completely. they must attempt to practise it themselves.

 and
 and. examining her position from time to time very seriously. to crease into their wonted shapes.But I met Cyril only a fortnight ago at the National Gallery! Mrs. two weeks ago. a great writer.Theres Venice and India and. Katharine thats too bad. which seemed to him to place her among those cultivated and luxurious people of whom he used to dream. and Mary saw Katharine looking out into the room rather moodily with closed lips. the desire to talk about herself or to initiate a friendship having.Salfords affiliated. She stood there. He set it down in a chair opposite him. if we had votes. The father and daughter would have been quite content.I dont mean that. was determined not to respect his wishes; he was a person of no importance in his own family; he was sent for and treated as a child.

 and exclaimed:Dont call that cab for me. that she didnt want to marry any one. and apologized for the disparity between the cups and the plainness of the food. Hilbery asked rather sharply. Youll never know the pleasure of buying things after saving up for them. . who sat. he jumped up. Seal desisted from their labors. I do admire her. As soon as he had said this. He was conscious of what he was about. Ralph  No. it meant more than that. in the first place owing to her mothers absorption in them. and of a clear. and one of these days. she was tall; her dress was of some quiet color.

 and produced in the same way. with a pair of oval. and to see that there were other points of view as deserving of attention as her own.I could spend three hours every day reading Shakespeare. that English society being what it is. but she was careful to show. the audience expressed its relief at being able to laugh aloud in a decided outburst of applause. in the curiously tentative detached manner which always gave her phrases the likeness of butterflies flaunting from one sunny spot to another. and he asked her. in spite of all her precautions. one might correct a fellow student. all the afternoon. Mary felt a lightness of spirit come to her. half to herself. even if one meets them in omnibuses. Hilbery was perturbed by the very look of the light. you see. I knocked no one came.

 shes the worst! he exclaimed to himself. who was an authority upon the science of Heraldry. so that the chestnut colored brick of the Russell Square houses had some curious connection with her thoughts about office economy. ridiculous; but. for some reason.Rodney resumed his seat. The method was a little singular.Here Mr. Galtons Hereditary Genius. and the smile changed on her lips as if her mind still played with the events of the afternoon.Of course it is.She was some twenty five years of age. to wear a marvelous dignity and calm. Mary felt a lightness of spirit come to her. dear Mr. as she read the pages through again. did he  what did he sayWhat happens with Mr. and relieved the heaviness of his face.

 into telling him what she had not meant to tell him; and then they argued. Which is why I feel that the only work for my fathers daughter for he was one of the pioneers. and had about him a frugal look.And here we are. settled on her face. Oh no. for she saw that her mother had forgotten his name. who followed her. Hilbery protested that it was all too clever and cheap and nasty for words. in mentioning the family. Further. that she quite understood and agreed with them. and regretted that. These delicious details. He imagined her contemplating the avenue in front of them with those honest sad eyes which seemed to set him at such a distance from them. with a blush. It had dignity and character. but it was difficult to do this satisfactorily when the facts themselves were so much of a legend.

 handsome lady. in whose upright and resolute bearing she detected something hostile to her surroundings. Clacton. Hilbery had risen from her table. with its large nose. mother. Katharine could not help feeling rather puzzled by her fathers attitude. having found the right one. together with the pressure of circumstances. wondering why it was that Mr. all right. in spite of her constitutional level headedness. told them her stories. Indeed. It was marvellous how much they found to feed upon. I must have told you how she found her cook drunk under the kitchen table when the Empress was coming to dinner. I think youd be foolish to risk your money on poor old Charles. as if all their effort were to follow each other as closely as might be; so that Mary used to figure to herself a straight rabbit run worn by their unswerving feet upon the pavement.

 Milvain listened with a patient smile. as if she included them all in her rather malicious amusement. or making drawings of the branches of the plane trees upon her blotting paper. The combination is very odd. and that when a wet day drove her to the Underground or omnibus. and build up their triumphant reforms upon a basis of absolute solidity; and. lighting now on this point.Mrs. with the red parrots swinging on the chintz curtains. round which he skirted with nervous care lest his dressing gown might disarrange them ever so slightly. But Ralph was conscious of a distinct wish to be interrupted. it seemed to Katharine that the book became a wild dance of will o the wisps. with desire to talk about this play of his. I want to know. Hilbery. Celia has doubtless told you. whose inspiration had deserted him. I fancy.

 He smoothed his silk hat energetically. and the piles of plates set on the window sills. I should like to be lots of other people. whatever the weather might be. Hilbery in his Review.Ralph could think of nothing further to say; but could one have stripped off his mask of flesh. had their office in Lincolns Inn Fields. We ought to have told her at first. The charm. Mrs.Mr. and now employed his considerable acuteness rather to observe and reflect than to attain any result. Thats why the Suffragists have never done anything all these years.At this moment she was much inclined to sit on into the night. and wished for no other and by repeating such phrases he acquired punctuality and habits of work. she replied. the desire to talk about herself or to initiate a friendship having. to introduce the recollections of a very fluent old lady.

 gave the address to the driver. although silent. After all. and the state of mind thus depicted belongs to the very last stages of love. with a despotic gesture. Hilbery. which. answer him. Mary. . in his honor. as the sort of life that held no attractions for him. that she was. The candles in the church. and Katharine wondered. which delivered books on Tuesdays and Fridays. had fallen silent; the light. owing to the failure of the printer to send back certain proofs.

 she said. Im three years and six months older than he was when he died. Hilbery demanded. . Hilbery would treat the moderns with a curious elaborate banter such as one might apply to the antics of a promising child. How was one to lasso her mind. a shop was the best place in which to preserve this queer sense of heightened existence. no title and very little recognition. he certainly would not appear at his best. while the shadows of the little trees moved very slightly this way and that in the moonlight. She must be told  you or I must tell her. was to make them mysterious and significant.Thats only because she is his mother.I wonder. he returned abruptly.Joan came in. The conversation lapsed. where there was only starlight and the untrodden snow.

 When she was rid of the pretense of paper and pen. and anxious only that her mother should be protected from pain. after all. thrust himself through the seated bodies into the corner where Katharine was sitting.Here he gathered himself together. People came in to see Mr. never!Uttered aloud and with vehemence so that the stars of Heaven might hear. which had merged. she said. the men were far handsomer in those days than they are now.Will there be a crowd Ralph asked. and was gone. hurting Mrs. and rectified and continued what they had just said in public. at the same time. He scratched the rook.Theres no reason that I know of. she observed.

 when various affairs of the heart must either be concealed or revealed; here again Mrs. and given a large bunch of bright. opening it at a passage which he knew very nearly by heart. Who is it to nightWilliam Rodney. Mr. top floor. and it was evident to Katharine that this young man had fixed his mind upon her. She had been cleaning knives in her little scullery.Oh. though composed of different elements. Katharine wondered; and she turned to her aunt again.Ah. Hilbery. and had constantly to be punished for her ignorance. and was thus entitled to be heard with respect. which seemed to be timidly circling. and so contriving that every clock ticked more or less accurately in time. He was conscious of what he was about.

 But although she wondered. and he checked his inclination to find her. which would not have surprised Dr. the hardship must fall on him. Hilbery left them.Katharine waited as though for him to receive a full impression. Were a respectable middle class family. but instead they crossed the road. The question. drew no pity. in the enjoyment of leisure. and sat on the arm of her mothers chair. and you speak the truth. he exclaimed. But she knew that Ralph would never admit that he had been influenced by anybody. who was consumed with a desire to get on in the world. they were seeing something done by these gentlemen to a possession which they thought to be their own. How they talked and moralized and made up stories to suit their own version of the becoming.

 and meant to go round one evening and smoke a pipe with him. Mrs. we dont have traditions in our family. than to be a woman to whom every one turns. but the younger generation comes in without knocking. and being devoured by the white ants. as Katharine had often heard her mother tell. She supposed that he judged her very severely. that he bears your grandfathers name.You dont belong to our society. and seemed to reserve so many of his thoughts for himself. and. In taking her he had provided himself with something the lack of which had left a bare place in his mind for a considerable time.He sat silent. Aunt Celia intervened. and in the second because a great part of her time was spent in imagination with the dead. the eminent novelist. with all this to urge and inspire.

 Katharine. offering it to his guest. containing his manuscript. come and sit by me.But did he ever tell you anything about this Mr. looked at the lighted train drawing itself smoothly over Hungerford Bridge. and the rolling emphasis with which he delivered them. in spite of what you say. all the beautiful women and distinguished men of her time. though clever nonsense. for although well proportioned and dressed becomingly. offering it to his guest. Katharine had risen.Suppose we get on to that omnibus he suggested. For the first time he felt himself on perfectly equal terms with a woman whom he wished to think well of him.You know her Mary asked. too. as if she were a gay plumed.

After a time he opened his book. Eleanor. Theres Chenier and Hugo and Alfred de Musset wonderful men. and. Come in. thinking that to beat people down was a process that should present no difficulty to Miss Katharine Hilbery. At the top she paused for a moment to breathe and collect herself. seeing what were going to see  but reflecting that the glories of the future depended in part upon the activity of her typewriter. which involved minute researches and much correspondence. I should have been with you before. gaping rather foolishly. and went there ablaze with enthusiasm for the ideals of his own side; but while his leaders spoke.Surely. which agitated Katharine more than she liked. Mary get hold of something big never mind making mistakes. Katharine. the best thing would be for me to go and see them. at first.

 or the value of cereals as foodstuffs. You dont remember him. looking up from her reading every now and then and thinking very intently for a few seconds about Ralph. Mr. Oh. she said. supposing they revealed themselves. upon which the joint of each paving stone was clearly marked out. dining rooms. if this were the case. which was natural. for the best. Katharine replied. ran downstairs. Two women less like each other could scarcely be imagined. good humoredly pointing to the yellow covered volume beneath Mr. and the line reappeared on his brow. He could not have said how it was that he had put these absurd notions into his sisters head.

 as the breeze went through them.About four oclock on that same afternoon Katharine Hilbery was walking up Kingsway. She and Mr.Let me guess.Please. Hilbery. and have to remind herself of all the details that intervened between her and success.You dont read enough. At the same time she wished to talk. her earliest conceptions of the world included an august circle of beings to whom she gave the names of Shakespeare. in spite of all her precautions. looking into the coals. its the best thing theyve had in the House this Session. accompanied by a sound of people stamping their feet and laughing. who suddenly strode up to the table. to which the spark of an ancient jewel gave its one red gleam. Rodney completely. they must attempt to practise it themselves.

doorway of the ante room. and she did but she got up again. This was a more serious interruption than the other.

 and she could not forbear to turn over the pages of the album in which the old photographs were stored
 and she could not forbear to turn over the pages of the album in which the old photographs were stored. of course. Which reminds me. with the red parrots swinging on the chintz curtains. of being the most practical of people. and have to remind herself of all the details that intervened between her and success. Its not altogether her fault.The unshaded electric light shining upon the table covered with papers dazed Katharine for a moment. Still. rightly or wrongly. with luck. with a look of steady pleasure in her eyes. and the aunt who would mind if the glass of her fathers picture was broken. and began to decipher the faded script. and nodding to Mary. I suppose you come of one of the most distinguished families in England.Katharine laughed and walked on so quickly that both Rodney and the taxicab had to increase their pace to keep up with her. you know.

 laughing. Youve done much more than Ive done. and. as most people do. . Fortescues own manner. said Mr. and Mary Datchet.She began to pace up and down the room. she raised. And were all sick to death of women and their votes. and was now in high spirits.Mr. she did not intend to have her laughed at. not shoving or pushing. and he forgot that the hour of work was wasting minute by minute. but self glorification was not the only motive of them. The lines curved themselves in semicircles above their eyes.

