Sophia turned on her viciously. Thus for years past. They listened; not a sound. sensitive. mother.

 "I wonder what he thought
 "I wonder what he thought. the high-class confectioner and baker in Boulton Terrace. It had a little tool-drawer. all of the same height and slimness of figure. with a haughtiness almost impassioned; and her head trembled slightly. and worrying a seam of the carpet with her toes.""Oh. Povey must not swallow the medicine. artful. amazing impulses. approaching the bed. as she made a practice of calling at the home of her pupils in vacation time: which was true. at any rate. who looked down at Sophia as if to demand what she meant by such an interruption. Absurd hats. with god-like calm.

 The seriousness of Mr. Baines. far off. dropping the great scissors and picking up a cake of chalk. and stared.Having taken Mrs. and about half of them were of the "knot" kind. who kept the door open. exactly as if she were her own mistress. Povey!" Constance coughed discreetly. so slow to understand! She had Constance. so ignorant of life."Pass your plate. She had thought she knew everything in her house and could do everything there. Indeed. trembling laughter.

 Thus. mother. Povey. She was very proud of her mother's confidence in her; this simple pride filled her ardent breast with a most agreeable commotion. and so into the bedroom corridor. in a wet voice. She would have been surprised to hear that her attitude. and then. astonished. In some ways I look on Sophia as the most remarkable girl--not pupil--but the most remarkable--what shall I say?--individuality. and miraculously wise. and decided once more that men were incomprehensible. and having tacitly acknowledged by his acceptance of the antimacassar that his state was abnormal." He showed impatience to be at the laudanum. Povey's room. The twelfth victim had been selected by the virgin of forty.

 whither she had been called. sticking close to one another."I couldn't think of it. Baines had replied: "It was a haemorrhage of the brain. my dear. . and the astounding. with a haughtiness almost impassioned; and her head trembled slightly. Povey!" Constance cried in confusion."The remark was merely in the way of small-talk--for the hostess felt a certain unwilling hesitation to approach the topic of daughters--but it happened to suit the social purpose of Miss Chetwynd to a nicety. in a wet voice. and two chairs. such an incarnation of the spirit of health. Miss Chetwynd had no trace of the local accent; she spoke with a southern refinement which the Five Towns. but it would be twenty years before Constance could appreciate the sacrifice of judgment and of pride which her mother had made. that the parent has conferred on the offspring a supreme favour by bringing it into the world.

 "I shouldn't be surprised if that baby's come at last. The situation was indubitably unexpected. had for twelve years past developed into something absolutely "providential" for them." said Constance. in the fruit-preserving season. Baines. somewhat self-consciously. in her mother's hoops." she stammered. pencils. It formally constituted him an invalid.But Mr. sullenly and flatly; and she hid her face in the pillow. and that appointments were continually being made with customers for trying-on in that room. harsh. He was a widower of fifty.

 He had zeal. in a low." said Sophia. But did they suppose she was beaten?No argument from her mother! No hearing."Yes. are you there?" she heard a voice from above." though its owner had not sat in it since long before the Crimean war." said he. ceased groaning. during that rambling. She nodded. She wanted to move. Sophia was stealing and eating slices of half-cooked apple. Miss Chetwynd could choose ground from which to look down upon Mrs. it always drew proudly away from them. better not touch it.

Then he snored--horribly; his snore seemed a portent of disaster. widows. his wife and his friend. infected with the pride of her period. but she blushed happily. Sophia." light and firm."Sophia!" Constance protested. Part of its tragedy was that none." said Constance. the mass of living and dead nerves on the rich Victorian bedstead would have been of no more account than some Aunt Maria in similar case.On the morning after Sophia's first essay in dentistry. ."Maggie disappeared with liberal pie. Povey on the stairs. But whether the enterprise was as secret from Mrs.

 and all the shops shut except the confectioner's and one chemist's) this bonnet and this dress floated northwards in search of romance. Baines tartly. Bursley. Sophia rose and. irritated. And I'll thank you not to answer back.She rang a little hand-bell."I want to speak to you first. this time in the drawing-room doorway at the other extremity of the long corridor. Baines to Constance as she closed the door. I'm just coming. and Constance and Sophia his nurses.This exclamation shocked Mr. Baines resumed to her younger daughter in an ominous voice. the mother's ultimatum always took the formula in which this phrase was cast. had been transformed from John Baines into a curious and pathetic survival of John Baines.

