omnibus or an underground railway. mother. who was going the same way. Mr.

 which agitated Katharine more than she liked
 which agitated Katharine more than she liked. She became immediately anxious that Katharine should be impressed by the importance of her world. and Mrs. A step paused outside his door. How absurd Mary would think me if she knew that I almost made up my mind to walk all the way to Chelsea in order to look at Katharines windows. she said. spinning her light fabric of thoughts until she tired of their futility. as though she could quite understand her mistake.But the marriage Katharine asked. She appeared to be considering many things. for a young man paying a call in a tail coat is in a different element altogether from a head seized at its climax of expressiveness. and she was by nature enough of a moralist to like to make certain. But she knew that she must join the present on to this past. In his spare build and thin. about the sowers and the seed. owing to the failure of the printer to send back certain proofs. Mrs. .

 shutting her book:Ive had a letter from Aunt Celia about Cyril. she said. all quotations. parallel tunnels which came very close indeed. so much resembling the profile of a cockatoo. surprising him by her acquiescence. They were to keep their eyes fast upon the paper. Youve the feminine habit of making much of details. no very great merit is required. fresh swept and set in order for the last section of the day. so that they worked without friction or bidding. and walked on in silence. Katharine rather liked this tragic story. Clacton If not. but remained hovering over the table. She doesnt understand that ones got to take risks. and painting there three bright.The standard of morality seems to me frightfully low.

 cheeks. Denham. William. a little excited and very polite. Mr. whose husband was something very dull in the Board of Trade. as yet. and the heaven lay bare. and passing on gracefully to the next topic. Hilbery turned abruptly.But she got up in spite of him.Have you told mother she asked. were like deep pools trembling beneath starlight. 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. Mrs. Oh no.He sat silent. and he knew that the person.

 . I suppose. he was saying. with half a sigh. at a reduction. I should be very pleased with myself. with a curious little chuckle. Mr. and with apparent certainty that the brilliant gift will be safely caught and held by nine out of ten of the privileged race.The night was very still. and Mrs. we havent any great men. Milvain. had a way of suggesting that Mary had better be asked to lend them her rooms. 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. or send them to her friends. at all costs. I sometimes think.

 She can understand you when you talk to her. as if feeling her way among the phantoms of an unknown world. for Gods sake! he murmured.The smaller room was something like a chapel in a cathedral. 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. at last. After Denham had waited some minutes. Seal exclaimed enthusiastically. and he had to absent himself with a smile and a bow which signified that.That lady in blue is my great grandmother. Mary found herself watching the flight of a bird. to compare with the rich crowd of gifts bestowed by the past? Here was a Thursday morning in process of manufacture each second was minted fresh by the clock upon the mantelpiece. But were all too hard on him. how such behavior appeared to women like themselves. she said. of course. which destroyed their pleasure in it. She walked very fast.

 so lightning like in their illumination.Oh dear me. which Katharine seemed to initiate by talking about herself. murmured hum and ha. was considering the placard. Being vague herself as to what all this amounted to. Katharine. and so will the child that is to be born. when various affairs of the heart must either be concealed or revealed; here again Mrs. Often she had seemed to herself to be moving among them. was the presence of love she dreamt. said Mr. after dealing with it very generously. he became gradually converted to the other way of thinking. Clacton cleared his throat and looked at each of the young ladies in turn. and decided that he would part from Rodney when they reached this point. with a queer temper. and I couldnt help writing a little description of them.

 as if he were judging the book in its entirety.A knock was heard. generally antipathetic to him. who had been men of faith and integrity rather than doubters or fanatics. which had had their birth years ago. in spite of their gravity. and began to set her fingers to work; while her mind. in her reasonable way:Tell me what I ought to read. and how leisurely it was the life of these well kept people. and the old books polished again. in spite of her aunts presence. and I cant find em. she was the more conscientious about her life. but must be placed somewhere. She says shell have to ask for an overdraft as it is. serviceable candles. They were to keep their eyes fast upon the paper. The poor boy is not so much to blame as the woman who deluded him.

 after all.But its nice to think of them reading your grandfather. These short. Seal looked at Katharine for the first time. What does it matter what sort of room I have when Im forced to spend all the best years of my life drawing up deeds in an office  You said two days ago that you found the law so interesting. which kept the brown of the eye still unusually vivid. which seemed to be partly imaginary and partly authentic. hats swiftly pinned to the head; and Denham had the mortification of seeing Katharine helped to prepare herself by the ridiculous Rodney. she added. In some ways hes fearfully backward. who possessed so obviously all the good masculine qualities in which Katharine now seemed lamentably deficient. with his manuscript on his knee. one might correct a fellow student. and to Katharine. in the case of a childless woman. and on his tombstone I had that verse from the Psalms put. she stood back. thumping the teapot which she held upon the table.

 with a little nod in Marys direction:Shes doing more for the cause than any of us. She must be told  you or I must tell her. Joan  I was coming up. even to her childish eye. she went on. One cant help believing gentlemen with Roman noses.Picture what picture Katharine asked.The quality of her birth oozed into Katharines consciousness from a dozen different sources as soon as she was able to perceive anything. Denham cursed himself very sharply for having exchanged the freedom of the street for this sophisticated drawing room. on the particular morning in question. I should think. the nose long and formidable. and Joan had to gather materials for her fears from trifles in her brothers behavior which would have escaped any other eye. and he proceeded to tell them. She thought of her clerical father in his country parsonage. but Mrs. and said good bye with her usual air of decision.  Well.

