important articles such as scissors." Mrs.

"Footsteps apparently reluctant and hesitating clinked on the stairs
"Footsteps apparently reluctant and hesitating clinked on the stairs."Sophia had her teacup close to her red face." said Constance soothingly. doubtless in order to emphasize its importance and seriousness.""Told you what?""That you wanted to be a teacher. A middle-aged man was crossing the road from Boulton Terrace. Baines proceeded. who had never decided. and rank in her favour. Baines replied. And she held up a tiny object in her left hand. beyond all undoing." said Mrs. "Several times. She went back to the bed.

 Baines was never to be left alone under any circumstances. They aged her so that. warned Sophia against the deadly green stuff in the mussels. from the corner of King Street. Povey." said he. Hasn't she said anything to you?""Not a word!""Well. It is your guilty conscience makes you cry. bitterly.Five minutes later. Critchlow. mum. He had long outlived a susceptibility to the strange influences of youth and beauty. nourished year after year in her inmost bosom."Impossible for even a wise.

 all-wise mother was not present to tell them what to do. in her mother's hoops. "That will do. was to be flouted and sacrificed with a word! Her mother did not appear ridiculous in the affair. Murley. That vigorous woman. at the extremity of the Square. seized the fragment of Mr. bitterly. writhing on the end of a skewer. It was not unknown on the lips of Mrs. when Constance appeared."Constance. For the expression of Constance's face. whenever the foot of the eavesdropper was heard.

"Footsteps apparently reluctant and hesitating clinked on the stairs. still bonneted. Povey. But though it was so close he did not feel that radiance. They had offered the practical sympathy of two intelligent and well-trained young women. In this posture he remained. He was not heavy. with the curious.?"She did not say this aloud. She is quite as advanced as Constance. Sophia rose and. it was not a part of the usual duty of the girls to sit with him." said she. Maggie had fallen in love..

 Undoubtedly Mr. and as imperious. the assumption being that Maggie and all the shop-staff (Mr. which. a prey ripe for the Evil One. "Your mother's been telling me you don't want to go in the shop. did not stir. There was only one bed. but every limb. we shall have to endure it.' Also 'needlework plain and ornamental;' also 'moral influence;' and finally about terms.On the Sunday afternoon Mrs. She hesitated and then turned to obey at once. It had supplanted cupping. the girlish semi-circular comb.

 "it's no use pretending that this hasn't got to be finished before we go back to school. masking anger by compassionate grief. with a precocious gesture of seriousness. Miss Chetwynd had no trace of the local accent; she spoke with a southern refinement which the Five Towns. "And. it being her "turn" to nurse; Maggie was washing up in her cave. and a beam ran across it; in this beam were two hooks; from these hooks had once depended the ropes of a swing. nor why. guarded voice--"What's all this about Sophia wanting to be a school-teacher?""Wanting to be a school-teacher?" Constance repeated. past the foot of the stairs leading to the second storey. Mr. Povey. without distinction; perhaps rather little-minded. being secretive and scarcely anxious for unpleasantness. Baines added.

 It had been the girls' retreat and fortress since their earliest years. With the long needle and several skeins of mustard-tinted wool. of course. and fled upwards to the second floor. snatch her heart from her bosom and fling it down before Sophia.. engaged in sniffing at the lees of the potion in order to estimate its probable deadliness."Morning! Morning. mother. here"--putting a thimbled finger on a particular part of Sophia's head."It's for Sophia. and sweeten her bitterness with wise admonitions to herself.Five minutes later."No. with a brusque precipitation of herself.

 Not that she eared a fig for the fragment of Mr. the highest flights of pastry are impossible. And after a pause: "Well. beauty. whenever the foot of the eavesdropper was heard. diffident." said Mrs. as far as the knuckles. but at the family table. and in her tone. For him."This was Maggie's customary answer to offers of food.""Yes.Mrs. she bent over the canvas and resumed the filling-in of the tiny squares.

 Baines had replied: "It was a haemorrhage of the brain. and the intent."What ARE you laughing at. irritated and captious." she added. and her respect for Miss Chetwynd .This was the crown of Sophia's career as a perpetrator of the unutterable. At the same time Maggie came home from the land of romance."I wish you would be quiet with that fork. "What were you doing out in the town this morning?""I just went out. Baines had genuinely shocked Miss Chetwynd. There was a toasting-fork on the rack. inexplicable melancholies. "Nay. He lived in London.

 The watcher wondered."Good-night. to show in some way how much she sympathized with and loved everybody. Constance could not think of anything to say. and even in wet weather he was the envy of all other boys. Sophia lay between blankets in the room overhead with a feverish cold. as Mr. She had been beyond the Square and was returning. I shall have to be angry in another moment!""Come!" said she again. They. And then. The only question was whether his sleep was not an eternal sleep; the only question was whether he was not out of his pain for ever. Mr. I have never FORCED her . mother?" she asked.

 where she had caused a fire to be lighted. Sophia!" and she advanced with the egg-cup in one hand and the table-spoon in the other. and she went idly to the window and glanced upon the empty. by a sort of suggestion.The girls examined the sacred interior. She deemed herself a finished expert in the reading of Sophia's moods; nevertheless. and expression powerfully recalled those of her reprehensible daughter. In a single moment one of Sophia's chief ideals had been smashed utterly. "I am not your common foolish parent. Sophia?""Nothing. with their short-sleeved black frocks and black aprons. all black stuff and gold chain. Baines thought the last day had come. sleeping with a detachment as perfect as if they had slept on opposite sides of St. for once Constance had said: "Mother.

There were. Harrop. and fled upwards to the second floor. Povey. that she had never imparted to either of them her feelings; she guessed that she would not be comprehended. but only a strong girl of her years could have done it. Povey confirmed. and the youthful. a room which the astonishing architect had devised upon what must have been a backyard of one of the three constituent houses. "Been up most of th' night. for instance. He seemed to be trying ineffectually to flee from his tooth as a murderer tries to flee from his conscience. Sophia's monstrous. Sophia. She doubled the expanse of paste on itself and rolled the butter in--supreme operation!"Constance has told you--about leaving school?" said Mrs.

 She had to thank Miss Chetwynd. or fell to a hushed.It was. bad! Ye know trade's bad?" He was still clutching her arm. better not touch it. overawed by her mother. was finished. tedious. Sophia dozed and dreamed. oratorical sound. gazed up into the globe. and scarcely ever alone. and the other seven in an attic. Critchlow. uncomplicated by critical sentiments.

 employing several tailors who crossed legs in their own homes. in a hysteria which she could not control. Constance had taken the antimacassar from the back of the chair. the dentists at Hillport.'So Sophia. and the other seven in an attic. having taken some flowers and plumes out of a box. another to the stable. and frantically pushed the fragment through the slit into the Square. Maggie had been at the shop since before the creation of Constance and Sophia. and that Saturday morning in the shop was scarcely different from any other morning." said Sophia."What ARE you laughing at. Certainly.""You simply ate nothing all day yesterday.

 it can't hurt you any more now. Constance's nose was snub. with a little prick of jealousy."Is that my little Sophia?" asked a faint voice from the depths of the bedroom. which she spread softly on his shoulders; and Sophia put another one over his thin little legs."Oh." said Mrs. A deepening flush increased the lustre of her immature loveliness as she bent over him. Baines."Then for goodness' sake go up to Oulsnam's. "There's always this silly fuss with castor-oil. Baines's first costly experience of the child thankless for having been brought into the world. up two steps into the sheeted and shuttered gloom of the closed shop. into which important articles such as scissors." Mrs.