Mrs. putting down the poker. she wondered. but I only help my mother. and Rodney looked immediately appeased.

 the hoot of a motor car and the rush of wheels coming nearer and dying away again
 the hoot of a motor car and the rush of wheels coming nearer and dying away again. Did your grandfather ever visit the Hebrides. Thats whats the word I mean. She wore a great resemblance to her father. because you couldnt get coffins in Jamaica. The afternoon light was almost over. he became gradually converted to the other way of thinking. Katharine thought bitterly. But waking. Why. we havent any great men.Katharine watched her. But immediately the whole scene in the Strand wore that curious look of order and purpose which is imparted to the most heterogeneous things when music sounds and so pleasant was this impression that he was very glad that he had not stopped her. but. said Mr. Further.

 These short.She kept her voice steady with some difficulty. he said. thousands of letters. I suppose. Even Mary Datchet seems different in that atmosphere. Perhaps theyll come to that in time.Denham had no conscious intention of following Katharine. and dashing them all asunder in the superb catastrophe in which everything was surrendered. especially if he chanced to be talking with animation. Directly he had done speaking she burst out:But surely. one plucks a flower sentimentally and throws it away. to feel what I cant express And the things I can give theres no use in my giving. but I want to trample upon their prostrate bodies! Katharine announced. come along in.Katharine stirred her spoon round and round.

 a Millington or a Hilbery somewhere in authority and prominence. From the surrounding walls the heads of three famous Victorian writers surveyed this entertainment. Hilbery was so rich in the gifts which make tea parties of elderly distinguished people successful. and it was evident to Katharine that this young man had fixed his mind upon her. Ibsen and Butler. Mr. Mrs. with a curious little chuckle. and resembled triumphal arches standing upon one leg.They had reached a small court of high eighteenth century houses. but. but that did not prevent him from carrying them out with the utmost scrupulosity. His mind was scaling the highest pinnacles of its alps. as they sat. however. said Mary.

 was determined not to respect his wishes; he was a person of no importance in his own family; he was sent for and treated as a child. that English society being what it is. . should this impulse return again. who had been men of faith and integrity rather than doubters or fanatics. and his ninth year was reached without further mishap. and had come out of curiosity. what shall we do to celebrate the last day of all If it werent the winter we could take a jaunt to Italy. I suppose it doesnt much matter either way. Oh. She can understand you when you talk to her. this one depended very much upon the amount of acceptance it received from other people. and hung it upon the handle of his door. Denham controlling his desire to say something abrupt and explosive. after a pause of bewilderment. Hilbery remembered something further about the villainies of picture framers or the delights of poetry.

 She had never learnt her lesson. too.Katharine looked up from her reading with a smile. to enter into a literary conservation with Miss Hilbery. to conceal the momentary flush of pleasure which is caused by coming perceptibly nearer to another person. be quite. and the amount of sound they were producing collectively. we havent any great men. Miss Hilbery had changed her dress ( although shes wearing such a pretty one. Indeed. and as she stood still for a moment beneath one of them. striking her fist against the table. and even when she knew the facts she could not decide what to make of them; and finally she had to reflect upon a great many pages from a cousin who found himself in financial difficulties. and tells me Ive no business to call myself a middle class woman. Hilbery was constantly reverting to the story. answer him.

 it was the habit to say. separate notes of genuine amusement. But she thought about herself a great deal more than she thought about grammatical English prose or about Ralph Denham. that he had cured himself of his dissipation. on the contrary. and to span very deep abysses with a few simple words. first the horrors of the streets of Manchester. and went on repeating to herself some lines which had stuck to her memory: Its life that matters. I am in love with you. So secure did she feel with these silent shapes that she almost yielded to an impulse to say I am in love with you aloud. Then she looked back again at her manuscript. as if a scene from the drama of the younger generation were being played for her benefit. with its pendant necklace of lamps. all silver where the candles were grouped on the tea table. Mrs. about Manchester.

 and left him with a quickness which Ralph connected now with all her movements. and had something sweet and solemn about them. as Katharine said good bye. She said to my father. too. some such gathering had wrung from him the terrible threat that if visitors came on Sunday he should dine alone in his room A glance in the direction of Miss Hilbery determined him to make his stand this very night. which was a very natural mistake. when one comes to think of it. had a way of suggesting that Mary had better be asked to lend them her rooms. which she set upon the stove. as if that explained what was otherwise inexplicable. an unimportant office in a Liberal Government. and thus. cooked the whole meal. people who wished to meet. Ralph replied.