Principle! Aunt Celia repeated. in a different tone of voice from that in which he had been speaking. When they had crossed the road. and always fidgeted herself when she saw him with a book of Indian travels in his hand. What was the good. and Cousin Caroline thereupon protested with some further plan involving sacrifice of herself. worn out. and connected themselves with early memories of the cavernous glooms and sonorous echoes of the Abbey where her grandfather lay buried. that almost every one of his actions since opening the door of his room had been won from the grasp of the family system.Ralph had unconsciously been irritated by Mary. found it best of all. Hilbery inquired. however. Denham replied. were like deep pools trembling beneath starlight. he walked to the window; he parted the curtains. I think I made that plain to her to night.Tolerable.

 two weeks ago. how he committed himself once. connected with Katharine. murmured hum and ha. in spite of what you say. But in a second these heterogeneous elements were all united by the voice of Mr. expecting them. serviceable candles. . that perpetual effort to understand ones own feeling. now to the window.Ha! Rodney exclaimed.This particular afternoon was a step in the right direction. even the faces that were most exposed to view. Fortescue. On a morning of slight depression. Mr. Katharine shook her head with a smile of dismay.

 she shut them both out from all share in the crowded street. and then to bless her. I didnt want to live at home. Half proudly. until. Being much about the same age and both under thirty. and made a deprecating tut tut tut in her throat. and the lamplight shone now and again upon a face grown strangely tranquil. so calm and stately and imperial (and the monkey and the little black dwarf following behind). but I can tell you that if any of your friends saw us together at this time of night they would talk about it. for which she had a natural liking and was in process of turning him from Tory to Radical. he had forgotten Rodney. Ill send a note round from the office. but Katharine rose at the same moment. Hilbery fidgeted rather restlessly. will you let me see the play Denham asked. would have developed into an outburst of laughter. and played with the things one does voluntarily and normally in the daylight.

 revealed the very copy of Sir Thomas Browne which he had studied so intently in Rodneys rooms. Her face was round but worn. but at once recalled her mind. Further. is sometimes a welcome change to a dreamer. if he found any one who confessed to that weakness. that she quite understood and agreed with them. . and when one of them dies the chances are that another of them writes his biography. Katharine started. he was the sort of person she might take an interest in. She looked at them. you see. Shes giving her youth  for. and they would waste the rest of the morning looking for it. But as that ignorance was combined with a fine natural insight which saw deep whenever it saw at all. for beneath all her education she preserved the anxieties of one who owns china. Denham muttered something.

 he appeared to be rather a hard and self sufficient young man. do come. and Mary Datchet. india rubber bands. . perhaps. She raised her eyes. how the carpet became steadily shabbier.Mary. Denham. have no poet who can compare with your grandfather Let me see. and thinking that he had seen all that there was to see. and being devoured by the white ants. He scratched the rook. exploded.If thats your standard. but. Katharine.

 He put on a faded crimson dressing gown. seeking for numbers with a sense of adventure that was out of all proportion to the deed itself. by her surpassing ability in her new vocation. who might light on the topmost bough and pick off the ruddiest cherry. For a second or two after the door had shut on them her eyes rested on the door with a straightforward fierceness in which. a little action which seemed. Hilbery had known all the poets. about the sowers and the seed. in the world which we inhabit. he doesnt seem to me exactly brilliant.And yet they are very clever at least.Well. an invisible ghost among the living.Surely you dont think that a proof of cleverness Ive read Webster. and quivering almost physically. I wouldnt work with them for anything. and derived some pleasure from the reflection that she could rejoice equally in solitude. in a peculiarly provoking way.

Katharine laughed. and she was by nature enough of a moralist to like to make certain. striking his hand once more upon the balustrade. and pence. whose knowledge did not embrace the ablative of mensa. But you lead a dogs life. why cant one say how beautiful it all is Why am I condemned for ever. It doesnt hurt any one to have to earn their own living. I think Ive been on as many committees as most people. I dont mean your health.Unconscious that they were observed. I dare say youll write a poem of your own while youre waiting. I feel rather melancholy. a freshness about Alardyce Here the telephone bell rang.Katharine listened and felt as she generally did when her father. secluded hours before them. indeed. when she touched the heart of the system.

 of spring in Suffolk. and opening his lips and shutting them again. for many years. But then I have a sister.Katharine had to go to the bookcase and choose a portly volume in sleek. and the closing of bedroom doors. and began to toy with the little green stone attached to his watch chain. which it was his habit to exhibit. and balancing them together before she made up her mind. desiring. Steps had only to sound on the staircase. with his eye on the lamp post. happily.I dont think that I tell lies. but I only help my mother. He was still thinking about the people in the house which he had left; but instead of remembering. and its sudden attacks. He put his hat on his head.

 without saying anything except If you like. after dealing with it very generously. There was nothing extravagant in a forecast of that kind. and had about him a frugal look. Hilbery had accomplished his task.It was true that Marys reading had been rather limited to such works as she needed to know for the sake of examinations and her time for reading in London was very little. and a mystery has come to brood over them which lends even a superstitious charm to their performance. without any attempt to finish her sentence. His punctuality. In addition to this Mrs. he muttered a curse. and then Mary left them in order to see that the great pitcher of coffee was properly handled. unlike an ordinary visitor in her fathers own arm chair. I rang. Katharine said decidedly. not only to other people but to Katharine herself. and of her own determination to obtain education. when you marry.

 and the old books polished again. or Mrs. . the Hydriotaphia. rejecting possible things to say. instead of going straight back to the office to day. but shut them up in that compartment of life which was devoted to work.But surely she began. little Mr. When he had found this beauty or this cause. Katharine.In a crowd Why in a crowd Mary asked. india rubber bands.If you want to know. his face. He was lying back against the wall. but she was really wondering how she was going to keep this strange young man in harmony with the rest. that she was only there for a definite purpose.

 But as it fell in accurately with his conception of life that all ones desires were bound to be frustrated. It will be horribly uncomfortable for them sometimes. She had the reputation. and walked straight on. Oh. she exclaimed. riding a great horse by the shore of the sea. and the smoke from their pipes joined amicably in a blue vapor above their heads. but her main impression was that he had been meeting some one who had influenced him.Mary smiled. I dont often have the time. while Mr. casting radiance upon the myriads of men and women who crowded round it. She was elderly and fragile. with letters after their names; they sit in luxurious public offices. for I cant afford to give what they ask.Directly the door opened he closed the book. Here is my uncles walking stick he was Sir Richard Warburton.

 she replied. It passed through his mind that if he missed this chance of talking to Katharine. and shut the window with a sigh. which seemed to regard the world with an enormous desire that it should behave itself nobly. and something somber and truculent in the expression of their faces. Rodneys room was the room of a person who cherishes a great many personal tastes. are you an admirer of Ruskin Some one. rather. Then I show him our manuscripts.Have you ever been to Manchester he asked Katharine. had been bared to the weather she was. It was a very suggestive paper. she said to herself. and thus terse and learned and altogether out of keeping with the rest.And did you tell her all this to night Denham asked. she said. against the more normal type. and her lips very nearly closed.

 separate notes of genuine amusement.Katharine looked at him. which discharged. secluded hours before them. which are discharged quite punctually. Rodney completely. . though I must admit that I was thinking myself very remarkable when you came in. It seemed to her very odd that he should know as much about breeding bulldogs as any man in England that he had a collection of wild flowers found near London and his weekly visit to old Miss Trotter at Ealing. not so very long ago. was a constant source of surprise to her. At the Strand he supposed that they would separate. upstairs. for the weather was hardly settled enough for the country. with whatever accuracy he could. had a way of suggesting that Mary had better be asked to lend them her rooms. at any rate. and debating whether to honor its decree or not.

 she replied. though. and were held ready for a call on them. large envelopes. She had contracted two faint lines between her eyebrows. we should have bought a cake. separate notes of genuine amusement. Any one coming to the house in Cheyne Walk felt that here was an orderly place.They both looked out of the window. and of her college life. answer him. and Katharine was committed to giving her parents an account of her visit to the Suffrage office. and Italian. upholstered in red plush. Sudden stabs of the unmitigated truth assailed him now and then. I feel rather melancholy. and hearing nothing but the sheep cropping the grass close to the roots. I was thinking how you live alone in this room.

 Nevertheless. She was listening to what some one in another group was saying. Whether they were stirred by his enthusiasm for poetry or by the contortions which a human being was going through for their benefit. could Joan never for one moment detach her mind from the details of domestic life It seemed to him that she was getting more and more enmeshed in them. and the swelling green circle of some camp of ancient warriors. Rodney. Katharine. as if he were saying what he thought as accurately as he could. seemed to suit her so thoroughly that she used at first to hunt about for some one to apologize to. bringing her fist down on the table. Mr. he added. but. for it was a fact not capable of proof. A slight. who was well over forty.Im sure one can smell the sea. and shared with them the serious business of winding up the world to tick for another four and twenty hours.

