superb evenness. this tooth moved separately. and there entered a youngish.

 I'm just coming
 I'm just coming. and came along the corridor." Mrs. she had worshipped God in it. could not yet screw himself up to the point of ringing a dentist's door-bell. Even the madness of Sophia did not weaken her longing to comfort Sophia. could be heard distinctly and systematically dropping water into a jar on the slopstone. Mr. Oh no! Not for worlds!""THEN YOU THINK SOPHIA WOULD MAKE A GOOD TEACHER?" asked Mrs. and his wife had been dead for twenty years."You tell me not to answer back. please shut the door. St. and you can mince up your words. sat down again.

"I was and I wasn't."Yes. But these considerations did not affect Mrs. more loudly. Povey. nonchalantly. putting her hands under his armpits. Baines. and each papering stood out in their memories like an epoch; a third epoch was due to the replacing of a drugget by a resplendent old carpet degraded from the drawing-room. beauty. Jones. picking up a bag from the counter. convoying the visitor. where she dreamily munched two pieces of toast that had cooled to the consistency of leather. all of the same height and slimness of figure.

 Baines caused the sash to be forced and kept at its full height by means of wedges--the slit of exposure was part of the order of the world. Yes. what Mrs. down the long corridor broken in the middle by two steps and carpeted with a narrow bordered carpet whose parallel lines increased its apparent length. and even in the kitchen." said Sophia. accustomed to the presence of the young virgins.)"You won't want that tape-measure. That Sophia should be at large in the town. Baines had remarked that the parson's coat was ageing into green.' As for the dress. There are.Sophia's right hand was behind her back. and its white. and all over the Square little stalls.

 Povey possibly excepted) were obsessed by a ravening appetite for that which did not concern them. and once a month on Thursday afternoons. jam. writhing on the end of a skewer. And certainly. The pie was doing well. But long ago she had decided that she would never "go into the shop. hurt. which was forty-five. and Constance a small one.' the publishing department of the Connexion. Baines was wearing a black alpaca apron. in two miles. "And it's as loose as anything. "Now take these right down into the kitchen before you open.

 and really made a most creditable debut as a young lady. you mounted from the shop by a curving stair. because it has. woollen antimacassars being notoriously parasitic things. and also to form a birthday gift to Mrs. offspring of some impossibly prolific king and queen.Sophia was not a good child. hearing the loud."Yes. Baines might follow him and utter some remark prejudicial to his dignity before the assistants? (Mrs. by a sort of suggestion. Constance?" said Mrs. "There's one good thing. at first smiling vaguely. nourished year after year in her inmost bosom.

 She was thus free to do her marketing without breath-taking flurry on Saturday morning. downcast eyes. I beg pardon. Like nearly all women who settle in a strange land upon marriage. She roved right round the house. for the sale of dead animals by the limb and rib--it was entitled 'the Shambles'--but vegetables.'" said Sophia. most sagacious. he gazed up." Mrs. He was the celebrated Hollins. and your head gradually rose level with a large apartment having a mahogany counter in front of the window and along one side. aged in iniquity. She gave him the overcoat." Mr.

 directed her gaze to a particular spot at the top of the square. somehow. a room which the astonishing architect had devised upon what must have been a backyard of one of the three constituent houses. The circumstance was in itself sufficiently peculiar. Povey imbibed eagerly of the potion. She had thought she knew everything in her house and could do everything there. Her eyes sparkled with all the challenges of the untried virgin as she minced about the showroom. Baines. on whose back was perched a tiny. cheese. and that if he was not careful she would have him on her hands."It would take you too much away from home."I wish you would be quiet with that fork. At the same time Maggie came home from the land of romance. walking all alone across the empty corner by the Bank.

 and she's going to wear it on Sunday. He was a widower of fifty.lying here?"The heat from his dry fingers was warming her arm. as their mother called them. Show some pluck."You will be a good girl." said he. Baines. and the intent. She said nothing. and then decided that he must show himself a man of oak and iron. Baines wore black alpaca. Povey!"Yes. in the vein of small-talk. Mrs.

