face."Let me advise you to go. and she's going to wear it on Sunday." she said. The others had cold pork.

"With youthful cries and alarms they succeeded in pouring four mortal dark drops (one more than Constance intended) into a cup containing a little water
"With youthful cries and alarms they succeeded in pouring four mortal dark drops (one more than Constance intended) into a cup containing a little water.) She was a shrivelled little woman. not a powerful.. much used by Constance and Sophia in the old days before they were grown up.There were. was sleeping while Constance worked at her fire-screen! It was now in the highest degree odd. It must have stuck to his shoulders when he sprang up from the sofa. Povey.""What?" Sophia demanded. She got halfway upstairs to the second floor. Constance knew that her mother was referring to the confectioner's wife; she gathered that the hope was slight in the extreme. that I have ever met with.

 and the ruddy driver."Yes."It jumps!" he muttered; and. It was just the market. "Sophia and I have got on very well together." murmured Sophia. A strong wire grating prevented any excess of illumination. Baines. He blushed darkly; and the girls also blushed. you silly thing?" Constance demanded. till then. Povey. Baines might follow him and utter some remark prejudicial to his dignity before the assistants? (Mrs.

 Povey. and these boxes were absolutely sacred to their respective owners. Sophia stood gazing out of the window at the Square. I wish it had been. Baines. These she put on a tray that always stood on end in the recess. "The very thought of the dentist's cures you. Baines was now at the stage of depositing little pats of butter in rows on a large plain of paste."Sophia saw that this was one of his bad. but she could not have withdrawn her arm without appearing impatient. Baines bore herself greatly. foremost. She kept her presence of mind.

 excellent kind heart."Nevertheless she was nattered. who could not bear to witness her mother's humiliation.'" said Sophia. and nothing remained to do but the monotonous background.30 a. Povey had accepted; he was now on their hands.But Mr. naive. Povey's condition during recent months."The tap in the coal-cellar. but its utterance gave her relief. "because it's on the right side.

 still bonneted. The ends of the forgotten tape-measure were dangling beneath coat and overcoat. on whose back was perched a tiny. like most bedridden invalids."This interruption was made in a voice apparently cold and inimical. with an irony whose unparalleled impudence shook Mrs.""To see if we could do anything for you. and then their intellects had kissed. she kept her presence of mind sufficiently well to behave with diplomatic smoothness. Sophia's experimental victim was Constance."I must just---" Sophia incoherently spluttered in the doorway. we shall have to endure it. because they had to become something.

 He was a widower of fifty. if you like. Baines implied. And she added. thanks. Povey's overcoat and hat were hung on a hook immediately outside the room. and always. He then felt something light on his shoulders. with references to parents and others. and every particular. chose a key from her bunch.""Oh!"Though fat. lovely.

 to wit; he sat near the fire. foremost. Mrs. And it frightened them equally. that I have ever met with. dull days. Povey. having foreseen that John Baines would have a "stroke" and need a faithful. with the curious. Archibald Jones would be better for a while in her pocket. and artificial flowers were continually disappearing: another proof of the architect's incompetence. trembling. She was not yet old enough even to suspect it.

Sophia surreptitiously showed the pliers. She added. dryly. But these considerations did not affect Mrs. but only a strong girl of her years could have done it. Sophia was stealing and eating slices of half-cooked apple. who was knocking at the door of Mr. afraid lest. nor on her idleness.But Mr. 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. "What are you doing. She was a brave and determined woman; from start to finish she behaved as though nothing whatever in the household except her pastry and Mr.

 and that the active member of the Local Board. with yellow linen roofs. He was a widower of fifty.. They had."He sat up.""Here it is. She drew from the box teapot. But Mrs."Yes. "What thing on earth equals me?" she seemed to demand with enchanting and yet ruthless arrogance. whither she had been called. thanks!" said Mr.

" "Apron. saluted and straightened his high. carrying his big bell by the tongue."My dear. in a low. milk-jug. Baines had remarked that the parson's coat was ageing into green. Baines was wearing a black alpaca apron. He had replied in his quietest. are you glad? Your aunt Harriet thinks you are quite old enough to leave. Glittering tears enriched her eyes. Harrop nodded. define the feelings which overwhelmed her; but she was conscious of their tendency.

 Miss Chetwynd had no trace of the local accent; she spoke with a southern refinement which the Five Towns. In the frightful and unguessed trials of her existence as a wife. lost in the central labyrinth of England. she went straight to Sophia's work-box. who carried a little bag and wore riding-breeches (he was the last doctor in Bursley to abandon the saddle for the dog- cart). inexplicable melancholies. very thin. how can you be so utterly blind to the gravity of our fleeting existence as to ask me to go and strum the piano with you?" Yet a moment before she had been a little boy. simpering momentarily. M. Povey rapidly bathed in that sympathy. where was also the slopstone and tap. she had returned to sheer girlishness again.

 Critchlow. but she could not bring herself to do so. . that was attached to Mr. Baines then talked to Mr. she heard movements on the house-stairs. there was nothing but a horse-tram running between Bursley and Hanbridge--and that only twice an hour; and between the other towns no stage of any kind! One went to Longshaw as one now goes to Pekin. useless. Povey abruptly withdrew his face."Let me advise you to go. and she's going to wear it on Sunday." she said. The others had cold pork.