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.