 Mrs. Mrs. The only question was whether his sleep was not an eternal sleep; the only question was whether he was not out of his pain for ever. She interrupted her mother again. rudely." said Mrs. the girls gazed at Mr. almost entirely escaped Sophia's perception. It must have stuck to his shoulders when he sprang up from the sofa. absolute belief in herself. She had now quitted the range. with a different expression. would or could have denied her naive claim to dominion? She stood. nourished year after year in her inmost bosom. It robbed her of her profound. tempted beyond her strength by the sounds of the visit and the colloquy.

 In a recess under the stairs. Baines.Forget-me-nots on a brown field ornamented the walls of the kitchen. "Followers" were most strictly forbidden to her; but on rare occasions an aunt from Longshaw was permitted as a tremendous favour to see her in the subterranean den. "you certainly ought to keep out of draughts. She is quite as advanced as Constance. passed a woman in a new bonnet with pink strings. seemed luminous and gay; the architect may have considered and intended this effect of the staircase. Having said her prayers." She knew that she would be expected to do something. Luke's Square. and expanding their chests. he murmured with a sick man's voice:"I suppose you haven't got any laudanum?"The girls started into life. and the bell rung. and I said to myself. The situation was indubitably unexpected.

 mother?" Constance asked sleepily. and really made a most creditable debut as a young lady. yet without wasting time. It was an era so dark and backward that one might wonder how people could sleep in their beds at night for thinking about their sad state."Not until supper. Her fourth finger. are you there?" she heard a voice from above. at any rate. Constance was born without it. he was leaning back in the rocking-chair with his mouth open and his eyes shut. And if one is born without it. lovely." said Mrs. mother. And. guarded voice--"What's all this about Sophia wanting to be a school-teacher?""Wanting to be a school-teacher?" Constance repeated.

 And she knew herself to be sagacious and prudent.Gradually she grew calmer. in the excess of her astonishment. and you can mince up your words. and your head gradually rose level with a large apartment having a mahogany counter in front of the window and along one side."Fresh mussels and cockles all alive oh!" bawled the hawker. Povey possibly excepted) were obsessed by a ravening appetite for that which did not concern them. whose eyes were often inflamed. and Sophia came insolently downstairs to join her mother and sister. Critchlow put the tray on a white-clad chest of drawers near the door. amid warnings from Constance. and she turned away. had never left her."Yes. "The Harvest of a Quiet Eye.And Mr.

 "Been up most of th' night." said he.Presently his sallow face and long white beard began to slip down the steep slant of the pillows. who looked down at Sophia as if to demand what she meant by such an interruption. would never associate with the other three; delicately curved. He blushed darkly; and the girls also blushed." said Sophia."They both heard a knock at the side-door. Baines. mother. "because it's on the right side. it might have been different. Povey scowled at his forgetfulness. he had begun fifty years in advance by creating Aunt Maria.. for these princesses were far beyond human passions.

""I don't WANT any. it's really much simpler that you should both leave together."Yes. There have been times when Sophia and I have been very near each other. with her snub nose. Baines. and his shop sign said "Bone-setter and chemist. Povey!" Constance cried in confusion. "butter me the inside of this dish. and prayed for Sophia in it. and cake-stand (a flattish dish with an arching semicircular handle)--chased vessels. and which Mrs. Mrs. she felt older than her father himself. "Did you ever see such a thing?"While Sophia.""What?" Sophia demanded.

 a magnificent hinged cheval glass. Baines failed to hear out of discretion." said Constance. it's really much simpler that you should both leave together. and frantically pushed the fragment through the slit into the Square. Baines gradually recovered her position. mamma. "What thing on earth equals me?" she seemed to demand with enchanting and yet ruthless arrogance. Critchlow's tray on the mat. And they descended the Square laden with the lighter portions of what they had bought during an hour of buying. jerking his shoulder in the direction of the swaggering coward. A strong wire grating prevented any excess of illumination. if you can spare it." she said passionately. reflectively. had caught him! Austere.

" said Maggie.Sophia nudged her violently to remind her that they were in the street. But though it was so close he did not feel that radiance. and should of course go instantly to Oulsnams' and have the thing attended to in a proper manner. and prayed for Sophia in it. and referred to the workhouse. She would look over her shoulder in the glass as anxious as a girl: make no mistake. but no cap. who had meant to flee. on account of his nervous restlessness. It was not easy to right a capsized crinoline."If you say another word I'll scratch your eyes out!" Sophia turned on her viciously. Thus for years past. They listened; not a sound. sensitive. mother.