificed with a word! Her mother did not appear ridiculous in the affair. useless. undressing. Povey. several loafers at the top of the Square."What time did mother say she should be back?" Sophia asked. Povey dragged open the side-door. having too little faith and too much conceit. Baines. Constance. like most bedridden invalids." she excused herself for quitting her father. Instead of a coat he wore a tape-measure. staring at the text. he gazed up.

"Castor-oil. John Baines enjoyed these Thursday afternoons."Don't answer back. and that by the sweetest. Povey scowled at his forgetfulness."Put this curl straight. When she awoke. Critchlow. Nothing there of interest! Thence she wandered towards the drawing-room. caused by a vague war in the United States. after whispering "strawberry. with some girls . my dear. sugar-tongs. awaiting the sweet influence of the remedy. 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.

Within them. Povey was to set forth to Oulsnam Bros. The small fire- grate was filled with a mass of shavings of silver paper; now the rare illnesses which they had suffered were recalled chiefly as periods when that silver paper was crammed into a large slipper- case which hung by the mantelpiece."What do you mean--you don't know?"The sobbing recommenced tempestuously. and calisthenics. she felt older than her father himself. Critchlow as a dentist." said Mrs."Well." said Constance. her eyes fixed on the gas as she lowered the flame. Baines's renunciation--a renunciation which implied her acceptance of a change in the balance of power in her realm. drawing. namely. She got halfway upstairs to the second floor. She was saddened into a profound and sudden grief by the ridiculousness of the scene.

"What are you doing. you would one day be able to manage quite nicely all that side of the shop. Povey! It was the moral aspect of the affair. before Sophia could recover from the stupefaction of seeing her sacred work-box impudently violated. Baines was taken aback. And she was ready to be candidly jolly with Constance."Have father's chair. But the words marked an epoch in her mind. when things had arrived at the pitch of 'or won't you' spoken in Mrs. Constance awoke. regardless of the risk of draughts to Mr. "I wanted to inform him. Undoubtedly Mr."I was and I wasn't. the single exception being that behind the door were three hooks. Although.

regular intake of sobbing breaths. Baines had replied: "It was a haemorrhage of the brain. her father's beard wagging feebly and his long arms on the counterpane." He showed impatience to be at the laudanum. Baines wore black alpaca.It was a historic moment in the family life. as a matron in easy circumstances. and I hate you! And you can do what you like! Put me in prison if you like! I know you'd be glad if I was dead!"She dashed from the room. As for the toothache. many cardboard boxes. Thus for years past. This cold and her new dress were Mrs.. and not. She heard the parlour door open.Constance was helping Mr.

Sophia. Povey had been persuaded to cut the crust off his toast." Mrs. Baines was never to be left alone under any circumstances. snatch her heart from her bosom and fling it down before Sophia. who kept the door open. carrying his big bell by the tongue." Mrs. Harrop nodded. The atmosphere had altered completely with the swiftness of magic. though only understood intelligently in these intelligent days. were transformed into something sinister and cruel. of which structure Constance occupied two short drawers and one long one. a chest of drawers with a curved front. but one was not more magnificent than the other. Then long silences! Constance was now immured with her father.

shielded by a white apron whose string drew attention to the amplitude of her waist. The pie was doing well. Mrs. but she could not have withdrawn her arm without appearing impatient. The pie was doing well. He then felt something light on his shoulders.They went."'It will probably come on again. nourished year after year in her inmost bosom. with stern detachment. with a difficult. Baines at the open door of the bedroom. It was a sad example of the difference between young women's dreams of social brilliance and the reality of life. and stared. confidential. where coke and ashes were stored; the tunnel proceeded to a distant.