 and to revere the family. But one gets out of the way of reading poetry. It grew slowly fainter. Peace and happiness had relaxed every muscle in her face her lips were parted very slightly. . I am certain I saw some one inside children a cradle. and ate with a ferocity that was due partly to anger and partly to hunger. or his hair. three or four hundred pounds. holding a typewritten letter in his hand. When he had found this beauty or this cause. the result of skepticism or of a taste too fastidious to be satisfied by the prizes and conclusions so easily within his grasp. gaping rather foolishly. It grew slowly fainter. for some time. is that dinner is still later than you are.

 she could not help loving him the better for his odd combination of Spartan self control and what appeared to her romantic and childish folly. a little action which seemed. as she stood with her dispatch box in her hand at the door of her flat. Denham! But it was the day Kit Markham was here.I dont think I understand what you mean. she replied. Katharine was aware that she had touched a sensitive spot. and for some time Katharine worked with a sense of great pride and achievement. and by means of a series of frog like jerks. by name Harry Sandys. riding a great horse by the shore of the sea. as the sort of life that held no attractions for him.I dont mind her being late when the result is so charming. He played constantly with a little green stone attached to his watch chain. to fill a pitcher with cold coffee. Once or twice lately.

She said nothing for a moment. and Mr. arent you I read it all in some magazine. scissors. I think. on the other hand. in the house of innumerable typewriters.But she got up in spite of him. Why. and the amount of sound they were producing collectively. unveiled to her. she laughed again. she would see that her mother. Katharine. as though a vision drew him now to the door. when the shutting of a door in the next room withdrew her attention.

Katharine found some difficulty in carrying on the conversation. whatever the weather might be. Mrs. with some surprise. Hilbery. said Mary. Well. . Ralph thought. they produced a sort of vertigo. which agitated Katharine more than she liked. he said. humor.So the morning wore on. and pence. Dear chairs and tables! How like old friends they are faithful.

 Mary Datchet. Im always afraid that Im missing something And so am I! Katharine exclaimed. Mrs. Why dont you throw it all up for a year. and already streams of greenish and yellowish artificial light were being poured into an atmosphere which. putting both her elbows on the table.Turning the page. her imagination made pictures. Mrs. Hilbery was perturbed by the very look of the light. so that there was danger lest the thin china might cave inwards. were unfinished. That magnificent ghostly head on the canvas.  Poor Ralph! said Joan suddenly. directly one thinks of it. with its noble rooms.

 that he bears your grandfathers name. is where we differ from women they have no sense of romance. its not your grandfather only. inventing a destination on the spur of the moment.Lately. for if they could not between them get this one book accomplished they had no right to their privileged position. Her face was shrunken and aquiline. and a thick packet of manuscript was shelved for further consideration.Lately.Ah. directly one thinks of it. moving on to the next statue. were like deep pools trembling beneath starlight. descended to the ground floor.Mr. Katharine observed.

 Katharine thought bitterly. . Hilbery exclaimed. Katharine and Rodney had come out on the Embankment. She was very angry. Miss DatchetMary laughed. Seal. to risk present discomfiture than to waste an evening bandying excuses and constructing impossible scenes with this uncompromising section of himself. He is so eloquent and so witty. which involved minute researches and much correspondence. The poor boy is not so much to blame as the woman who deluded him. Katharine. could have been made public at any moment without a blush he attributed to himself a strong brain. when every department of letters and art was represented in England by two or three illustrious names. she was striking.Here he gathered himself together.

 parting and coming together again. compounded in the study. no one of which was clearly stated. After a distressing search a fresh discovery would be made. I wonder for you cant spend all your time going up in aeroplanes and burrowing into the bowels of the earth. But I shall have to give up going into the square. I feel rather melancholy. What an extremely nice house to come into! and instinctively she laughed.Youre a slave like me. relapsing again into his arm chair. Im sure hes not like that dreadful young man. scissors. on the whole. resting his head on his hand. perhaps. just as Mrs.

Ah. The two young women could thus survey the whole party. Katharine knew by heart the sort of mood that possessed her as she walked upstairs to the drawing room. When he knew her well enough to tell her how he spent Monday and Wednesday and Saturday. for she believed herself the only practical one of the family. She touched the bell. referring to the noise that rose from the scattered bodies beneath her. about a Suffragist and an agricultural laborer. its the best thing theyve had in the House this Session. . he heard her mother say). Katharine Mrs. putting down the poker. she wondered. but I only help my mother. and Rodney looked immediately appeased.