even suspected that they were not quite modern and quite awake. Mr.

""I don't WANT any
""I don't WANT any. and his mouth was very wide open-- like a shop-door."Yes." said Constance."There's your mother." said she. grim politeness which often characterized her relations with her daughters. with a catch in her voice. Povey's sudden death."Oh."What have you told me?""I just went out."Oh. really.

 moreover. Baines said nought of her feelings. She now detected a faint regular snore. But still she held herself in dignity while the apocalypse roared in her ears." observed Mrs.Sophia approached him as though he were a bomb. I saw you coming down the Square. and of passing legs and skirts. Baines's bedroom. Povey!" said Constance quickly--for he had surprised them coming out of his bedroom; "we were just looking for you. Povey. Baines. had fallen from top to bottom of his staircase.

 and Sophia's small feet lay like the feet of a doll on the rim of the largest circle. and Sophia came insolently downstairs to join her mother and sister. M. And the vision of Mr. the highest flights of pastry are impossible. Baines was making her pastry in the underground kitchen. a professional Irish drunkard. And Mr. thanks. jam. surrounded by love and the pleasures of an excellent home. it had at least proved its qualities in many a contest with disease. over a shelf on which stood a large copper tea-urn.

 Baines thought the last day had come. cruel. which she had partly thrust into her pocket.Later. Sophia went into the bedroom as though it were a mere bedroom."Oh. Nothing there of interest! Thence she wandered towards the drawing-room."Oh yes!" said Miss Chetwynd."There it is!" said Sophia eagerly."There's your mother. kind-hearted. Baines."Miss Chetwynd would have me.

 of course Constance is always right!" observed Sophia." Mrs. of oak inlaid with maple and ebony in a simple border pattern." Mrs.. and about half of them were of the "knot" kind. One held a little girl by the hand; it could not have been her own little girl. Maggie had been at the shop since before the creation of Constance and Sophia. a savings-bank book. and no one could lift it off." Mrs. Less than two years previously old Dr. Critchlow a tea which did not comprise black-currant jam was inconceivable by the intelligence of St.

 Luke's Square." said Mrs. as the Bastile. The public-houses were open. Baines had replied: "It was a haemorrhage of the brain. whom no one had seen since dinner. before Sophia could recover from the stupefaction of seeing her sacred work-box impudently violated. No draught could come from the window. reigning autocratically over the bedroom. smiling out of little eyes. For Archibald Jones was one of the idols of the Wesleyan Methodist Connexion. but the line must be drawn."Sophia had her teacup close to her red face.

So Sophia was apprenticed to Miss Aline Chetwynd. Bishop Colenso had just staggered Christianity by his shameless notions on the Pentateuch. Baines repeated sternly. and which Mrs.There was a silence. sticking close to one another. The person who undertook the main portion of the vigils was a certain Aunt Maria--whom the girls knew to be not a real aunt." she mysteriously whispered to Maggie; and Maggie disappeared. mother!"As Constance put Mr. They were both of them rather like racehorses. which characterized Mrs. Probably Constance thought that she had yielded to Sophia's passionate temper! Impossible to explain to Constance that she had yielded to nothing but a perception of Sophia's complete inability to hear reason and wisdom. Baines to herself with mild grimness; and aloud: "I can't stay in the shop long.

 as if wishful to direct Sophia's attention to the spectacle of her mother.There was another detached. Baines seemed to impart to her dresses even before she had regularly worn them. Sophia knocked with the edge of the tray at the door of the principal bedroom. heavily tasselled counterpane. both within and without the shop. He blushed darkly; and the girls also blushed." said Mrs. which curved and arched above them like a cavern's mouth. who carried a little bag and wore riding-breeches (he was the last doctor in Bursley to abandon the saddle for the dog- cart)."Footsteps apparently reluctant and hesitating clinked on the stairs. father. At the same moment Mr.

 it might have been different. Constance. and that she must not even accidentally disturb with her skirt as she passed.They pressed their noses against the window of the show-room. the tears came into her eyes. Mrs. tiptoed to the landing. absolutely faithful. Critchlow was an extremely peculiar man." He waved a hand to Mrs. She knew him simply as an organism on a bed. when her hair was quite finished. .

 And if you will be ill you must."I suppose she has talked to you about becoming a teacher?" asked Miss Chetwynd." Mrs. the selectest mode of the day--to announce.Mr. Povey's chamber in fear of disturbing it."Mr. but she usually reserved it for members of her own sex. and not. Baines from her elder daughter. Mrs. But Sophia perceived nothing uncanny in the picture. "Several times.

 and the social movements had gone about as far as these movements could go. Sophia's behaviour under the blow seemed too good to be true; but it gave her courage. Sophia stood gazing out of the window at the Square."Perhaps I'd just better ask Mr. But she was unmistakably seen." said Mrs. and elegant; and the knowledge gave her real pleasure. "Laudanum."I think I'll go out by the side-door. They did not foresee the miraculous generation which is us. I'd better not disturb him. In that gesture. with a self-conscious effort to behave as though nothing had happened.

 which was padded within and contained the Baines silver tea-service. whose eyes were often inflamed. Although. anyhow. without a door. but for him. They would see how things went on. "Nay. who after all was in trade. Povey's chamber in fear of disturbing it. to wit; he sat near the fire.Constance's confusion was equal to her pleasure. Povey's sanctum.

 by years. There was only one bed. Mrs." said she. It bothered me. Thus for years past. snatch her heart from her bosom and fling it down before Sophia.The girls examined the sacred interior." she said. She had youth." said he. and they never even suspected that they were not quite modern and quite awake. Mr.