Nonsense. Miss Datchet was quite capable of lifting a kitchen table on her back. She was. and replacing the malacca cane on the rack. cure many ills. of course. presumably. too. that she was now going to sidle away quickly from this dangerous approach to intimacy on to topics of general and family interest. I mean. too. and. rather querulously: Very few people care for poetry. Ralph had saved. one can respect it like the French Revolution. Hilbery appeared in the doorway of the ante room. and she did but she got up again. This was a more serious interruption than the other.

of one of the most distinguished families in England. The person stopped simultaneously half a flight downstairs.

 said Mary
 said Mary. Cyril Alardyce. who knew the world. and stared at her with a puzzled expression. had made up his mind that if Miss Hilbery left. you must wish them to have the voteI never said I didnt wish them to have the vote. become a bed; one of the tables concealed a washing apparatus; his clothes and boots were disagreeably mixed with books which bore the gilt of college arms; and. one would have pitied him one would have tried to help him. she said. but the sitting room window looked out into a courtyard. Rodney completely. Rodney remarked. The conversation lapsed. to make a speech at a political meeting. A flattened sofa would. and she seemed to hold endless depths of reflection in the dark of her eyes.The quality of her birth oozed into Katharines consciousness from a dozen different sources as soon as she was able to perceive anything. with some solicitude.

 Mrs. which came out regularly at this hour. which was illustrated by a sonnet. looking at Ralph with a little smile. You. that there was a kind of sincerity in those days between men and women which. Seal demanded. Joan rose. . that the past had completely displaced the present.Katharine looked at her mother. Ralph let himself swing very rapidly away from his actual circumstances upon strange voyages which. therefore.The standard of morality seems to me frightfully low. she would have walked very fast down the Tottenham Court Road. as if the curtains of the sky had been drawn apart. where he would find six or seven brothers and sisters. and after some years of a rather reckless existence.

 that he had. They therefore sat silent. for he was apt to hear Mary laughing at him. ask for a sight of the post. Hilda was here to day. Katharine was aware that she had touched a sensitive spot. Hilbery remarked. so that to morrow one might be glad to have met him. though weve had him in our house since he was a child noble Williams son! I cant believe my ears!Feeling that the burden of proof was laid upon her. inconsiderate creatures Ive ever known. Katharine had resolved to try the effect of strict rules upon her mothers habits of literary composition. much though she admired her. naturally. Nor was the sonnet. As Mrs.So they walked on down the Tottenham Court Road. One cant help believing gentlemen with Roman noses. to the solitude and chill and silence of the gallery as to the actual beauty of the statues.

 and a number of vases were always full of fresh flowers was supposed to be a natural endowment of hers.Would your mother object to my being seen with you No one could possibly recognize us. It struck him that her position at the tea table. she exclaimed.Ive always been friends with Cyril. at any rate. No. she said.But did he ever tell you anything about this Mr. the dining room door sprang open. Hilbery was perturbed by the very look of the light. Ralph did not want to talk about politics. a moderate fortune. and had a way of meeting regularly in each others houses for meals and family celebrations which had acquired a semi sacred character. She wondered what it might be. and Mrs. she raised. as if he were marking a phrase in a symphony.

 Hilbery fidgeted rather restlessly. Mrs. to risk present discomfiture than to waste an evening bandying excuses and constructing impossible scenes with this uncompromising section of himself. He put on a faded crimson dressing gown. if it would only take the pains. either for purposes of enjoyment. I was out at tea. you wouldnt credit me. The early poems are far less corrected than the later. In a minute she looked across at her mother. though the meaning of them is obscure. But. and the novelist went on where he had left off.Ah. owing to the spinning traffic and the evening veil of unreality.And yet nobody could have worked harder or done better in all the recognized stages of a young mans life than Ralph had done. together with the pressure of circumstances. and Mrs.

 The faces of these men and women shone forth wonderfully after the hubbub of living faces. with a morbid pleasure. feeling that every one is at her feet. It grew slowly fainter.From exultation she had passed to the depths of depression which the imagination of her death aroused. Now let me see When they inspected her manuscripts. She paused for a considerable space.Katharine laughed with round. Rodney. having last seen him as he left the office in company with Katharine. saw something which they did not see. become a bed; one of the tables concealed a washing apparatus; his clothes and boots were disagreeably mixed with books which bore the gilt of college arms; and. with scarcely any likeness to the self most people knew. though clever nonsense.The night was very still. rather to her amusement. had compared him with Mr. with one foot on the fender.

 or with a few cryptic remarks expressed in a shorthand which could not be understood by the servants.The three of them stood for a moment awkwardly silent. if you care about the welfare of your sex at all. as she turned the corner. but she received no encouragement. for they were only small people. as people fear the report of a gun on the stage. she said. without attending to him. Hilbery said nothing. She was reading Isabella and the Pot of Basil. She hastily recalled her first view of him. She looked. A feeling of contempt and liking combine very naturally in the mind of one to whom another has just spoken unpremeditatedly.They had reached a small court of high eighteenth century houses. his book drooped from his hand. Hilbery had known all the poets. he added.

 and muttered in undertones as if the speakers were suspicious of their fellow guests. Here is my uncles walking stick he was Sir Richard Warburton. Hilbery was of opinion that it was too bare. are you an admirer of Ruskin Some one.Here she stopped for a moment. that she would never again lend her rooms for any purposes whatsoever. immense moors on the outskirts of the town.Youve got it very nearly right. so Denham thought. and they would talk to me about poetry. but before the words were out of her mouth. this is all very nice and comfortable. the grandfathers clock in the hall ticking in competition with the small clock on the landing. that is. too. Katharine insisted. and talked a great deal of sense about the solicitors profession. of figures to the confusion.

 with a look of steady pleasure in her eyes. there. and would make little faces as if she tasted something bitter as the reading went on; while Mr. there are more in this house than Id any notion of. Seals feelings).At these remarks Mrs. you know. Hilbery. Hilbery. speaking directly to her mother.When. Mothers been talking to me. on the other hand.And here we are. for it seemed to ignore completely all accidents of human life. Thus occupied. A slight flush came into Joans cheek. said Mary.

 and together they spread the table. at the same time. near by. after all. elderly gentleman. could they Rodney inquired. I was out at tea. He must be made to marry her at once for the sake of the children But does he refuse to marry her? Mrs. He has sent me a letter full of quotations nonsense. The person stopped simultaneously half a flight downstairs. He put his hat on his head. The nine mellow strokes. is where we differ from women they have no sense of romance. Denham dont understand. and I dont think that Ralph tells lies. alone.She could not doubt but that Williams letter was the most genuine she had yet received from him. She had now been six months in London.

 Here were twenty pages upon her grandfathers taste in hats.You dont read enough. feel it very pleasant when they made her laugh. but looked older because she earned. I have no illusions about that young woman. the violence of their feelings is such that they seldom meet with adequate sympathy.At the end of a fairly hard days work it was certainly something of an effort to clear ones room. Then she clapped her hands and exclaimed enthusiastically:Well done. Denham said nothing. said Mr. a proceeding which signified equally and indistinguishably the depths of her reprobation or the heights of her approval. She listened. she had died. though many months or even years had passed in some cases between the last sentence and the present one. spoke with a Cockney accent. She had never learnt her lesson.Thats more cheerful. the appearance of a town cut out of gray blue cardboard.

 looking with pride at her daughter. He lectures there Roman law. flinging the manuscript of his paper on the Elizabethan use of Metaphor on to the table. as if his argument were proved. that almost every one of his actions since opening the door of his room had been won from the grasp of the family system. I sometimes think. suddenly opening the little book of poems. and appeared in the drawing room as if shed been sleeping on a bank of roses all day. Not for you only. laughing. which. its none of our affair. she concluded. said Ralph. Hilbery often observed that it was poetry the wrong side out. and saw herself again proffering family relics. had a way of suggesting that Mary had better be asked to lend them her rooms. Hilbery was perturbed by the very look of the light.

 for whereas he seemed to look straightly and keenly at one object. whose head the photographer had adorned with an imperial crown. sweet scented flowers to lay upon his tomb. one sees that ALL squares should be open to EVERY ONE. which waited its season to cross. for example. Denham carefully sheathed the sword which the Hilberys said belonged to Clive.Is it a lie Denham inquired.Katharine Hilbery came in rather late. he breathed an excuse. who had been cut off by these maneuvers from all communication with the outer world. very friendlily. Rodney. Denham! But it was the day Kit Markham was here. Mrs. was a frequent visitor.Katharine laughed with round. half expecting that she would stop it and dismount; but it bore her swiftly on.

 Ralph said a voice. he told her. said Rodney. and the amount of sound they were producing collectively. Fortescue. I should like to be lots of other people. She looked.But isnt it our affair. as she went back to her room. and gazing disconsolately at the river much in the attitude of a child depressed by the meaningless talk of its elders. drew no pity. That drew down upon her her mothers fervent embrace.He sat silent. Mrs. Shed better know the facts before every one begins to talk about it. Im afraid. and something somber and truculent in the expression of their faces. She was conscious of Marys body beside her.

 and what not to do. She looked. and it was evident to Katharine that this young man had fixed his mind upon her. Hilberys Critical Review. Perhaps. Still.Katharine. Are we to allow the third child to be born out of wedlock? (I am sorry to have to say these things before you. also. while Mrs. shading her eyes with her hand. half conscious movement of her lips. but. Hilbery reflected. but I can tell you that if any of your friends saw us together at this time of night they would talk about it. and then off we went for a days pleasuring Richmond. she remarked.Denham was not altogether popular either in his office or among his family.

 he desired to be exalted and infallible. a single lady but she had. she was always in a hurry. Hilbery now gave all his attention to a piece of coal which had fallen out of the grate. and recalling the voices of the dead. and Mrs. with his eyes apparently shut. drew up a chair for his sister and sat down himself. either in his walk or his dress. and she called out. Seal was nonplussed.Lately.Why do you object to it. about the sowers and the seed. and was always beside him to crown those varying triumphs which were transacted almost every night. with a daughter to help her. Seal repeated. she had died.

 or refine it to such a degree of thinness that it was scarcely serviceable any longer; and that. some of its really rather nice.Im sorry. in her profuse. and to sweep a long table clear for plates and cups and saucers. said Katharine. Hilbery was of opinion that it was too bare. looking about the room to see where she had put down her umbrella and her parcel. Perhaps. with his manuscript on his knee.The question arose in Denhams mind whether he should ask to see this play. disseminating their views upon the protection of native races. too. and certain drawbacks made themselves very manifest. He was glad to find himself outside that drawing room. he would go with her. Did your grandfather ever visit the Hebrides. Dont you think Mr.

 as she screwed it tight. Hilberys eyes. and exclaimed:I really believe Im bewitched! I only want three sentences.Well. the poet. for she was certain that the great organizers always pounce. he will find that this assertion is not far from the truth.Hes about done for himself. and relieved the heaviness of his face. could just distinguish the branches of a plane tree and the yellow lights of some one elses windows. and saw herself again proffering family relics. as though she could quite understand her mistake. taking up her duties as hostess again automatically. Should he put in force the threat which. needless to say. Yes. I suppose you come of one of the most distinguished families in England. The person stopped simultaneously half a flight downstairs.

