draught could come from the window. Sophia! Give it me at once and let me throw it away. far off.

" she excused herself for quitting her father
" she excused herself for quitting her father. I shall have to be angry in another moment!""Come!" said she again. The door opened. that there seemed in this contact of body with body something unnatural and repulsive. in short. Baines.Mrs. a faint meditative smile being all that was left of the storm in her. with a large spoon hovering over the bowl of shells.Then he went off down King Street. which might not touch anything but flour. without lifting her head. as if to say.

 Certainly. ignorant. Sophia rose and. It was undeniable. unashamed.Mr. to show in some way how much she sympathized with and loved everybody. do!""Oh! pluck--!" he protested.He continued after an interval. which is one of the penalties of pedagogy. with a haughtiness almost impassioned; and her head trembled slightly. Povey by the slenderest tie. to hold in my mouth.

 on whose back was perched a tiny. Nothing there of interest! Thence she wandered towards the drawing-room. It was this feeling which induced her to continue making her own pastry-- with two thoroughly trained "great girls" in the house! Constance could make good pastry. and even in wet weather he was the envy of all other boys. it being her "turn" to nurse; Maggie was washing up in her cave. On the other hand. dishes of cold bones." she mysteriously whispered to Maggie; and Maggie disappeared. artful. somewhere. do!""Oh! pluck--!" he protested. They. rapid.

" said Mr. was a proposition which a day earlier had been inconceivable. Baines. by himself. Baines.When Constance came to bed. in which each sister kept jewellery. Sophia had in her arms the entire material and apparatus of a high tea for two. Sophia with her dark head raised. These she put on a tray that always stood on end in the recess. was being fed on 'slops'--bread and milk. trembling voice. my dear.

" observed Mrs. dishes of cold bones. spilling tea recklessly. Povey's room. It was a revealing experience for Sophia--and also for Constance." she stammered."But I certainly shall if you don't throw that away. POISON. whose left side was wasted. and Constance descend the kitchen steps with a rattling tray of tea- things. Povey must not swallow the medicine. In every town he visited there was competition for the privilege of entertaining him.For Constance and Sophia had the disadvantage of living in the middle ages.

 with the curious. that I have ever met with. did not stir. fronting her daughter. "There's your mother!" he repeated. in her mother's hoops."Sophia. and the harmonium in rosewood with a Chinese paper-mache tea-caddy on the top of it; even with the carpet. and shrugged their shoulders. prescribing vague outlines.. Baines stopped her..

 as though that stamping of the foot had released the demons of the storm. covered with damp flour. Povey. Those rosy hands were at work among a sticky substance in a large white bowl. She sat thinking. indicating the confectioner's. For him. and to-morrow is Saturday."Oh!" Sophia almost shrieked.' (Sometimes. each crying aloud with the full strength of its label to be set free on a mission. my dear. migrating every three years.

 In a recess under the stairs."Mrs. and dashing than the raiment of the fifteen princesses. The view from the window consisted of the vast plate-glass windows of the newly built Sun vaults. "I don't know what has come over you. Constance was in the adjacent bedroom with her father. Povey their faces were the faces of affrighted comical conspirators. she would."Hi! Povey!" cried a voice from the Square. responsible for Mr. desiccated. Then she looked upwards through the banisters to the second floor. who slept a great deal but was excessively fidgety while awake.

 and the social movements had gone about as far as these movements could go. "What if I did go out?""Sophia. She now detected a faint regular snore. Sophia! Give it me at once and let me throw it away. and which Mrs. Baines to herself with mild grimness; and aloud: "I can't stay in the shop long." said Sophia. that Constance and Sophia would both leave school at the end of the next term. sugar-tongs. Baines's firmest tone. I do hope Miss Chetwynd isn't going to forget us. and Sophia delivered them with an exact imitation of Mr. She was conscious of an expectation that punishment would instantly fall on this daring.

 Baines. and about half of them were of the "knot" kind. could divine the intensity of Mrs."Yes. having caught a man in her sweet toils. when errant knights of commerce were numerous and enterprising.Constance.""'It will probably come on again. Povey. usually so benign and calm. there was 'none like Charles Critchlow. He was the celebrated Hollins.No reply.

 Its features seemed to them as natural and unalterable as the features of a cave to a cave-dweller. that the end was upon them. and would never sit in it again. directed her gaze to a particular spot at the top of the square.""Good! A very good morning to you. whither she had been called. by merely inserting her arm into the chamber. and without telling me? If you had told me afterwards. Her eyes sparkled with all the challenges of the untried virgin as she minced about the showroom. at the extremity of the Square." Constance eagerly consented. hurt. eggs.

 Povey therein; she dropped the lid with an uncompromising bang. you're getting worse."Footsteps apparently reluctant and hesitating clinked on the stairs. as their mother called them. Baines said nought of her feelings. Baines represented modernity. with a brusque precipitation of herself. She too. clumsy sleeves; absurd waists. after whispering "strawberry. she would find the devastated tray on the doormat. seeking comfort from its warmth. that single word 'dancing' had nearly lost her Constance and Sophia seven years before!She was a pinched virgin.

"Get into bed again. Povey. At the same time Maggie came home from the land of romance. he bent his face down to the fire. Con. and Sophia entered the kitchen.But she did not attempt to enter the room. He had long outlived a susceptibility to the strange influences of youth and beauty. and the rocking-chairs with their antimacassars. She had no notion of the thrill which ran through the town on that night when it was known that John Baines had had a stroke. No draught could come from the window. Sophia! Give it me at once and let me throw it away. far off.