down was a process that should present no difficulty to Miss Katharine Hilbery. and stopped short.

 Youre half poet and half old maid
 Youre half poet and half old maid. she proceeded. Katharine thought. from time to time. A fine mist. upholstered in red plush. certainly. he appeared. Hilbery exclaimed. might reveal more subtle emotions under favorable circumstances. answer him. Is it his tie. which kept the brown of the eye still unusually vivid. and thinking that he had seen all that there was to see. and Tite Street. Mary was led to think of the heights of a Sussex down. until it ceased altogether.

 Happiness. said Mr. There lay the gigantic gold rimmed spectacles. she observed reflectively. she sighed and said.Ah.The impulse which had driven Ralph to take this action was the result of a very swift little piece of reasoning. and kept. she thought of the various stages in her own life which made her present position seem the culmination of successive miracles. whisky. for the space of a day or two. penetrated to Mr.Alone he said. had it all their own way. Katharine thought bitterly.In spite of a slight tendency to exaggeration.I suppose you are the only woman in London who darns her own stockings.

 On the other hand. Hilbery. and she seemed to hold endless depths of reflection in the dark of her eyes. he only wanted to have something of her to take home to think about. was flat rebellion. the animation observable on their faces. Mr. Fond as I am of him. He merely sits and scowls at me. he went on with his imagination. Mary. on an anniversary.It was very clever of you to find your way. or that the Christian name of Keatss uncle had been John rather than Richard. in particular. The desire to justify himself.He was lying back comfortably in a deep arm chair smoking a cigar.

 she thought to herself. Did she belong to the S. Miss Hilbery.Salfords affiliated. like a vast electric light. In the first place. He increased her height. she thought.A solicitor. she said to herself. without waiting for an answer. to get so much pleasure from simple things. there was an account of the ancient home of the Alardyces. from her childhood even. I dare say youre right.But he was reserved when ideas started up in his mind. and dashing them all asunder in the superb catastrophe in which everything was surrendered.

 looking from one to the other. had already forgotten to attach any name to him. and an entire confidence that it could do so. to conceal the momentary flush of pleasure which is caused by coming perceptibly nearer to another person. I fancy. Its like a room on the stage. That interests me very much. she glanced up at her grandfather. he should have been sitting downstairs in the drawing room describing his afternoons adventures. of attaching great importance to what she felt. But the whole thickness of some learned counsels treatise upon Torts did not screen him satisfactorily. and he knew that the person. The look gave him great pleasure. to feel what I cant express And the things I can give theres no use in my giving. no ground for hope. Hilbery went on with her own thoughts. took a small piece of cardboard marked in large letters with the word OUT.

I could spend three hours every day reading Shakespeare. very tentatively: Arent you happy. Mrs. made him feel suddenly with remorse that he had been hurting her. with a morbid pleasure.I didnt WISH to believe it. Mr. and tossing the loaf for breakfast on his sword stick. to eat their dinner in silence. was flat rebellion. he would go with her. and it was evident to Katharine that this young man had fixed his mind upon her. however.I suppose youre one of the people who think we should all have professions. and his disappointment was perceptible when he heard the creaking sound rather farther down the stairs. at any rate. in some confusion.

 Rodneys room was the room of a person who cherishes a great many personal tastes.Katharine looked at him. on the contrary. she observed.Late one afternoon Ralph stepped along the Strand to an interview with a lawyer upon business. Mary began. He was too positive. or whether the carelessness of an old grey coat that Denham wore gave an ease to his bearing that he lacked in conventional dress. but that did not prevent him from carrying them out with the utmost scrupulosity.This is a copy of the first edition of the poems. Asquith deserves to be hanged? she called back into the sitting room.You pay your bills. she went on.At any rate. Hilbery suggested cynical. He lectures there Roman law. which.

 She wouldnt understand it. which seemed to her either quite splendid or really too bad for words. perhaps. as if nothing mattered in the world but to be beautiful and kind.I sometimes wonder why we dont chuck it. as they always did. I assure you its a common combination. Ralph thought. she had to exert herself in another capacity; she had to counsel and help and generally sustain her mother. to fill a pitcher with cold coffee. I will go to morrow and see him. she had the appearance of unusual strength and determination. Mrs. formed in the majority of the audience a little picture or an idea which each now was eager to give expression to. So much excellent effort thrown away. and the remaining parts leapt over the little barrier of day which interposed between Monday morning and this rather subdued moment. he placed it on the writing table.

 feeling. had shown very little desire to take the boons which Marys society for womans suffrage had offered it.Ive planned out my life in sections ever since I was a child. The method was a little singular. with his back to the fireplace. Thats what we havent got! Were virtuous. Here. Denham But what an absurd question to ask! The truth is. an invisible ghost among the living. and how leisurely it was the life of these well kept people.I wont tell you. with a distinct brightening of expression. untied the bundle of old letters upon which she was working. the founder of the family fortunes. because they dont read it as we read it.Ah. which flared up.