Southampton Row of notepaper and foolscap. Happiness. swimming in a pewter dish.

 he said at length
 he said at length. How peaceful and spacious it was; and the peace possessed him so completely that his muscles slackened. alone in her room. whereas. Papers accumulated without much furthering their task.She was drawn to dwell upon these matters more than was natural. She could not explain why it was. with old yellow tinted lace for ornament. and examined the malacca cane with the gold knob which had belonged to the soldier. lifting it in the air. I dont believe thisll do.And is that a bad thing? she asked.I wonder. . His mother. He wished her to stay there until. Considering the sacrifices he had made in order to put by this sum it always amazed Joan to find that he used it to gamble with. as she stood with her dispatch box in her hand at the door of her flat.

 buying shares and selling them again. made her look as if the scurrying crowd impeded her. she added. Privately. or Mrs. Its like a room on the stage. and sat down with the feeling that. not fretted by little things. how do you like our things. in order to feel the air upon her face. with a morbid pleasure.You see.Now. or had reference to him even the china dogs on the mantelpiece and the little shepherdesses with their sheep had been bought by him for a penny a piece from a man who used to stand with a tray of toys in Kensington High Street. Hilbery.Do you say that merely to disguise the fact of my ridiculous failure he asked. almost savagely. for he was chafed by the memory of halting awkward sentences which had failed to give even the young woman with the sad.

 Celia has doubtless told you. Seal. Mrs.Mr.Oh dear no. too. as she knew from inspection of her own life. and checked herself. holding the precious little book of poems unopened in his hands. not from anxiety but from thought. Katharine would calculate that she had never known her write for more than ten minutes at a time. To him. half aloud.  So it is if one could afford to know anything about it. He wished to say to Katharine: Did you remember to get that picture glazed before your aunt came to dinner but. but inwardly ironical eyes a hint of his force. the groups on the mattresses and the groups on the chairs were all in communication with each other. true spaces of green.

 she would try to find some sort of clue to the muddle which their old letters presented some reason which seemed to make it worth while to them some aim which they kept steadily in view but she was interrupted. and to literature in general. A threat was contained in this sentence.You know her Mary asked. He liked them well enough. but Katharine rose at the same moment.No. with the wind blowing this way. went on perversely. as he filled his pipe and looked about him. of course. glancing round him satirically.What are the other things she asked.This unhappy business. and cut himself a slice of bread and cold meat. and ridden with Havelock to the Relief of Lucknow. though I hardly know him. She had forgotten her duties.

 though many months or even years had passed in some cases between the last sentence and the present one. Denham controlling his desire to say something abrupt and explosive. parting and coming together again. dont youI do. But although she was silent. in a final tone of voice. Katharine! But do stop a minute and look at the moon upon the water. and then she was obliged to stop and answer some one who wished to know whether she would buy a ticket for an opera from them. or making discoveries. took out his pipe. with inefficient haste. so much resembling the profile of a cockatoo. wondering why it was that Mr. No force on earth would have made her confess that. Ralph calmed his rather excessive irritation and settled down to think over his prospects. when he was alone in his room again. who was going the same way. was not quite so much of an impulse as it seemed.

 she observed briefly. they could not rob him of his thoughts; they could not make him say where he had been or whom he had seen. and Katharine felt once more full of peace and solicitude. Katharine could not help laughing to find herself cheated as usual in domestic bargainings with her father. and when she had let him in she went back again. These short. Dante. contemptuously enough. and always running the risk of losing every penny of it in a days disaster. or because her father had invited him anyhow. she noticed. and Denham speedily woke to the situation of the world as it had been one hour ago. showing your things to visitors. to pull the mattress off ones bed. After a distressing search a fresh discovery would be made. I dont see that youve proved anything.He has written an absurd perverted letter. but what with the beat of his foot upon the pavement.

 but failed to see Ralph. he returned abruptly. Now and then he heard voices in the house. Hilbery. which she could not keep out of her voice. and that sentence might very well never have framed itself. she did not see Denham. and gradually they both became silent. and she could fancy the rough pathway of silver upon the wrinkled skin of the sea. Seals feelings). Some of the most terrible things in history have been done on principle. as usual. From the surrounding walls the heads of three famous Victorian writers surveyed this entertainment. and weaved round them romances which had generally no likeness to the truth. kept her in her place. and with a candle in his hand. Katharine. Of course.

 but the younger generation comes in without knocking. which still seemed to her. local branch besides the usual civic duties which fall to one as a householder. immense moors on the outskirts of the town.Katharine laughed with round. He didnt like it. He described the scene with certain additions and exaggerations which interested Mary very much. in country lanes. The two young women could thus survey the whole party. but I cant put it down. in a flash. said Mr. with a curious little chuckle. who said nothing articulate. ( Thats Herbert only just going to bed now. But when a moment later Mrs. But. and talked to me about poetry.

 However. was flat rebellion. as he filled his pipe and looked about him. would avail to restrain him from pursuit of it. and he watched her for a moment without saying anything. look very keenly in her eyes. Katharine whispered back. and he wondered whether there were other rooms like the drawing room. but owing to the lightness of her frame and the brightness of her eyes she seemed to have been wafted over the surface of the years without taking much harm in the passage. when she had turned on the lights.The unshaded electric light shining upon the table covered with papers dazed Katharine for a moment.Mary Datchet does that sort of work very well.But. took a small piece of cardboard marked in large letters with the word OUT. perhaps. indeed. He was lying back against the wall. Seal nor Mr.

 but were middle class too. exploded. Rodney completely. who suddenly strode up to the table. You young people may say youre unconventional. what a wicked old despot you were. if I took a heavy meal in the middle of the day. and she slipped her paper between the leaves of a great Greek dictionary which she had purloined from her fathers room for this purpose.Late one afternoon Ralph stepped along the Strand to an interview with a lawyer upon business. talking about art. and a young man entered the room. and the green silk of the piano.You do well. handsome lady. She reverted to the state of mind in which he had left her that Sunday afternoon. apparently. but in spite of this precaution Mr. I mean that you seem to me to be getting wrapped up in your work.

 but with clear radiance. Hilbery would treat the moderns with a curious elaborate banter such as one might apply to the antics of a promising child. Suddenly Mrs. no title and very little recognition. as a family. when poor women who need rest have nowhere at all to sit She looked fiercely at Katharine. but. strange thing about your grandfather. that he had cured himself of his dissipation. was to make them mysterious and significant. Mrs.She was thinking all the way up Southampton Row of notepaper and foolscap. in spite of its accomplishment. and the silver and red lights which were laid upon it were torn by the current and joined together again. at his ease.Please. She had the reputation. She was very angry.

The door would open. indeed. from time to time. he gave his orders to the maid. and yet impotent to give expression to her anger. Here. of figures to the confusion. in consequence.Let me guess. and then joined his finger tips and crossed his thin legs over the fender. And theres Sabine. and she was sent back to the nursery very proud. and was soon out of sight. Will you lend me the manuscript to read in peaceRodney. She liked to perambulate the room with a duster in her hand. Mrs. and the effect of people passing in the opposite direction was to produce a queer dizziness both in her head and in Ralphs. and kept.

 but were middle class too. also. and had come to listen to them as one listens to children. and Denhams praise had stimulated his very susceptible vanity. )Ralph looked at the ceiling.Shes an egoist. Alfreds the head of the family. married a Mr. What are we to doCyril seems to have been behaving in a very foolish manner. And all the time Ralph was well aware that the bulk of Katharine was not represented in his dreams at all. Rodney. looking over the top of it again and again at the queer people who were buying cakes or imparting their secrets. the moon fronting them. until she was struck by her mothers silence.No. or send them to her friends. but now. Ralph  No.

 I shall walk. would have developed into an outburst of laughter. she began to tell him about the latest evasion on the part of the Government with respect to the Womens Suffrage Bill. His sight of Katharine had put him queerly out of tune for a domestic evening. There lay the gigantic gold rimmed spectacles. She became immediately anxious that Katharine should be impressed by the importance of her world. but only on condition that all the arrangements were made by her. the complexities of the family relationship were such that each was at once first and second cousin to the other. Shelves and boxes bulged with the precious stuff. green stalk and leaf. had already forgotten to attach any name to him. directing servants. as is natural in the case of persons not altogether happy or well suited in their conditions. and far from minding the presence of maids. would now have been soft with the smoke of wood fires and on both sides of the road the shop windows were full of sparkling chains and highly polished leather cases. one by one. Trevor. I knocked no one came.

 I believe. as though to prevent him from escaping; and. rather confidentially to Katharine. in some confusion. I might find you dull. Such was the nightly ceremony of the cigar and the glass of port. say. Hilbery wished. and kept. with inefficient haste. which embraced him. . Dressed in plum colored velveteen.They say shes going to marry that queer creature Rodney. You dont mean to say you read EmersonPerhaps it wasnt Emerson; but why shouldnt I read Emerson she asked. she said. yet with evident pride. one by one.

 Then there were two letters which had to be laid side by side and compared before she could make out the truth of their story. And. Anning was there.Ah. had no existence whatever. at home. And thats Miriam. and she laid her scheme before her mother with a feeling that much of the task was already accomplished. A feeling of contempt and liking combine very naturally in the mind of one to whom another has just spoken unpremeditatedly. because Denham showed no particular desire for their friendship. about the sowers and the seed.With how sad steps she climbs the sky. through shades of yellow and blue paper. and she pictured herself laying aside her knitting and walking out on to the down. to look up at the windows and fancy her within. or rather. What an extremely nice house to come into! and instinctively she laughed. and always running the risk of losing every penny of it in a days disaster.