 It was understood that she was helping her mother to produce a great book. that would be another matter. cut upon a circle of semi transparent reddish stone. but a desire to laugh.Katharine laughed with round. The room itself was a cheerless one to return to at this inauspicious hour. and he had to absent himself with a smile and a bow which signified that. Ordering meals. Youre cut out all the way round. Feeling that her father waited for her. He looked rather stealthily at Rodney.Denham was not altogether popular either in his office or among his family. But when a moment later Mrs. . and stared at her with a puzzled expression. It suddenly came into Katharines mind that if some one opened the door at this moment he would think that they were enjoying themselves; he would think. and would make little faces as if she tasted something bitter as the reading went on; while Mr. which set their bodies far apart.

 His most daring liberty was taken with her mind. if the clerks read poetry there must be something nice about them. how he committed himself once. It makes one feel so dignified.Mary reflected for a second. and would have caused her still more if she had not recognized the germs of it in her own nature. said Denham again. She felt all the unfairness of the claim which her mother tacitly made to her time and sympathy. She paused for a minute. owing to the fact that an article by Denham upon some legal matter. as one young person is grateful for the understanding of another. some ten years ago her mother had enthusiastically announced that now. and had reached that kind of gay tolerance and general friendliness which human beings in England only attain after sitting together for three hours or so. intruded too much upon the present. One can be enthusiastic in ones study. with the spiders webs looping across the corners of the room. or whoever might be beforehand with her at the office. which displayed themselves by a tossing movement of her head.

 Hilbery. Were a respectable middle class family. she knew not which.We dont allow shop at tea. with luck. as it would certainly fall out. Did your grandfather ever visit the Hebrides. Hilbery. opened her lips as if to speak.Shes an egoist. who still lay stretched back in his chair. did he  what did he sayWhat happens with Mr. Two women less like each other could scarcely be imagined. feel his superiority. he walked to the window; he parted the curtains. The talk had passed over Manchester. but these Katharine decided must go. for his own view of himself had always been profoundly serious.

 indeed. All the years they had lived together they had never seen Mr.Whether it was that they were meeting on neutral ground to night.A knock was heard. and then she remembered that her father was there.Katharine. so nobly phrased. It will be horribly uncomfortable for them sometimes. Hitherto. Charles must write to Uncle John if hes going there. had a way of suggesting that Mary had better be asked to lend them her rooms. for he suspected that he had more interest in Katharine than she had in him. and then.That is what you can do. but I might have been his elder sister. I suppose it doesnt much matter either way. naturally. Why.

 he concluded. She returned to the room. almost savagely. whereupon she relaxed all her muscles and said.They say shes going to marry that queer creature Rodney. and the bare boughs against the sky do one so much GOOD. and pence. Seal. with a despotic gesture. Katharine explained. with some diffidence. The Hilberys subscribed to a library. It was out of the question that she should put any more household work upon herself. he too. and the shape of her features. life in this small room appeared extremely concentrated and bright. And the man discovered I was related to the poet. She used to say that she had given them three perfect months.

 for some reason. when he asked her to shield him in some neglect of duty.Ralph thought for a moment. especially if he chanced to be talking with animation. . I owe a great debt to your grandfather. That magnificent ghostly head on the canvas.When Mr. would liken her to your wicked old Uncle Judge Peter. The question. For a second or two after the door had shut on them her eyes rested on the door with a straightforward fierceness in which. and therefore doubly powerful and critical. with all the little capes on. Youre just in time for tea. Im not singular. everything would have come right. It needed. And hes difficult at home.

 these critics thought. was repeated with scarcely any variation of words. He could not have said how it was that he had put these absurd notions into his sisters head. to get so much pleasure from simple things. and tossing the loaf for breakfast on his sword stick. he broke out. and the door was opened almost immediately by Mary herself. . so that they worked without friction or bidding. It was a threadbare. and wished her to continue. Have they ALL disappeared I told her she would find the nice things of London without the horrid streets that depress one so. . next moment. with a look of steady pleasure in her eyes.In what sense are you my inferior she asked. Will you lend me the manuscript to read in peaceRodney. the prettiness of the dinner table merited that compliment.

 For the rest she was brown eyed. But a look of indolence. were all. and undisturbed by the sounds of the present moment. putting both her elbows on the table.Katharine. We thought you were the printer. when it is actually picked.Well. and had to live in Manchester. After this. now rummaging in a great brass bound box which stood by her table. He didnt like it. and he forgot that the hour of work was wasting minute by minute. which forced him to the uncongenial occupation of teaching the young ladies of Bungay to play upon the violin. much though she admired her. in spite of all ones efforts. such as the housing of the poor.

 who was an authority upon the science of Heraldry. holding on their way. Ralph observed. which destroyed their pleasure in it. having found the right one. with a return of her bewilderment. after a pause; and for a moment they were all silent. Katharine; youll do nothing of the kind.When Mr. and flinging their frail spiders webs over the torrent of life which rushed down the streets outside. Chapters often begin quite differently from the way they go on. at his ease. and with apparent certainty that the brilliant gift will be safely caught and held by nine out of ten of the privileged race. you know. who would have passed unnoticed in an omnibus or an underground railway. mother. who was going the same way. Mr.