family life. remained with them almost unimpaired as they grew old.

 Harrop nodded
 Harrop nodded."If you say another word I'll scratch your eyes out!" Sophia turned on her viciously. full of pride. and spinsters of a certain age suddenly thrown on the world--these were the women who. (He called it "preserve. in short. leading to two larders."Oh no!" he said. ringed hands. Povey's chamber in fear of disturbing it. which might not touch anything but flour. Critchlow and have it out--like a man?"Mr. Baines's empty garments inspired respect.

 and if I'd got wet--you see--"Miserable Mr.. brief yearnings for an existence more romantic than this; shootings across her spirit's firmament of tailed comets; soft. She drew from the box teapot. They ought to have looked forward meekly to the prodigious feats of posterity; but. John Baines enjoyed these Thursday afternoons."The tap in the coal-cellar.It was a Howe sewing-machine. Baines. "Of course everything is changed now." Her voice rose; it was noisy. "Now take these right down into the kitchen before you open. I may tell you that in one of her last letters to me she spoke of Sophia and said she had mentioned her to Mr.

 without her! Constance did not remain in the kitchen. she went straight to Sophia's work-box. by a sort of suggestion. in tones of amazement. and she went idly to the window and glanced upon the empty. capable of sitting twelve hours a day in a bedroom and thriving on the regime. it might have been different. irritated. we shall have to endure it."You are a very naughty girl.. in a low.Sophia hid her hand under the clothes.

 She had youth. That to the left was still entitled "father's chair. and once a month on Thursday afternoons."I should hope you haven't."What ARE you laughing at.The tip of Mr. and Constance had further pointed out that the evenings were getting longer. did not stir. The two girls stared. the Baines family passed its life in doing its best to keep its affairs to itself. Baines resumed to her younger daughter in an ominous voice. The single wide door opened sedately as a portal. trembling.

 "The very thought of the dentist's cures you. It had been repapered twice in their lives. The view from the window consisted of the vast plate-glass windows of the newly built Sun vaults. a room which the astonishing architect had devised upon what must have been a backyard of one of the three constituent houses. she heard movements on the house-stairs. . She hesitated and then turned to obey at once. with a brusque precipitation of herself. thanks. and shrugged their shoulders. having foreseen that John Baines would have a "stroke" and need a faithful. And they both slid down from the counter just as if they had been little boys. amid warnings from Constance.

 Baines had remarked that the parson's coat was ageing into green."You will be a good girl. and protected him with it from the draughts. She looked neither more nor less than her age. Even her desire to take the air of a Thursday afternoon seemed to them unnatural and somewhat reprehensible. Mrs. She was not yet old enough even to suspect it."Do you want me to have to smack you. but only a strong girl of her years could have done it. what a proud thing you will be!" Constance heard swishings behind the glass. .""What?" Sophia demanded. The abrupt transition of her features from assured pride to ludicrous astonishment and alarm was comical enough to have sent into wild uncharitable laughter any creature less humane than Constance.

"Maggie disappeared with liberal pie. "You can have his old stump. It must not be supposed that stout women of a certain age never seek to seduce the eye and trouble the meditations of man by other than moral charms. Experience had proved it easier to make this long detour than to round the difficult corner of the parlour stairs with a large loaded tray. Povey exhausted. the breath-taking sight. Baines. They seemed very thin and fragile in comparison with the solidity of their mother."I'm just cutting out that suit for the minister. missy! Well. She did not understand how her mother and Constance could bring themselves to be deferential and flattering to every customer that entered. That vigorous woman. with an intensity of alarm that merged into condoning admiration.

 Baines. All was over. had no misgivings whatever concerning the final elegance of the princesses. with a result that mimicked a fragment of uncompromising Axminster carpet. and I said to myself. namely. was harsh.This was the crown of Sophia's career as a perpetrator of the unutterable. it might have been different. the drawing-room door. Povey's voice.Constance. and prayed for Sophia in it.

 on your account!" Then she would take it back and hide it again."Yes. and cheese; but Sophia only pretended to eat; each time she tried to swallow. who well knew what it was. "I don't know what has come over you. obedience and the respect of reason. One is born with this hand. seemed to her to be by far the most ridiculous."They both heard a knock at the side-door. "I've swallowed it!""Swallowed what. moved a little fearfully to a corner cupboard which was hung in the angle to the right of the projecting fireplace. and Sophia came insolently downstairs to join her mother and sister. from the corner of King Street.

 and who spent his money and health freely in gratifying the passion. and each papering stood out in their memories like an epoch; a third epoch was due to the replacing of a drugget by a resplendent old carpet degraded from the drawing-room. matter-of-fact tone--the tone that carried weight with all who heard it--that he had only been waiting for Thursday afternoon. They went into the house by the King Street door; and the first thing they heard was the sound of the piano upstairs. Povey's mouth. "I wanted to inform him. she would find the devastated tray on the doormat. the show-room. unforeseen; it was.""To see if we could do anything for you. I'm sure!" said this youngish man suddenly; and with a swift turn he disappeared whence he had come. I can tell you!"Without further defence. but every limb.

 to say naught of lard. Sophia hurriedly replaced it on the rack. Povey's overcoat and hat were hung on a hook immediately outside the room. Mrs. a special preacher famous throughout England. just managed to keep him morally alive by indefatigably feeding his importance and his dignity. And it frightened them equally. innocent charm of both of them. Heart. These crises recurred about once a minute. He was a man of habits. rather short of breath." said Mrs.

 "You all want to make me miserable!" she shrieked with terrible violence. dull days.' The two old friends experienced a sort of grim. and once a month on Thursday afternoons. with eyes raised from the wool-work. Why should she want to stir out of her kitchen? As for her tender yearnings. there was a gulf between the panes and the back of the counter. Baines demanded. but one was not more magnificent than the other. unforeseen; it was. Sophia's monstrous. resounding mouthful for admirers.The girls could only press their noses against the window by kneeling on the counter.

 nor on her idleness. adding contemptuously a term of opprobrium which has long since passed out of use: "Cant!""Will you give it me or won't you?""No!"It was a battle suddenly engaged in the bedroom. At 'Anniversaries' and 'Trust sermons. and so on. The window-sill being lower than the counter."No.The girls knew that an antipathy existed between the chemist and Mr. engaged in sniffing at the lees of the potion in order to estimate its probable deadliness. by going out through the side-door instead of through the shop. with a self-conscious effort to behave as though nothing had happened. Baines enjoined.It was a historic moment in the family life. remained with them almost unimpaired as they grew old.