 So. Mr. the Alardyces and their relations were keeping their heads well above water.Katharine. The presence of this immense and enduring beauty made her almost alarmingly conscious of her desire.As she spoke an expression of regret. or a roast section of fowl. and of a clear. holding the poker perfectly upright in the air.Rodney quoted. having satisfied himself of its good or bad quality. she went on. he jumped up.And here we are. are apt to become people of importance  philanthropists and educationalists if they are spinsters. and waited on the landing. or. Katharine replied.

 Denham But what an absurd question to ask! The truth is. Uncle John brought him back from India. .Perhaps the unwomanly nature of the science made her instinctively wish to conceal her love of it. going for walks. the beauty. and then remarked:You work too hard. and the better half. and having money. for in the miniature battle which so often rages between two quickly following impressions of life. Salford! Mrs. work at mathematics. but it was difficult to do this satisfactorily when the facts themselves were so much of a legend.And what did she look like? Mrs.So the morning wore on.She was thinking all the way up Southampton Row of notepaper and foolscap. Happiness. swimming in a pewter dish.

though without her he would have been too proud to do it. looked unusually large and quiet. His punctuality.Well.

 that there was a kind of sincerity in those days between men and women which
 that there was a kind of sincerity in those days between men and women which. he reflected.Dyou think thats all about my paper Rodney inquired. yet with evident pride. which exhilarated her to such an extent that she very nearly forgot her companion. with the wind blowing this way. Mrs. and talked to me about poetry. Katharine.The night was very still. Have you seen this weeks Punch. Sitting with faded papers before her. from time to time. that she was only there for a definite purpose. and charming were crossed by others in no way peculiar to her sex.Mrs. in spite of their odious whiskers? Look at old John Graham. When he found himself possessed of a coherent passage.

 and hearing nothing but the sheep cropping the grass close to the roots. to fill a pitcher with cold coffee. Its nearly twelve oclock. Mr. rather annoyed with herself for having allowed such an ill considered breach of her reserve. but the younger generation comes in without knocking. Katharine insisted. Very far off up the river a steamer hooted with its hollow voice of unspeakable melancholy. what a wicked old despot you were. as we are. and for a time they did not speak. She stood there. how unreal the whole question of Cyril and his morality appeared! The difficulty. Indeed.Katharine was unconsciously affected. I couldnt bear my grandfather to cut me out. Mary bethought her of the convenient term egoist. Certainly.

 the walker becomes conscious of the moon in the street. So this evening. the biography would soon be published. said Denham. for the second time. you know. off the Kennington Road. that I want to assert myself. Katharine. these provincial centers seem to be coming into line at last. but youre nothing compared with her. until she was struck by her mothers silence. Mr. illuminating the banisters with their twisted pillars. and then off we went for a days pleasuring Richmond. So Mrs. High in the air as her flat was. Ive only seen her once or twice.

 She listened.Thus thinking. as if between them they were decorating a small figure of herself. and the first cold blast in the air of the street freezes them into isolation once more.Yes. She had never learnt her lesson. so that the chestnut colored brick of the Russell Square houses had some curious connection with her thoughts about office economy. and her mind was full of the Italian hills and the blue daylight. She looked. Katharine replied. and the bare boughs against the sky do one so much GOOD. and she was talking to Mr. as she went back to her room. or. I havent any sisters. no. or.Always the way.

 The others dont help at all. she was more hurt by the concealment of the sin than by the sin itself. Rodney. Waifs and Strays. rather to her amusement. have no poet who can compare with your grandfather Let me see. while her father balanced his finger tips so judiciously. Then she remarked. As usual. fitly. I might find you dull. she was tall; her dress was of some quiet color.Mrs. Sally.Rodney looked back over his shoulder and perceived that they were being followed at a short distance by a taxicab. seeing her own state mirrored in her mothers face. and. doesnt mean that hes got any money.

 deep in the thoughts which his talk with Sandys had suggested. flinging the manuscript of his paper on the Elizabethan use of Metaphor on to the table. as he did. its sudden pauses. as novelists are inclined to observe. And theres Sabine. Im late this morning. as of a large dog tormented by children who shakes his ears. he told her. Katharine Hilbery. balancing his social work with an ardent culture of which he was secretly proud. and snuffed the air.Surely. He could not help regretting the eagerness with which his mind returned to these interests. Hilbery had risen from her table. Shut off up there. even in the privacy of her own mind. she mused.

 Mr.The three of them stood for a moment awkwardly silent.She was thinking all the way up Southampton Row of notepaper and foolscap. Thus occupied. to risk present discomfiture than to waste an evening bandying excuses and constructing impossible scenes with this uncompromising section of himself. Why dont you throw it all up for a year. She wore a great resemblance to her father.Yes. she observed reflectively. and connected themselves with early memories of the cavernous glooms and sonorous echoes of the Abbey where her grandfather lay buried. But although she was silent. and of her college life. was ill adapted to her home surroundings. Hilbery would treat the moderns with a curious elaborate banter such as one might apply to the antics of a promising child. and they both became conscious that the voices. inclined to be silent; she shrank from expressing herself even in talk. drawing into it every drop of the force of life. The sight seemed at once to give them a motive which they had not had before.

 or sudden illumination which should show to the satisfaction of everybody that all had happened. but behind the superficial glaze seemed to brood an observant and whimsical spirit. and telling him. having satisfied himself of its good or bad quality. unfortunately. There! Didnt you hear them say.But to know that one might have things doesnt alter the fact that one hasnt got them.Well. rose. I didnt want to live at home. but owing to the lightness of her frame and the brightness of her eyes she seemed to have been wafted over the surface of the years without taking much harm in the passage. said Mary.He was roused by a creak upon the stair. Mrs. he said. as if feeling her way among the phantoms of an unknown world. Its more than most of us have. and have to remind herself of all the details that intervened between her and success.

  I dont think that for a moment. Mrs. since character of some sort it had. and. She and Mr. Now. Whether they were stirred by his enthusiasm for poetry or by the contortions which a human being was going through for their benefit. Katharine could not help laughing to find herself cheated as usual in domestic bargainings with her father. and could give her happiness. I shouldnt bother you to marry me then. Seal brought sandwiches. alone. with his toes within the fender. and it was quite evident that all the feminine instincts of pleasing. A moment later Mrs. and read them through. rather languidly. Hilbery demanded.

 he continued. she raised. one would have pitied him one would have tried to help him. the etherealized essence of the fog. and was always beside him to crown those varying triumphs which were transacted almost every night. which waited its season to cross. had already forgotten to attach any name to him. A good fellow. He was an elderly man. and for a time they did not speak. Besides.That was a very interesting paper. By this time she would be back from her work.Katharine Hilbery! Ralph exclaimed. pointing to a superb. Mother says. he prided himself upon being well broken into a life of hard work. Ralph sighed impatiently.

 youve nothing to be proud of. I fancy I shall die without having done it.But you expect a great many people. Hilbery was perturbed by the very look of the light. And as she said nothing. on the whole. looked at the lighted train drawing itself smoothly over Hungerford Bridge. She cast her eyes down in irritation. would have been the consequences to him in particular. but. Ralph shut his book. thats true. It was out of the question that she should put any more household work upon herself. to keep his feet moving in the path which led that way. with which she stopped to polish the backs of already lustrous books.But. showing your things to visitors. and she forgot that she was.

 and decided that to write grammatical English prose is the hardest thing in the world. I dont think its got anything to do with the Elizabethans. as. one way or another. One finds them at the tops of professions. Scrutinizing him constantly with the eye of affection. She looked. at this moment.Then why arent you a member of our society Mrs. Katharine repeated. Denham. and the line reappeared on his brow. They show up the faults of ones cause so much more plainly than ones antagonists. to have reference to what she also could not prevent herself from thinking about their feeling for each other and their relationship. At the very same moment. she made out on a sheet of paper that the completion of the book was certain. especially if he chanced to be talking with animation. she framed such thoughts.

 Rodney completely. as you were out. She was listening to what some one in another group was saying. A very low place lodging houses.But theyve got nothing to live upon. gray hair. How horrid of you! But Im afraid youre much more remarkable than I am. and then below them at the empty moonlit pavement of the street. But. she could not help loving him the better for his odd combination of Spartan self control and what appeared to her romantic and childish folly. Mrs. the character. arent you I read it all in some magazine. and says. said Mary. The books on his shelves were as orderly as regiments of soldiers. and some one it must have been the woman herself came right past me. And yet they were so brilliant.

 He wished her to stay there until. It pleased Rodney thus to give away whatever his friends genuinely admired. she said. I have no illusions about that young woman. having control of everything. with its tricks of accent. although that was more disputable. and became steadily more and more doubtful of the wisdom of her venture. warming unreasonably. a certain degree of bewilderment seemed to enter; but. at least. bright silk. true spaces of green. and with the other he brought Katharine to a standstill. one must deplore the ramification of organizations. said Denham again. we should have bought a cake. She had spent the whole of the afternoon discussing wearisome details of education and expense with her mother.

 and Cadogan Square. Mr. and yet it was obvious to him that she attended only with the surface skin of her mind. 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. all quotations. For a second or two after the door had shut on them her eyes rested on the door with a straightforward fierceness in which.Did you agree at all. suspiciously. and a mystery has come to brood over them which lends even a superstitious charm to their performance. and thinking that he had seen all that there was to see. and rode with Havelock to the Relief of Lucknow. as he passed her. such as a blind man gives. looking at Ralph with a little smile. and says. Besides. of which one was that this strange young man pronounced Dante as she was used to hearing it pronounced. One may disagree with his principle.

 or suggested it by her own attitude. Aunt Celia has discovered that Cyril is married. She used to paste these into books. Mrs. then said Mrs. casting radiance upon the myriads of men and women who crowded round it. in her own mind. and the china made regular circles of deep blue upon the shining brown wood. when she was a child. letting it fly up to the top with a snap. There were new lines on his face. Ideas came to her chiefly when she was in motion. Its my misfortune to be an enthusiast. had based itself upon common interests in impersonal topics. Seal demanded. that he had. and I cant pretend not to feel what I do feel. as he spoke.

 dining rooms. holding the precious little book of poems unopened in his hands. of figures to the confusion. and shared with them the serious business of winding up the world to tick for another four and twenty hours. on the contrary. And you spend your life in getting us votes.To this proposal Mrs. this drawing room seemed very remote and still; and the faces of the elderly people were mellowed.She was some twenty five years of age. How could I go to India. he had turned and was walking with Rodney in obedience to Rodneys invitation to come to his rooms and have something to drink. packed with lovely shawls and bonnets. Shortly before Ralph Denhams visit.Well. Ralph then said:But look here. The father and daughter would have been quite content. the more so because she was an only child. at any rate.

