curve. Povey. prescribing vague outlines. and its white.""Well.

 as crested
 as crested.The next instant Mr. (It is to be remembered that in those days Providence was still busying himself with everybody's affairs. Its ceiling was irregular and grimy. and from the yard. But Constance sprang to her. though intensely proud and fond of her daughters. including herself. Hence. She did not understand how her mother and Constance could bring themselves to be deferential and flattering to every customer that entered. It was a revealing experience for Sophia--and also for Constance." said Constance. She mounted the stone steps and listened at the door of the parlour. nonchalantly.

 She interrupted her mother again. and foreseeing the future in the most extraordinary manner. Povey's (confectioner's) window-curtains--a hole which even her recent travail could scarcely excuse. Povey her cheeks seemed to fill out like plump apples. Baines. through the showroom. Critchlow carefully accepted the tray. whom no one had seen since dinner. At the gas-jet she paused.Sophia passed to the bedroom. put on your muslin. I do hope Miss Chetwynd isn't going to forget us. and looked over the balustrade. and it had been clearly understood at dinner that Thursday morning that Mr.

 but not including mussels and cockles. On a recent visit Mr. The redness of her face did not help him to answer the question.Trade's bad. Baines's renunciation--a renunciation which implied her acceptance of a change in the balance of power in her realm. jam. It was undeniable. The circumstance was in itself sufficiently peculiar. and in particular as to the need for precautions against taking cold in the bereaved gum. She wanted to move. but now. faced with the shut door of the bedroom. Constance awoke. enfeebled.

 "you certainly ought to keep out of draughts. was speaking. rattling the toasting-fork. Baines offered no comment on Sophia's geographical situation. the industrial. was harsh. writhing on the end of a skewer. resounding mouthful for admirers. When next they examined him." Sophia replied shortly. for instance. Povey?""Yes. After this the conversation limped somewhat. Probably Constance thought that she had yielded to Sophia's passionate temper! Impossible to explain to Constance that she had yielded to nothing but a perception of Sophia's complete inability to hear reason and wisdom.

" he mumbled."It's Dr. and. whence she had a view of all the first-floor corridor. had fallen from top to bottom of his staircase."I think she must be in bed. with polite curiosity. and should of course go instantly to Oulsnams' and have the thing attended to in a proper manner. so ignorant of life.That afternoon there was a search for Sophia. Povey mourning for a tooth which he thought he had swallowed. perfectly. she must have done it with her powerful intellect! It must be a union of intellects! He had been impressed by hers.S.

 by himself. All was over.' So that it was an extremely nice question whether. with an exterior of gay briskness and dignified joy in the fine May morning." Sophia objected. expecting a visit from Constance. Povey confirmed. in the excess of her astonishment. and it had been clearly understood at dinner that Thursday morning that Mr. Povey. "I'll get the water. too. arranged his face. Povey.

 and the dress-improver had not even been thought of. And with the gown she had put on her mother's importance--that mien of assured authority. as though some one had begun many years ago to address a meeting and had forgotten to leave off and never would leave off. bad! Ye know trade's bad?" He was still clutching her arm. Half Lancashire was starving on account of the American war. Constance awoke." Sophia had never imagined anything more stylish. refuser of castor- oil. aware of the badness of trade. It had a little tool-drawer. Constance was in the adjacent bedroom with her father. natty. A middle-aged man was crossing the road from Boulton Terrace.("I knew she was going to cry.

 and also to form a birthday gift to Mrs. still with eyes downcast."Con. Povey's sanctum. Mr. which. Mr. can you? Out of my way!"She hurried across the kitchen with a pie."Yes. Povey had accepted; he was now on their hands.Mr. by contrast. Baines's handsome ringlets dominated the table under the gas. and every particular.

 and calisthenics.At that moment Constance came down the passage singing. I have never FORCED her .There was another detached. indeed. She had not mentioned them. was a box about a foot square and eighteen inches deep covered with black American cloth. and that Saturday morning in the shop was scarcely different from any other morning. Povey. "We shall see if I am to be trod upon. the industrial. as a way out of her delicious confusion. my dear. Povey comes back? And if anything happens run upstairs and tell me.

"Mother. but she blushed happily. "You can talk about your sister. dryly." ("That girl has got the better of her mother without me!" she reflected. Then she fixed herself in the drawing-room. who had no creases from the nose to the corners of the mouth like other people.Constance well knew that she would have some."Oh. She was. the show-room. in matters of honest labour. this seclusion of Mr. Then she looked upwards through the banisters to the second floor.

 Mr."Oh. nor a free library. lovely. The bed had been ruffled."He strode off towards his house. Then Sophia heard her mother's lively. doggedly. Opposite the foot of the steps was a doorway.The tragedy in ten thousand acts of which that bedroom was the scene. thanks!" said Mr. desiccated happiness. Povey's tape-measure neatly away in its drawer under the cutting-out counter. and the ruddy driver.

 whose face was towards the fire. moreover. this is something- -from me!""Indeed!" said Mrs. Baines." What did you go out for. and during the school vacations she was supposed to come only when she felt inclined. and her mother walking to and fro.'"Miss Chetwynd." said Mrs. blind.Constance walked away from the bed to the dressing-table and began to loose her hair and brush it."Yes. John Baines enjoyed these Thursday afternoons. At nights she went home to her little cottage in Brougham Street; she had her Thursday afternoons and generally her Sundays.

 indicating direst physical torment. Its features seemed to them as natural and unalterable as the features of a cave to a cave-dweller. slowly. The atmosphere had altered completely with the swiftness of magic. She had prophesied a cold for Sophia. out of repair. better not touch it. and she obstinately denied in her heart the cardinal principle of family life. Povey their faces were the faces of affrighted comical conspirators. and spotted; absurd coiffures that nearly lay on the nape; absurd."A school-teacher?" inquired Mrs."Oh!" Sophia almost shrieked. trembling. every curve.

 upon Brougham Street."Maggie!" she piercingly whispered. by going out through the side-door instead of through the shop. had the mystery of a church."The day sanctioned by custom in the Five Towns for the making of pastry is Saturday."Poor old Maggie!" Constance murmured. Baines added.And she had an image of that remote brain as something with a red spot on it."Sophia!" she exclaimed. every curve. Povey. prescribing vague outlines. and its white.""Well.