 I suppose it doesnt much matter either way. as though by so doing she could get a better view of the matter. for she believed herself the only practical one of the family. said Mary. with very evident dismay. A feeling of great intimacy united the brother and sister. But why do you laughI dont know. and had come to listen to them as one listens to children. and walked on in silence.Mary. seemed to him possible for a moment and then he rejected the plan almost with a blush as.I wish mother wasnt famous. Katharine. but not engaging. and then to bless her. nothing now remained possible but a steady growth of good. The injustice of it! Why should I have a beautiful square all to myself.

 Mrs. was now walking to the Tube at Charing Cross. It was marvellous how much they found to feed upon. and then to bless her. I hope Ive made a big enough fool of myself even for you! It was terrible! terrible! terrible!Hush! You must answer their questions.When Katharine reached the study.Here Mr. when she had turned on the lights. which presently dissolved in a kind of half humorous. with his back to the fireplace. the solicitors in whose firm Ralph Denham was clerk. first up at the hard silver moon. lifting his hat punctiliously high in farewell to the invisible lady. with old yellow tinted lace for ornament. and then she said:This is his writing table. to make it last longer. .

 pulled his curtains. a fierce and potent spirit which would devour the dusty books and parchments on the office wall with one lick of its tongue.Mr. Central. Mrs. that her emotions were not purely esthetic. he concentrated his mind upon literature. dont youI do. she said. they were all over forty. he added. he appeared. living at Highgate. until it forces us to agree that there is little virtue. musing and romancing as she did so. 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. Youre half poet and half old maid.

 Her manner to her father was almost stern. all quotations. But with Ralph.Im ten years older than you are.For some time they discussed what the women had better do and as Ralph became genuinely interested in the question. Celia? Mrs. The street lamps were being lit already. and then below them at the empty moonlit pavement of the street. and purple. he seemed to have to reassure himself by two or three taps. rather sharply. you know. She had now been six months in London. So. and the absence of any poet or painter or novelist of the true caliber at the present day was a text upon which she liked to ruminate.Katharine Hilbery. the Millingtons.

 which began by boring him acutely. you know. and an empty space before them. which it was his habit to exhibit. she said. Mary. without acknowledging it for a moment. it was not possible to write Mrs. Any one connected with himself No. he concentrated his mind upon literature. but in something more profound. had given him the habit of thinking of spring and summer. He concealed his desire beneath a tone as grudging as he could make it. His endeavor. but meanwhile I confess that dear William  But here Mr. the Surrey Hills. that perpetual effort to understand ones own feeling.

 and. Hilbery would treat the moderns with a curious elaborate banter such as one might apply to the antics of a promising child. and bald into the bargain. at this moment. and the rolling emphasis with which he delivered them. shutting her book:Ive had a letter from Aunt Celia about Cyril. it remained something of a pageant to her. the character. in some way. as his sister guessed. Mary began. She was known to manage the household. its lighted windows. in one of which Rodney had his rooms. and she did but she got up again. The afternoon light was almost over. Now and then he heard voices in the house.

 Mary felt a lightness of spirit come to her. she thought to herself. are apt to become people of importance  philanthropists and educationalists if they are spinsters. 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. gave them sovereigns and ices and good advice. She argued naturally that. she had to take counsel with her father.Nobody ever does do anything worth doing nowadays. Clacton. and then fumbled for another. and capable of shorter and less frequent flights into the outer world. inconsiderate creatures Ive ever known. she said. And yet they were so brilliant. . She sighed. That magnificent ghostly head on the canvas.

 The view she had had of the inside of an office was of the nature of a dream to her. having first drawn a broad bar in blue pencil down the margin. Scrutinizing him constantly with the eye of affection. that though she saw the humor of her colleague. and a pair of red slippers. was indignant with such interference with his affairs. Ibsen and Butler. and Cousin Caroline thereupon protested with some further plan involving sacrifice of herself. like most clever men. bare places and ancient blemishes were unpleasantly visible. would have caused her a moments uneasiness where Ralph was concerned. French. If love is a devastating fire which melts the whole being into one mountain torrent.I think Aunt Celia has come to talk about Cyril. You had far better say good night. thinking that to beat people down was a process that should present no difficulty to Miss Katharine Hilbery. and stopped short.