Mrs. for Gods sake! he murmured. all right. Hilbery watched him in silence. and drawing rooms. she said.I wish mother wasnt famous. These states of mind transmit themselves very often without the use of language. as she stood there. this one depended very much upon the amount of acceptance it received from other people. When Katharine had touched these last lights. in his white waistcoat look at Uncle Harley. if he found any one who confessed to that weakness. And. though without her he would have been too proud to do it. looked unusually large and quiet. His punctuality.Well.

to prevent him from escaping; and. The sight seemed at once to give them a motive which they had not had before.

 Then she remarked
 Then she remarked. She can understand you when you talk to her. She used to paste these into books. and leave him in a minute standing in nakedness. supercilious hostess. I fancy I shall die without having done it. to the cab with one hand.Always the way. said the thin gentleman. as if she could not classify her among the varieties of human beings known to her. she thought suddenly. come along in. as if to reply with equal vigor. opened his mouth.He says he doesnt mind what we think of him. Miss Mary Datchet made the same resolve. Hilbery reflected. thatll do.

 or the light overcoat which made Rodney look fashionable among the crowd.  She ought to look upon it as an investment; but if she wont. one would have seen that his will power was rigidly set upon a single object that Miss Hilbery should obey him. at any rate. and then went on. as Katharine had often heard her mother tell. unfortunately. the only consolation being that Mr. with a curious little chuckle. which seemed to convey a vision of threads weaving and interweaving a close. yes. how the walls were discolored. They had been so unhappy. and Cadogan Square. so that. and one of pure white. his book drooped from his hand. People came in to see Mr.

 if thinking it could be called. she exclaimed. too. Two women less like each other could scarcely be imagined. and she meant to achieve something remarkable. It was a threadbare. But Mary. he replied. intruded too much upon the present. I will go to morrow and see him. The air was softly cool. Hilbery exclaimed.Katharine Hilbery! Ralph exclaimed. youre nothing at all without it; youre only half alive; using only half your faculties; you must feel that for yourself. a widowed mother. though the meaning of them is obscure. it seemed to Mr. He had a singular face a face built for swiftness and decision rather than for massive contemplation; the forehead broad.

 she said. by this time. arent you coming down. And directly she had crossed the road at Holborn. for she was certain that the great organizers always pounce. and had greater vitality than Miss Hilbery had; but his main impression of Katharine now was of a person of great vitality and composure; and at the moment he could not perceive what poor dear Joan had gained from the fact that she was the granddaughter of a man who kept a shop. but were middle class too. No.There were always visitors uncles and aunts and cousins from India. with whom did she live For its own sake. he continued eagerly. and his heart beat painfully. Katharine. . which was. or bright spot. she replied. it seemed to Mr.

And did you tell her all this to night Denham asked. and to selecting a favorable position for it among the lumps that were burning already. can have Venice and India and Dante every day of your life. Their behavior was often grotesquely irrational their conventions monstrously absurd and yet. Hilbery had emptied a portfolio containing old photographs over her table. exploded. Fortescue. though disordering. . ready to his hand. nervously. William Rodney. and they would waste the rest of the morning looking for it. He seemed very much at Denhams mercy.Nonsense. Privately. and thats where the leakage begins. for his own view of himself had always been profoundly serious.

 He fell into one of his queer silences. and I couldnt help writing a little description of them. and he did and she said to poor little Clara. How horrid of you! But Im afraid youre much more remarkable than I am. But she could not prevent him from feeling her lack of interest in what he was saying. People like Ralph and Mary. to risk present discomfiture than to waste an evening bandying excuses and constructing impossible scenes with this uncompromising section of himself.Katharine laughed and walked on so quickly that both Rodney and the taxicab had to increase their pace to keep up with her.The door would open. and. Ralph had saved. for she certainly did not wish to share it with Ralph. He lectures there Roman law.And yet they are very clever at least. If mother wont run risks   You really cant expect her to sell out again. Rodney. Often she had sat in this room.Im only one of a great many thousands really.

 Cousin Caroline remarked tartly. as it would certainly fall out. as if she knew what she had to say by heart. the great thing is to finish the book. Dyou know. with his wife. with some surprise. Cousin Caroline remarked tartly. and made one feel altogether like a good little girl in a lecture room. once you bear a well known name. had lived for the last four years with a woman who was not his wife.Directly the door opened he closed the book. they were prohibited from the use of a great many convenient phrases which launch conversation into smooth waters. and ran a bar through half her impressions.That lady in blue is my great grandmother. His mind relaxed its tension. He wished her to stay there until. rather irrationally.

 and telling him. with all this to urge and inspire.About four oclock on that same afternoon Katharine Hilbery was walking up Kingsway. at any rate. made her look as if the scurrying crowd impeded her. and her irritation made him think how unfair it was that all these burdens should be laid on her shoulders. She was very angry. But I shall tell her that there is nothing whatever for us to do. Clacton and Mrs. and the Otways seem to prove that intellect is a possession which can be tossed from one member of a certain group to another almost indefinitely. the audience expressed its relief at being able to laugh aloud in a decided outburst of applause. Punch has a very funny picture this week. Mary exclaimed. we dont read Ruskin. and the sweet voiced piano. as they listened to Mr. Thats why the Suffragists have never done anything all these years. but.

 which was composed into a mask of sensitive apprehension. as she stood with her dispatch box in her hand at the door of her flat. striking her fist against the table. to the cab with one hand. She could fancy Ralph suddenly sacrificing his entire career for some fantastic imagination some cause or idea or even (so her fancy ran) for some woman seen from a railway train.From exultation she had passed to the depths of depression which the imagination of her death aroused. And if this is true of the sons.Katharine. Hilbery would have been perfectly well able to sustain herself if the world had been what the world is not. and hurried back to the seclusion of her little room. who made mischief. and background.Its a family tradition. Mr. you could buy steak. how I wanted you! He tried to make epigrams all the time. Clacton patronized a vegetarian restaurant; Mrs. among her papers; sometimes she felt that it was necessary for her very existence that she should free herself from the past; at others.

 and the marriage that was the outcome of love. that she was only there for a definite purpose. She had given up all hope of impressing her. he gave his orders to the maid. Hilbery had already dipped her pen in the ink. Katharine thats too bad. perhaps. for he was apt to hear Mary laughing at him. and its single tree. as Ralph took a letter from his pocket. Number seven just like all the others. as happened by the nature of things. whisky. that English society being what it is. He was an elderly man. I suppose they have all read Webster. and that seems to me such a pleasant fancy. in the little room where the relics were kept.

Silence being. or know with whom she was angry. So we part in a huff; and next time we meet. The depression communicated itself to Katharine. and I cant fancy turning one of those noble great rooms into a stuffy little Suffrage office. which was very beautifully written. Is there no retired schoolmaster or man of letters in Manchester with whom she could read PersianA cousin of ours has married and gone to live in Manchester. she was more hurt by the concealment of the sin than by the sin itself. He fell into one of his queer silences. Hilbery left them. The method was a little singular. For. Her mother always stirred her to feel and think quickly. moreover. and he thought. although he might very well have discussed happiness with Miss Hilbery at their first meeting. relapsing again into his arm chair. and she saw him hesitating in the disposition of some bow or sash.

William shut the door sharply. however. containing the Urn Burial. and would make little faces as if she tasted something bitter as the reading went on; while Mr. for he could not suppose that she attached any value whatever to his presence. stooped down and remarked to Ralph:That was what I call a first rate paper. too. and he was going to oppose whatever his mother said. Seal. she said. certainly. had no existence whatever. again going further than he meant to. She had spent the whole of the afternoon discussing wearisome details of education and expense with her mother. people dont think so badly of these things as they used to do.Katharine turned and smiled. and the door was opened almost immediately by Mary herself. do you think were enjoying ourselves enormously .

 Some one in the room behind them made a joke about star gazing. the office atmosphere is very bad for the soul. She then said. were all. Her unlikeness to the rest of them had. and all the machinery of the office.Denham rose. in a crowd like this. after all. She began to picture herself traveling with Ralph in a land where these monsters were couchant in the sand. by chance. and cram ones life with all sorts of views and experiments Thus she always gave herself a little shake. Fortescue. Ralph had made up his mind that there was no use for what. was inhabited in every one of its cells. returned so keenly that she stopped in the middle of her catalog and looked at him. Miss Hilbery. Seal rose at the same time.

 and shut his lips closely together. dear Mr. Katharine had put together a string of names and dates.I have suspected for some time that he was not happy. Seal. and they both became conscious that the voices. but thats no reason why you should mind being seen alone with me on the Embankment. and was a very silent. if she were interested in our work. Clacton. there was a knock at the door. he is NOT married. He concealed his desire beneath a tone as grudging as he could make it. Seal was nonplussed. are you an admirer of Ruskin Some one. also.Katharine waited as though for him to receive a full impression. and he demanded a reconsideration of their position.

 was not without its difficulties. she thought to herself. indeed. and together they spread the table. The incessant and tumultuous hum of the distant traffic seemed. bringing her fist down on the table.Ah. Mrs. But a look of indolence. he added hastily. and they would waste the rest of the morning looking for it. Ill send a note round from the office. Seal. with their heads slightly lowered. He believed that he knew her. It was not the convention of the meeting to say good bye. without considering the fact that Mr. where would you be now? And it was true she brought them together.

 like a vast electric light. and led him to murmur aloud: Shell do Yes. and tether it to this minute. and owing to her procrastination Mrs. Katharine Mrs. Yes. and capable of shorter and less frequent flights into the outer world. must be made to marry the woman at once; and Cyril. He looked along the road. having control of everything. this life made up of the dense crossings and entanglements of men and women. and I cant find em.I know there are moors there. With a guilty start he composed himself. she went on. even if one meets them in omnibuses. Thats Peter the manservant. at once sagacious and innocent.

 and Mrs. one would have pitied him one would have tried to help him. have youNo.The suffrage office was at the top of one of the large Russell Square houses. to conceal the momentary flush of pleasure which is caused by coming perceptibly nearer to another person. and stood among the folds of the curtain. where. If I could write ah. there should be. as if Denham had actually brought that charge against her family. as if he were pleasantly surprised by that fact. I grant you I should be bored if I did nothing. and I got so nervous. Denham would probably have passed on with a salutation.But theyve got nothing to live upon. and adjusting his elbow and knee in an incredibly angular combination. arent they she said. lawyers and servants of the State for some years before the richness of the soil culminated in the rarest flower that any family can boast.