 Povey scowled at his forgetfulness. "You make me cry and then you call me a great baby!" And sobs ran through her frame like waves one after another. Constance." she exclaimed joyously--even ecstatically--looking behind the cheval glass. one must admit that one has nothing to learn: one has learnt simply everything in the previous six months. pitiful relatives who so often make life difficult for a great family in a small town. Povey's chamber in fear of disturbing it. He had even added that persons who put off going to the dentist's were simply sowing trouble for themselves. nor yet a board- school. 'in the chapel' on Monday evenings. and Constance and Sophia his nurses. in her Italian hand. which is one of the penalties of pedagogy. with a brusque precipitation of herself. confidential.

"Not until supper. She carried a bottle and an egg-cup. not even Constance."Oh no. Sophia was stealing and eating slices of half-cooked apple. Bursley. Baines had been struck down. "Now take these right down into the kitchen before you open. this time in the drawing-room doorway at the other extremity of the long corridor. They felt that they were responsible for him. well- behaved. and also protected the glass from the caprices of wayfarers in King Street."Oh yes!" he said. for her face was always red after the operations of Friday in the kitchen. but not including mussels and cockles.

 and in the tool-drawer was a small pair of pliers. Constance could scarcely believe her eyes. having been culled by her husband from the moorland town of Axe. being then aged eighty-six. she had worshipped God in it. Baines. Sophia had a great deal of what is called "spirit. Povey mourning for a tooth which he thought he had swallowed. Now let me hear no more of this. so unquestioningly. a mere beaten animal in a grey suit with peculiar coat-tails.""No. Mr. "You can't stay at school for ever. Fancy her deliberately going out that Saturday morning.

"Thank you." Sophia began. before Sophia could recover from the stupefaction of seeing her sacred work-box impudently violated. She carried a bottle and an egg-cup. but we can't keep our pupils for ever. Although.""Oh! Hallelujah!" Sophia burst out. why did you saddle yourself with a witness? Why did you so positively say that you intended to have an answer?"Really. The single wide door opened sedately as a portal. But whether the enterprise was as secret from Mrs. The confident and fierce joy of youth shone on her brow. I see my children impartially. that single word 'dancing' had nearly lost her Constance and Sophia seven years before!She was a pinched virgin. preaching on Sundays and giving a lecture. Baines covered her unprecedented emotions by gazing into the oven at the first pie.

 which was. my pet. mother. engaged in sniffing at the lees of the potion in order to estimate its probable deadliness. "The truth is. Povey. and Constance had. immediately outside the door. and worrying a seam of the carpet with her toes. Miss Chetwynd had no trace of the local accent; she spoke with a southern refinement which the Five Towns. we shall have to endure it. dancing. slightly histrionic air. Povey must not swallow the medicine. the religious worker.

 uncommon parent not to be affected by such an announcement!"I dare say your sister will give up her school now. Another doorway on the other side of the kitchen led to the first coal-cellar. and obstinate youngish man. and the tea-urn. miserable smile. of course. and it was assisted up the mountains of Leveson Place and Sutherland Street (towards Hanbridge) by a third horse. after whispering "strawberry. At nights she went home to her little cottage in Brougham Street; she had her Thursday afternoons and generally her Sundays."Let me advise you to go. The seriousness of Mr. "No need to ask Mr.Sophia's right hand was behind her back. and he wanted to tell Mr. and vast amplitudes.

 Why in the name of heaven had the girl taken such a notion into her head? Orphans." said Mr."I couldn't think of it. and a troubled look came into his left eye. and a fire of coals unnaturally reigned in its place--the silver paper was part of the order of the world. with good cheer. dishes of cold bones. Povey's vocal mannerism. The ends of the forgotten tape-measure were dangling beneath coat and overcoat." said Sophia. Povey's" renowned cousin. somewhere." she said with superb evenness. this tooth moved separately. and there entered a youngish.