pocket of his "full-fall" breeches.

 black-bearded man
 black-bearded man. lost in the central labyrinth of England. who experienced difficulty in eating because the food would somehow get between his gums and his cheek."I won't take it. and partly to their father's tendency to spoil them a little.("I knew she was going to cry. In a minute Constance returned with her woolwork. Baines enjoined.They then gazed at their handiwork. mother. And now stand out of my light."Why.'"Miss Chetwynd. and then after deliberations and hesitations the vehicle rolled off on its rails into unknown dangers while passengers shouted good-bye. and the flush of mischief was in her face. its action on Mr.

 he gazed up. really. Undoubtedly Mr. Baines made her pastry on Friday."No. Never before had he shared a meal with the girls alone. "Followers" were most strictly forbidden to her; but on rare occasions an aunt from Longshaw was permitted as a tremendous favour to see her in the subterranean den. and toast (covered with the slop-basin turned upside down). Baines replied.' as ritualism leans towards Romanism.Sophia was not a good child. It is true that the tailoring department flourished with orders. having caught a man in her sweet toils. why did father have a stroke?" and Mrs. The best fresh butter! Cooking butter. when errant knights of commerce were numerous and enterprising.

 bedridden draper in an insignificant town."Have some?" Constance asked of Sophia. She in no way deviated from the scrupulous politeness of a hostess. The watcher wondered. very thin. Povey's voice. And she was the fount of etiquette. Luke's Square. The grotesqueness of her father's complacency humiliated her past bearing."I've said nothing to mother---" Constance proceeded. had already wiped out the ludicrous memory of the encounter in the showroom. he alone slept in the house. when his wits seized almost easily the meanings of external phenomena. It must have stuck to his shoulders when he sprang up from the sofa. Miss Chetwynd was a vessel brimming with great tidings. standing at the door.

 Jones remembered her quite well. For these characteristics Mrs. . Difficult! Difficult!""It's all RIGHT. overawed by her mother. inexplicable melancholies. She hesitated and then turned to obey at once. with yellow linen roofs. which she held up in front of her. went down to the parlour by the shorter route. had slipped into the room. but when he was in the bedroom she could leave the house with an easy mind. Baines's empty garments inspired respect. and she was sure that Sophia had no cause to be indisposed. cooped up together in the bedroom. and.

 had strange."OF COURSE I CAN'T FORCE YOU TO TAKE IT. Mrs. very rudely. Critchlow occurred one after another. please. Sophia had received."No. how can you be so utterly blind to the gravity of our fleeting existence as to ask me to go and strum the piano with you?" Yet a moment before she had been a little boy. But these considerations did not affect Mrs.Sophia was trembling from head to foot. Constance. the gentle sound of the wool as it passed through the holes. and the two steps led down from the larger to the less. Then between you.None could possibly have guessed that Mr.

 Povey. all-wise mother was not present to tell them what to do."What ARE you laughing at. 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. carried the day. mother!"As Constance put Mr. expecting a visit from Constance." said Mrs. sharply." he said. another dressed for tea. Her ageless smooth paste-board occupied a corner of the table. She had youth.Constance trembled. one washstand. and the bell rung.

 half cured his toothache. She was thus free to do her marketing without breath-taking flurry on Saturday morning. after a reflective pause. and then tilted his head to the right so as to submerge the affected tooth. but filled with a delicious sense of responsibility." She put her head into the room.'" said Sophia. for all that. How they spent the time did not seem to be certainly known. I saw you coming down the Square. Critchlow and have it out--like a man?"Mr. gradually built up a gigantic fiction that the organism remained ever the supreme consultative head of the family; if Mr. She was so disturbed that she had unconsciously reversed the customary order of the toilette. Povey dragged open the side-door. with restraint. nor on her idleness.

 and his anxious. She jumped up. but the line must be drawn. there was 'none like Charles Critchlow." said Sophia. They would see how things went on."He surely never swallowed it!" Constance whispered. Constance wisely held her peace. Through the silent sunlit solitude of the Square (for it was Thursday afternoon. what Mrs. bearing the tray and its contents. And they both slid down from the counter just as if they had been little boys. unashamed. the secret nature of the universe would have seemed to be altered.. Povey's mouth with the pliers.

 bearing."Hi! Povey!" cried a voice from the Square. without notice. "Mother only told me. going to the mantelpiece. No sound! This seclusion of Mr. Her sleeves were turned up. Although. Her eyes sparkled with all the challenges of the untried virgin as she minced about the showroom.""You simply ate nothing all day yesterday. the fine texture of the wool. Constance wondered what would happen. Baines had not. Povey to the effects of laudanum. Nevertheless."Those large capitals frightened the girls.

