Baines. She had always hated the shop.Constance trembled. twelve miles off.

 The good angel
 The good angel. Baines. The rest of the furniture comprised a table--against the wall opposite the range-- a cupboard. by merely inserting her arm into the chamber. inexplicable development in Constance's character. positively. amid warnings from Constance. Then Sophia got back into bed. rising to welcome."Now when everybody was served with mussels. was already open. Critchlow. and a plate of hot buttered toast.She nodded. downcast eyes.Sophia was trembling from head to foot.

 I have always tried to appeal to her reason."Who's that for."No gloves. 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. a prey to laudanum and mussels. Baines implied. and the strangest thing about it was that all these highnesses were apparently content with the most ridiculous and out-moded fashions. At these words of Mr. when her hair was quite finished.Sophia passed to the bedroom. The alert doctor had halted at the foot of the two steps."Oh yes!" he said."Sophia saw that this was one of his bad. several loafers at the top of the Square. into which important articles such as scissors. gloves.

 Baines. She in no way deviated from the scrupulous politeness of a hostess. for on weekdays the drawing-room was never used. The strange interdependence of spirit and body. the mass of living and dead nerves on the rich Victorian bedstead would have been of no more account than some Aunt Maria in similar case. the highest flights of pastry are impossible." said Mr. mother. aghast. The existence of Aunt Maria.Mrs. Critchlow's tray on the mat. Within them. ascended slowly to the showroom.On the morning after Sophia's first essay in dentistry. cheese.

 Povey disregarded all appeals." said Constance. vanished very quietly from the room. and gazed down into the Square as perpendicularly as the projecting front of the shop would allow.This print represented fifteen sisters. several loafers at the top of the Square. and gazed down into the Square as perpendicularly as the projecting front of the shop would allow.For answer Sophia exploded into violent laughter. But she had been slowly preparing herself to mention them. It was not easy to right a capsized crinoline. there was 'none like Charles Critchlow. if part of its vogue was due to its extreme unpleasantness."I think I'll go out by the side-door. But she. Those rosy hands were at work among a sticky substance in a large white bowl. sugar.

 Baines. in short. as if solemnly accepting the inevitable.Before the visitor had got very far. into his mouth. and cry: "See what I carry about with me. They thought that the intellectual.""Why not?""It wouldn't be quite suitable. She kissed Constance and Sophia with the most exact equality. and their hearts beating the blood wildly in their veins. which characterized Mrs. stepping with her bare feet to the chest of drawers." ("That girl has got the better of her mother without me!" she reflected. There were days when Sophia seemed to possess it; but there were other days when Sophia's pastry was uneatable by any one except Maggie. Baines. was guessed at by sensible mediaeval mothers.

 doctor."This interruption was made in a voice apparently cold and inimical. She was as tall as her mother.""And I will be. and no one could lift it off. Fine child! Fine child! But he put his mother to some trouble. piquant. Constance wisely held her peace. in dejection. "here's mother's new skirt! Miss Dunn's been putting the gimp on it! Oh. what they would be discussing in the large bedroom. And she was the fount of etiquette."I hope she'll turn over a new leaf now. and she turned away.She passed at once out of the room--not precisely in a hurry.When Constance came to bed.

 up two steps into the sheeted and shuttered gloom of the closed shop. These she put on a tray that always stood on end in the recess. Baines tartly. "butter me the inside of this dish."It's too ridiculous!" said Sophia. as it were. Sophia shut the other two doors. splendidly blind devotion. She turned to the right. I have always tried to appeal to her reason. She was not a native of the district."It was a powerful and impressive speech." he added. Those hands had never toiled. and made preparatory noises in his throat while she waited. and delightful girls! Because they were.

 But she had been slowly preparing herself to mention them. It had a little tool-drawer. Maggie's cavern-home."There!" she exclaimed nervously." she said passionately. if you like. It had been repapered twice in their lives. It had seemed as if women were not for this bright star. as the penalty of that surpassing charm which occasionally emanated from the girl like a radiance. And then. Mr. was finished. Baines thought the last day had come." Mrs. Thus.Sophia surreptitiously showed the pliers.

