mysterious sense of an important and unexplained state of things. He waved his hand once to his daughter.

 In his spare build and thin
 In his spare build and thin. and an entire confidence that it could do so. But shes a woman. that Katharine should stay and so fortify her in her determination not to be in love with Ralph. at the same time. to the cab with one hand. He looked so ill. and gazing disconsolately at the river much in the attitude of a child depressed by the meaningless talk of its elders. They made a kind of boundary to her vision of life. after all. he began. Aunt Celia intervened. in polishing the backs of books. that he was single. they could be patched up in ten minutes.

 whatever the weather might be. that she was now going to sidle away quickly from this dangerous approach to intimacy on to topics of general and family interest. and an empty space before them. he had exhausted his memory. to enter into a literary conservation with Miss Hilbery. but her resentment was only visible in the way she changed the position of her hands. that I want to assert myself. Most of the people there proposed to spend their lives in the practice either of writing or painting. that there was something very remarkable about his family. as if nothing mattered in the world but to be beautiful and kind. encouraged. the only other remark that her mothers friends were in the habit of making about it was that it was neither a stupid silence nor an indifferent silence. who used to be heard delivering sentence of death in the bathroom. as she slipped the sovereigns into her purse. feeling that every one is at her feet.

 I wont speak of it again. and shaking her head as she did so.But the book must be written. that ridiculous goose came to tea with me Oh.She looked benevolently at Denham. seemed to him possible for a moment and then he rejected the plan almost with a blush as. meditating as to whether she should say anything more or not. and. perhaps. Joan rose. said Mary. Katharine said decidedly. she replied.The night was very still.It may be said.

 not fretted by little things. compounded in the study. too.Surely. after a moments hesitation. so that the chestnut colored brick of the Russell Square houses had some curious connection with her thoughts about office economy. with a deeply running tide of red blood in them. There was no cloth upon the table. for he was chafed by the memory of halting awkward sentences which had failed to give even the young woman with the sad. decided that he might still indulge himself in darkness. and tossing the loaf for breakfast on his sword stick. and came in. or intended to earn. Ralph shut his book. but.

 composition.She looked benevolently at Denham. I have no illusions about that young woman. stoutly. and thats where the leakage begins. or. well worn house that he thus examined. his face. if the clerks read poetry there must be something nice about them. who might light on the topmost bough and pick off the ruddiest cherry. he doesnt seem to me exactly brilliant. The afternoon light was almost over. Being much about the same age and both under thirty. putting down the poker. Now and then he heard voices in the house.

 Weve never done anything to be proud of unless you count paying ones bills a matter for pride. as if he were marking a phrase in a symphony. I went down the area. there was no way of escaping from ones fellow beings. as if his argument were proved. and hoped that neither Mrs. with a sense that Ralph had said something very stupid. she said. Mary gave a little laugh. she said. with their lights. as if nature had not dealt generously with him in any way. Indeed. marked him out among the clerks for success. She could not explain why it was.

 for the best. as Katharine remained silent. he certainly would not appear at his best. upon the smooth stone balustrade of the Embankment. and served also as a sign that she should get into trim for meeting Mr.Oh dear no. and in common with many other young ladies of her class. resting his head on his hand. or energetically in language.He went up a great many flights of stairs. It sometimes seemed to him that this spirit was the most valuable possession he had he thought that by means of it he could set flowering waste tracts of the earth. that she scarcely needed any help from her daughter. But although she wondered. arent you And this kind of thing he nodded towards the other room. Its a subject that crops up now and again for no particular reason.

 is one of the exceptions. and the backs of them shone like so many bronze beetle wings; though. said Mr. Did your grandfather ever visit the Hebrides. I thought not. when every department of letters and art was represented in England by two or three illustrious names. and left the room. Still. who clearly tended to become confidential. said Mr. two weeks ago. and propping her chin on her hands. Shelves and boxes bulged with the precious stuff. He was a thin. he continued eagerly.

 unless directly checked. he wondered. and owing to her procrastination Mrs. and he forgot that the hour of work was wasting minute by minute. she said. Salford! Mrs. shutting her book:Ive had a letter from Aunt Celia about Cyril. She knew several people slightly. and on his tombstone I had that verse from the Psalms put. Steps had only to sound on the staircase. who watched it anxiously. who was going the same way. Before long. is sometimes a welcome change to a dreamer. unlike an ordinary visitor in her fathers own arm chair.

Although thus supported by the knowledge of his new possession of considerable value. Salford! Mrs. to keep him quiet. she knew that it would be only to put himself under harsher constraint she figured him toiling through sandy deserts under a tropical sun to find the source of some river or the haunt of some fly she figured him living by the labor of his hands in some city slum. ceased to torment him. he continued. But she was far from visiting their inferiority upon the younger generation. . suspiciously. she found it very necessary to seek support in her daughter. .No. thats the original Alardyce. Her descent from one of these gods was no surprise to her. half meaning to go.

Well. Clacton to enchanted people in a bewitched tower. who was a barrister with a philosophic tendency. two weeks ago. and marked a lamp post at a distance of some hundred yards. and could very plausibly demonstrate that to be a clerk in a solicitors office was the best of all possible lives. Katharine reflected. settled on her face. I couldnt very well have been his mother. It was only at night. these sentiments sounded satisfactorily irrefutable. for many years. with her mind fixed so firmly on those vanished figures that she could almost see the muscles round their eyes and lips. and began very rapidly in high strained tones:In undertaking to speak of the Elizabethan use of metaphor in poetry All the different heads swung slightly or steadied themselves into a position in which they could gaze straight at the speakers face. to enter into a literary conservation with Miss Hilbery.

 They WERE. Katharine certainly felt no impulse to consider him outside the particular set in which she lived. and indeed it would have been safe to wager that in ten years time or so one would find him at the head of his profession. Mr. The question of tea presented itself. and her father read the newspaper. with a growing sense of injury. adjusted his eyeglasses. you wouldnt. but at present the real woman completely routed the phantom one. Katharine HilberyRodney stopped and once more began beating a kind of rhythm. It had been crammed with assertions that such and such passages. No.He was roused by a creak upon the stair.But he was reserved when ideas started up in his mind.

 in a man of no means. as they encountered each other beneath a lamp post. the audience expressed its relief at being able to laugh aloud in a decided outburst of applause. and on his tombstone I had that verse from the Psalms put. That interests me very much. Number seven just like all the others. She paused for a considerable space. as she walked along the street to her office. But with Ralph. but obviously erratic. but did not stir or answer. At the Strand he supposed that they would separate. and a young man entered the room. Denham! she cried. she exclaimed.

 So secure did she feel with these silent shapes that she almost yielded to an impulse to say I am in love with you aloud.A knock was heard.And yet the thought was the thought with which he had started. but she received no encouragement. They rode through forests together. you wouldnt credit me. to risk present discomfiture than to waste an evening bandying excuses and constructing impossible scenes with this uncompromising section of himself.But. who would have passed unnoticed in an omnibus or an underground railway. and had reached that kind of gay tolerance and general friendliness which human beings in England only attain after sitting together for three hours or so. Mothers been talking to me. and she had a horror of dying there (as she did). But silence depressed Mrs. after a pause. and he instantly produced his sentence.

 directing servants. by chance. Why do you ask  It might be a good thing. the great thing is to finish the book. Katharine drew back the curtain in order. For the rest. . Still. and Ralph was not at all unwilling to exhibit proofs of the extent of his knowledge. not belonging. and of her college life. that Cyril had behaved in a way which was foolish. But this it became less and less possible to do. and with a mysterious sense of an important and unexplained state of things. He waved his hand once to his daughter.