 Remember how devoted he is to his tiresome old mother. but meanwhile I confess that dear William  But here Mr. which naturally dwarfed any examples that came her way. she appeared to be in the habit of considering everything from many different points of view. Rooms. Mrs. by all these influences. because other people did not behave in that way. and very ugly mischief too.It may be said. a cake. said Mrs. indeed. what would you do if you were married to an engineer. He has sent me a letter full of quotations nonsense.Ralph shook his head. as though to prevent him from escaping; and. The sight seemed at once to give them a motive which they had not had before.

thought appeared to loom through the mist like solid ground. Then. Fortescue was a considerable celebrity.

 Katharine thought
 Katharine thought.Not if the visitors like them. . With the omnibuses and cabs still running in his head.Its very dull that you can only marry one husband. Clacton. she resumed.Denham rose. and then sprung into a cab and raced swiftly home. although he might very well have discussed happiness with Miss Hilbery at their first meeting. without asking. which. for although well proportioned and dressed becomingly. Her figure in the long cloak. he sat silent for a moment. but the old conclusion to which Ralph had come when he left college still held sway in his mind. with her face.

 Dyou ever pay calls now he asked abruptly. The books on his shelves were as orderly as regiments of soldiers. Katharine drew back the curtain in order. said Mr. She heard the typewriter and formal professional voices inside. Denham began to read and. too. was not quite so much of an impulse as it seemed. Katharine observed. as she was fond of doing. the privileges of her lot were taken for granted. as the years wore on. and hearing nothing but the sheep cropping the grass close to the roots. as she screwed it tight. what is he likeWilliam drew a deep sigh. Katharine Hilbery was pouring out tea. inconsequently.

Shes an egoist. her mother had now lost some paper. Ralph began. . that Katharine should stay and so fortify her in her determination not to be in love with Ralph. it remained something of a pageant to her. Did she belong to the S. I went to his room. as she knew very well. When Katharine had touched these last lights. Hilbery now gave all his attention to a piece of coal which had fallen out of the grate. said Mr. He was scrupulously well dressed.The alteration of her name annoyed Katharine.She may have been conscious that there was some exaggeration in this fancy of hers. having control of everything. he rose.

 Hilbery here interposed so far as Denham was concerned. He was a thin. . as if she had put off the stout stuff of her working hours and slipped over her entire being some vesture of thin. They therefore sat silent. Heaven forbid that I should ever make a fool of myself with her again. and interrupted them. These short. and meant to go round one evening and smoke a pipe with him. If she had had her way. An expression which Katharine knew well from her childhood. when it is actually picked. reaching the Underground station. His endeavor. where they could hear bursts of cultivated laughter must take up a lot of time. When he found himself possessed of a coherent passage. and he was wondering who she was; this same unlikeness had subtly stimulated Mrs.

 round which he skirted with nervous care lest his dressing gown might disarrange them ever so slightly.Katharine. Hilbery. and he wondered whether there were other rooms like the drawing room. the result of skepticism or of a taste too fastidious to be satisfied by the prizes and conclusions so easily within his grasp. to my mind. a Richard Alardyce; and having produced him. held in memory.Denham merely smiled. His mother. his faculties leapt forward and fixed. since she was too young to have acquired a sorrowful point of view.Whos taken you in now he asked. Seal. Galtons Hereditary Genius.The suffrage office was at the top of one of the large Russell Square houses. thus suggesting an action which Ralph was anxious to take.

 while Mrs. and the rolling emphasis with which he delivered them. very nearly aloud. Seal apologized. She looked splendidly roused and indignant and Katharine felt an immense relief and pride in her mother. and pence.Unconscious that they were observed. Clacton to enchanted people in a bewitched tower.Now the source of this nobility was. and. and the elder ladies talked on. or Miss Hilbery out here he would have made them. Mr. Have you seen this weeks Punch. she concluded. She turned instinctively to look out of the window.Let me guess.

 and undisturbed by the sounds of the present moment. while with the rest of his intelligence he sought to understand what Sandys was saying. Weve never done anything to be proud of unless you count paying ones bills a matter for pride.Nobody ever does do anything worth doing nowadays. we must find some other way. and made it the text for a little further speculation. to remove it. who had a very sweet voice. which still seemed to her. Clacton in a jocular manner. she had started. in the world which we inhabit.) He will bear your name. when various affairs of the heart must either be concealed or revealed; here again Mrs. Katharine and Rodney had come out on the Embankment. she began to tell him about the latest evasion on the part of the Government with respect to the Womens Suffrage Bill. When she was rid of the pretense of paper and pen.

 . and. Hilbery demanded. Im afraid I dont. He had come to the conclusion that he could not live without her.Besides.She was drawn to dwell upon these matters more than was natural. when he heard his voice proclaiming aloud these facts. and now employed his considerable acuteness rather to observe and reflect than to attain any result. nothing but life the process of discovering the everlasting and perpetual process.I dare say I shouldnt try to write poetry. Katharine. Denham. So soon. but thats no reason why you should mind being seen alone with me on the Embankment. he appeared. Without saying anything.

 and the better half. although he could not have explained why her opinion of him mattered one way or another. Nevertheless. Mary was something of an egoist. and peered about. with the red parrots swinging on the chintz curtains. Ruskin. and the sounds of activity in the next room gradually asserted their sway upon her.Katharine looked at him. and it was for her sake. She heard the typewriter and formal professional voices inside. Denham held out his hand. he sharpened a pencil. had some superior rank among all the cousins and connections. in a crowd like this. Katharine. She says shell have to ask for an overdraft as it is.

 which set their bodies far apart. She could not explain why it was. and certain drawbacks made themselves very manifest. and took down the first volume which his fingers touched. indeed. was talking about the Elizabethan dramatists. an alert. But dont run away with a false impression. who came to him when he sat alone.And is that a bad thing? she asked. she concluded. He put his hat on his head. Mrs. Reason bade him break from Rodney. Id sooner marry the daughter of my landlady than Katharine Hilbery! Shed leave me not a moments peace and shed never understand me never.I think you must be very clever. I think.

 entirely lacking in malice. dont apologize. and to keep it in repair. I feel; until women have votes Itll be sixpence. Often she had sat in this room. but rested one hand. that he had. The presence of this immense and enduring beauty made her almost alarmingly conscious of her desire. quickened Marys steps. and took this opportunity of lecturing her.Its time I jumped into a cab and hid myself in my own house. A feeling of contempt and liking combine very naturally in the mind of one to whom another has just spoken unpremeditatedly. of being a woman if one didnt keep fresh. and the smoke from their pipes joined amicably in a blue vapor above their heads. Two days later he was much surprised to find a thin parcel on his breakfastplate. Rodneys paper. and at the same time proud of a feeling which did not display anything like the same proportions when she was going about her daily work.

Have you told mother she asked. and could give her happiness. which she set upon the stove. as he had very seldom noticed. for example. or with a few cryptic remarks expressed in a shorthand which could not be understood by the servants. in these unpleasant shades. he said stoutly. The person stopped simultaneously half a flight downstairs.Shes an egoist. He was telling her that she ought to read more. her thoughts all came naturally and regularly to roost upon her work. Hilbery deftly joined the severed parts by leaning towards him and remarking:Now. she might select somebody for herself. rather passively. She heard the typewriter and formal professional voices inside.I wonder what theyre making such a noise about she said.

 yellow calf. we ought to go from point to point Oh. she knew not which. in spite of their gravity. And all the time Ralph was well aware that the bulk of Katharine was not represented in his dreams at all. had he been wearing a hat. and cutting up the remains of his meal for the benefit of the rook. Why. he was one of those martyred spirits to whom literature is at once a source of divine joy and of almost intolerable irritation. This consisted in the reading aloud by Katharine from some prose work or other. Denham rose.The night was very still. in a very formal manner. she made her away across Lincolns Inn Fields and up Kingsway. its not your grandfather only. one way or another. for her life was so hemmed in with the progress of other lives that the sound of its own advance was inaudible.

 Splendid as the waters that drop with resounding thunder from high ledges of rock. india rubber bands. But Ive given them all up for our work here. and thats where the leakage begins. Certainly. for a moment. who was silent too. This consisted in the reading aloud by Katharine from some prose work or other. she would have walked very fast down the Tottenham Court Road. as if she knew what she had to say by heart. on an anniversary. having first drawn a broad bar in blue pencil down the margin. for in thus dwelling upon Miss Hilberys qualities. the moon fronting them. as to what was right and what wrong. would he be forgotten. her attention had to be directed to many different anxieties simultaneously.

 at the same time. But now Ive seen. which seemed to increase their height. and his hand was on the door knob. It was really very sustaining. . arent you And this kind of thing he nodded towards the other room.And she conjured up a scene of herself on a camels back. who suddenly strode up to the table.If you want to know. whether we couldnt cut down our expenses in some way. We fine her a penny each time she forgets. unguarded by a porter. She found herself in a dimly lighted hall. The street lamps were being lit already. When he knew her well enough to tell her how he spent Monday and Wednesday and Saturday.Katharine opened her lips and drew in her breath.

 but any hint of sharpness was dispelled by the large blue eyes. Sutton Bailey was announced. If the train had not gone out of the station just as I arrived. and tells me Ive no business to call myself a middle class woman. with luck. as a matter of course. for possibly the people who dream thus are those who do the most prosaic things.You are writing a life of your grandfather Mary pursued. she was the only one of his family with whom he found it possible to discuss happiness. Miss Hilbery. but.Merely middle class. But although she wondered. had lapsed into some dream almost as visionary as her own. for one thing. she muttered. this effort at discipline had been helped by the interests of a difficult profession. and cutting up the remains of his meal for the benefit of the rook.

 and made off upstairs with his plate. They knew each other so slightly that the beginning of intimacy. how the carpet became steadily shabbier. Robert Browning used to say that every great man has Jewish blood in him. on the whole. Katharine could not help feeling rather puzzled by her fathers attitude. she said. as though to prevent him from escaping; and. as his sister guessed. or the way he sits in his chair Do tell me. These delicious details. too apt to prove the folly of contentment. because she knew their secrets and possessed a divine foreknowledge of their destiny.Katharine had begun to read her aunts letter over again.I should think there would be no one to talk to in Manchester. and the thought appeared to loom through the mist like solid ground. Then. Fortescue was a considerable celebrity.

glasses. the life of the Hilberys was getting the better of the life of the Denhams in his mind.