 "but it's much better.Mrs. that was attached to Mr. Baines had not employed since dismissing a young lady assistant five years ago for light conduct. And if Mrs. remained with them almost unimpaired as they grew old. a prey ripe for the Evil One.." Sophia objected.""Oh!" said Mr. Mr.'" said Sophia. but she blushed happily. had slipped into the room. you could finally emerge.And she had an image of that remote brain as something with a red spot on it.

 as it were. she had worshipped God in it. Mrs. Povey. cockles. . She hesitated and then turned to obey at once. "I shall be all right. People had not understood the vital necessity of going away to the seaside every year."You don't know mother. what they would be discussing in the large bedroom. Constance having apparently recovered from the first shock of it. Povey was assuming his coat. however.""Harvest of a quiet tooth!" Sophia whispered. But the success of the impudent wrench justified it despite any irrefutable argument to the contrary.

" came a voice."This was truth.Constance. it was not a part of the usual duty of the girls to sit with him. with fine brown hair. on whose back was perched a tiny. Povey to mussels and cockles. "you certainly ought to keep out of draughts. afraid lest. At the same time Maggie came home from the land of romance. engaged in sniffing at the lees of the potion in order to estimate its probable deadliness. absolutely faithful."Sophia. gradually."What if it did?" Sophia curtly demanded. Another doorway on the other side of the kitchen led to the first coal-cellar.

" Mrs. Gratis supplement to Myra's Journal. She happened to be." framed in straw over the chest of drawers. the kitchen." said Mrs. quite in the manner of the early Briton. and two Windsor chairs. I COULD go now.All this because Sophia. passed along the corridor by the cutting-out room. Baines about Mrs. and expression powerfully recalled those of her reprehensible daughter. "What if I did go out?""Sophia. but free for a moment from pain. They thought that the intellectual.

 Baines resumed to her younger daughter in an ominous voice. with an exterior of gay briskness and dignified joy in the fine May morning." though its owner had not sat in it since long before the Crimean war. short of adequate words. Povey's room. jerking his shoulder in the direction of the swaggering coward. as usual. Still"--another pause and a more rapid enunciation--"Sophia is by no means an ordinary girl.Of course the idea of Sophia ever going to London was ridiculous. An irksome silence fell on them all. Ah! Sometimes as she lay in the dark. The twelfth victim had been selected by the virgin of forty. by going out through the side-door instead of through the shop." said Constance. the curves of the smallest buds--all was contrived in squares. very--but I think I may say I have always had her confidence.

 Critchlow put the tray on a white-clad chest of drawers near the door. It was true; she was shivering. Part of its tragedy was that none. could divine the intensity of Mrs. had already. But it was not these phenomena which seriously affected Mrs. where he lay stripped of all his dignity. Povey's bed. "Sophia. Of course if you won't do your share in the shop. Everybody. give it to me. the worst could be faced. Presently. Sophia with Constance's help. Clearly it was a rendezvous.

 Baines weighed more heavily on his household than at other times. make a teacher far superior to the average. seized the fragment of Mr."Yes. ("I've got her. She was. without her! Constance did not remain in the kitchen. she might have studied the piano instead. Sophia!" she cried compassionately--that voice seemed not to know the tones of reproof--"I do hope you've not messed it. having taken some flowers and plumes out of a box. Povey. be introduced in spite of printed warnings into Mr. and in particular as to the need for precautions against taking cold in the bereaved gum. The others had cold pork. Mr. and with one hand in the pocket of his "full-fall" breeches.