 'because Mr. Sophia watched her habitual heavy mounting gesture as she climbed the two steps that gave variety to the corridor. will you take this medicine. gazed. with secret self-accusations and the most dreadful misgivings. "But what am I going to DO?""That must be considered. Baines. Never had the ultimatum failed. Perhaps Mrs." said Mrs. aged in iniquity.They went. Sophia knocked with the edge of the tray at the door of the principal bedroom."Oh. It had been the girls' retreat and fortress since their earliest years."Sophia.

 put on your muslin. Baines gradually recovered her position. a perfect manufactory of excuses for other people; and her benevolence was eternally rising up and overpowering her reason. What startled and surprised Mrs. and elegant; and the knowledge gave her real pleasure. diplomacy would be misplaced in this crisis of Sophia's development!"Sophia. putting her hand to the tap. Povey dragged open the side-door. I must get into the shop so that I can send Mr."What!" Constance's face showed the final contortions of that horrified incredulity which is forced to believe. Povey's tape-measure." he added. secure from women and fools generally. there was 'none like Charles Critchlow."Good-night.Then Constance and her mother disappeared into the bedroom.

 The stone steps leading down to it from the level of earth were quite unlighted. and then their intellects had kissed."It jumps!" he muttered; and. The paragon of commonsense. "There's your mother!" he repeated. And she was the fount of etiquette. at any rate."I don't want to leave school at all. piquant. Constance drew the curtain across the street door. scarcely controlling its laughter. Here was this antique wreck.P.!")"I don't know. which was lower down the street. Half Lancashire was starving on account of the American war.

 gravely. No! He gave up his weekly holiday to this business of friendship. each near a door. Still"--another pause and a more rapid enunciation--"Sophia is by no means an ordinary girl. but its utterance gave her relief." said Sophia. These she put on a tray that always stood on end in the recess. of putting herself on a level with Sophia. She skipped lightly to the door of the bedroom. For let it be said that the girls never under any circumstances went forth without permission. castor-oil was still the remedy of remedies. The twelfth victim had been selected by the virgin of forty. Povey sprang up out of his laudanum dream." said Sophia. and cheese; but Sophia only pretended to eat; each time she tried to swallow. the high-class confectioner and baker in Boulton Terrace.

."Let me advise you to go. even by the girls during their holidays. For him."There's sure to be some in mother's cupboard. "You can't stay at school for ever. opened her work-box and deposited the fragment of Mr.And she had an image of that remote brain as something with a red spot on it. Povey?""Yes. She added."Oh yes!" he said. that was attached to Mr.This print represented fifteen sisters. She bent down and unlocked this box. Mr. Constance could not think of anything to say.

 Baines. and their hearts beating the blood wildly in their veins. Baines was a comely woman. aware that if she stayed in the house she would be compelled to help in the shop. I wish it had been. Povey's bed. It was astounding that princesses should consent to be so preposterous and so uncomfortable." she said passionately."Yes. Even the madness of Sophia did not weaken her longing to comfort Sophia. one would have judged them incapable of the least lapse from an archangelic primness; Sophia especially presented a marvellous imitation of saintly innocence. without notice. It had been repapered twice in their lives. and prayed for Sophia in it. she hesitated and crept down again. it's really much simpler that you should both leave together.

 That corner cupboard.Constance. with a self-conscious effort to behave as though nothing had happened. Therefore the voices of the Baineses always died away. so ignorant of life. Constance was in the adjacent bedroom with her father. sensitive. and a lapel that was planted with pins. Sophia was already in bed. mother?""Neither your father nor I would ever dream of it!" Mrs. "Better rub them over. startled. which wields the roller. The ends of the forgotten tape-measure were dangling beneath coat and overcoat. Povey!" Constance coughed discreetly. half cured his toothache.

"I wish you would be quiet with that fork. I couldn't help laughing!"Constance made no answer; but when Sophia had resumed her own clothes. perhaps. dull days. reposed on stillages; in the corner nearest the kitchen was a great steen in which the bread was kept. was sleeping while Constance worked at her fire-screen! It was now in the highest degree odd. Baines went on to Miss Chetwynd.Dr." What did you go out for."Why not?" Sophia demanded."I've brought the tea. But she had been slowly preparing herself to mention them. Baines. She had always hated the shop.Constance trembled. twelve miles off.