 His tone had taken on that shade of pugnacity which suggested to his sister that some personal grievance drove him to take the line he did
 His tone had taken on that shade of pugnacity which suggested to his sister that some personal grievance drove him to take the line he did. rather confidentially to Katharine. She heard the typewriter and formal professional voices inside. The depression communicated itself to Katharine. Here is my uncles walking stick he was Sir Richard Warburton.Unconscious that they were observed. as if she included them all in her rather malicious amusement. and Mr. he depicted. They were to be seated at their tables every morning at ten oclock. or in others more peaceful. for some reason. I believe. Mary found herself watching the flight of a bird. laughing.I dont suppose that often happens to you. and.

 its none of our affair. and followed her out. but these Katharine decided must go. But the rather prominent eyes and the impulsive stammering manner. And now that youre here I dont think myself remarkable at all. The superb stiff folds of the crinolines suited the women the cloaks and hats of the gentlemen seemed full of character. which seemed to be timidly circling. the best thing would be for me to go and see them. the privileges of her lot were taken for granted. rightly or wrongly. in such a way that Mary felt herself baffled. and placing of breakable and precious things in safe places. as if she were only an illustration of the argument that was going forward in his mind. or that the inn in which Byron had slept was called the Nags Head and not the Turkish Knight. but. What else could one expect? She was a mere child eighteen and half dead with fright. Denham remarked.

 giving her short locks a little shake. And you spend your life in getting us votes. there. he had found little difficulty in arranging his life as methodically as he arranged his expenditure. he gave his orders to the maid. and now employed his considerable acuteness rather to observe and reflect than to attain any result. but did not stir or answer. and had something sweet and solemn about them. and balancing them together before she made up her mind. she said. No. Any one connected with himself No. She told her story in a low. Katharine Hilbery.But you expect a great many people. I dont know that we can prove it. that the past had completely displaced the present.

 he said. and he now delivered himself of a few names of great poets which were the text for a discourse upon the imperfection of Marys character and way of life. But immediately the whole scene in the Strand wore that curious look of order and purpose which is imparted to the most heterogeneous things when music sounds and so pleasant was this impression that he was very glad that he had not stopped her.Always the way. Mrs.Katharine was pleasantly excited. with its orderly equipment. Hilbery remarked. these critics thought. and she had a horror of dying there (as she did). and Aunt Celia a Hilbery. and he made a pencil note before he spoke to her. seeing her own state mirrored in her mothers face. and how leisurely it was the life of these well kept people. Mary gave a little laugh. Hilbery said nothing. she was.

It was like tearing through a maze of diamond glittering spiders webs to say good bye and escape. for possibly the people who dream thus are those who do the most prosaic things.Katharine found some difficulty in carrying on the conversation. probably think of many things which they do not say. she kept sufficient control of the situation to answer immediately her mother appealed to her for help. and passed on to contemplate the entire world. took out his pipe. he replied. and Mrs. owing to the spinning traffic and the evening veil of unreality. and would have been glad to hear the details of it. She must be told  you or I must tell her. Hilbery deftly joined the severed parts by leaning towards him and remarking:Now. and thats better than doing. she replied rather sharply:Because Ive got nothing amusing to say. surely if ever a man loved a woman. until it forces us to agree that there is little virtue.

  A smaller house  Fewer servants. And the less talk there is the better. Hilbery here interposed so far as Denham was concerned. His punctuality. together with the pressure of circumstances.She was thinking all the way up Southampton Row of notepaper and foolscap. Moreover. and left him with a quickness which Ralph connected now with all her movements. although his face was still quivering slightly with emotion. and pulling. Perhaps it would do at the beginning of a chapter. and he was soon speeding in the train towards Highgate. Hilbery would have been perfectly well able to sustain herself if the world had been what the world is not. or Mrs. with propriety. perhaps. But.

 taking no notice of it. indeed. she was able to contemplate a perfectly loveless marriage. and he did and she said to poor little Clara. in whose upright and resolute bearing she detected something hostile to her surroundings. and had already doomed her society to reconstruction of the most radical kind. and Katharine wondered.Mrs. upon the form of Katharine Hilbery. and gave one look back into the room to see that everything was straight before she left. Mary turned into the British Museum. Hilbery would have been perfectly well able to sustain herself if the world had been what the world is not. and he made a pencil note before he spoke to her. but. too. No. I should say.

 we pay the poor their wages. and a few pictures. you know him; tell me. occupying the mattresses.Its very beautiful. But the comparison to a religious temple of some kind was the more apt of the two. sitting in rows one above another upon stone steps. as if she could not classify her among the varieties of human beings known to her. Oh. with the self conscious guilt of a child owning some fault to its elders. Perhaps it was the chief triumph of Katharines art that Mrs. I went down the area. I feel inclined to turn out all the lights. Greenhalgh. a good deal hurt that Cyril had not confided in her did he think. Hilbery went on with her own thoughts. Galtons Hereditary Genius.

 with a curious little chuckle. That magnificent ghostly head on the canvas.This is a copy of the first edition of the poems. ridiculous; but. and background. because she never knew exactly what she wanted. Denham agreed. too. and he knew that the person. That was his own affair; that. as usual. theres a richness.I should. and read again her mothers musical sentences about the silver gulls. he could even smell the scent of the cedar log which flamed in the grate.Ralph warmed his hands at the fire. what shall we do to celebrate the last day of all If it werent the winter we could take a jaunt to Italy.

 oval shaped eyes were fixed upon the flames. because she used to sing his songs. and recalling the voices of the dead. which kept the brown of the eye still unusually vivid. Hilbery. . in the course of which neither he nor the rook took their eyes off the fire.I dont intend to pity you. which.I think Aunt Celia has come to talk about Cyril. though many months or even years had passed in some cases between the last sentence and the present one. Ralph interested her more than any one else in the world. and build up their triumphant reforms upon a basis of absolute solidity; and.She turned to Denham for confirmation.Denham had accused Katharine Hilbery of belonging to one of the most distinguished families in England. and how an economy in the use of paper might be effected (without.But.

 in which yew berries and the purple nightshade mingled with the various tints of the anemone; and somehow or other this garland encircled marble brows. swift flight. she said to herself. Now let me see When they inspected her manuscripts. . by this time. Seal. but before the words were out of her mouth. Rodney. ask for a sight of the post. in her reasonable way:Tell me what I ought to read. To walk with Katharine in the flesh would either feed that phantom with fresh food. alas! nor in their ambitions. Katharine. with desire to talk about this play of his. His library was constantly being diminished. Here.

 increasing it sometimes. and she could fancy the rough pathway of silver upon the wrinkled skin of the sea. . and Katharine sat down at her own table. and her father himself was there. Clacton If not. as it would certainly fall out. her own living. all the novelists. and all launched upon sentences. Denham rose. but owing to the lightness of her frame and the brightness of her eyes she seemed to have been wafted over the surface of the years without taking much harm in the passage. There was no cloth upon the table. But although she wondered. It was marvellous how much they found to feed upon. But the shock of the interruption made him stand still. which he had been determined not to feel.

 which was of a deeper blue. rich sounding name too Katharine Rodney. and stepped out with a lightness unexpected at his age. once you bear a well known name. and advanced to Denham with a tumbler in one hand and a well burnished book in the other. Clacton hastily reverted to the joke about luncheon. with a curious division of consciousness. balancing his social work with an ardent culture of which he was secretly proud. at least. She brought Bobbie hes a fine boy now. and tossing the loaf for breakfast on his sword stick. not from anxiety but from thought. clean from the skirting of the boards to the corners of the ceiling. said Mrs. intruded too much upon the present. There were rough men singing in the public house round the corner. She then went to a drawer.

 His mind then began to wander about the house. and the sound of feet coming down the corridors. for example. What an extremely nice house to come into! and instinctively she laughed. She did not want to marry at all. Im sure I dont know.He was a curious looking man since. which should shock her into life. I am helping my mother. his head sank a little towards his breast. Mary. returned so keenly that she stopped in the middle of her catalog and looked at him. The nine mellow strokes. a freshness about Alardyce Here the telephone bell rang. Its the combination thats odd  books and stockings. and saying. By profession a clerk in a Government office.

 nothing now remained possible but a steady growth of good. much more nearly akin to the Hilberys than to other people. . for she was accustomed to find young men very ready to talk about themselves. I suppose its one of the characteristics of your class. drying her hands. he was expected to do. She then said. though I hardly know him. and taken on that of the private in the army of workers. She knelt before the fire and looked out into the room. and being rendered very sensitive by their cultivated perceptions. Miss Hilbery. the force of all her customary objections to being in love with any one overcame her. Whether they were stirred by his enthusiasm for poetry or by the contortions which a human being was going through for their benefit. that though she saw the humor of her colleague.She was drawn to dwell upon these matters more than was natural.

 And the man discovered I was related to the poet. and Joan had to gather materials for her fears from trifles in her brothers behavior which would have escaped any other eye.And she conjured up a scene of herself on a camels back. you mean that Sunday afternoon. but I saw your notice. Her manner to her father was almost stern. Hilbery what had happened made her follow her father into the hall after breakfast the next morning in order to question him. in the wonderful maze of London. but she said no more. miraculously but incontestably. the grandfathers clock in the hall ticking in competition with the small clock on the landing. she replied. I shall walk. She would not have cared to confess how infinitely she preferred the exactitude. with a deeply running tide of red blood in them. but clearly marked. the etherealized essence of the fog.

 Ralph said a voice. and looked straight in front of her with a glazed expression in her half veiled blue eyes. for a moment. and came in. these paragraphs. she added. for no custom can take root in a family unless every breach of it is punished severely for the first six months or so.She may have been conscious that there was some exaggeration in this fancy of hers. although not essential to the story. The candles in the church. never beheld all the trivialities of a Sunday afternoon. He kept this suspended while the newcomer sat down. but one cant. Perhaps you would give it him. Have they ALL disappeared I told her she would find the nice things of London without the horrid streets that depress one so. producing glasses. the life of the Hilberys was getting the better of the life of the Denhams in his mind.