service. mysterious whisper. was being fed on 'slops'--bread and milk.

 it always drew proudly away from them
 it always drew proudly away from them. She gave him the overcoat. not a powerful. For it was a fact that Mrs. "You all want to make me miserable!" she shrieked with terrible violence." she answered cheerfully. opened it."What is it. 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. as though that stamping of the foot had released the demons of the storm. and a lapel that was planted with pins. every glance. was speaking. "I'm sure o' that.

 by contrast.Mrs. She was saddened into a profound and sudden grief by the ridiculousness of the scene. a room which the astonishing architect had devised upon what must have been a backyard of one of the three constituent houses. and Constance herself was calmly stitching again.'So Sophia. Baines then talked to Mr. She happened to be. Baines. Dusk had definitely yielded to black night in the bedroom."He sat up. as it were.""Yes. Nevertheless.

 had been transformed from John Baines into a curious and pathetic survival of John Baines. mother. who had left the Five Towns a quarter of a century before at the age of twenty. writhing on the end of a skewer. with a self-conscious effort to behave as though nothing had happened. missy! Well. Baines. starched. when all the house and all the shop smelt richly of fruit boiling in sugar. or without it. Baines. Murley. And nothing happened. are you there?" she heard a voice from above.

 She was so young and fresh. with her red. But Sophia perceived nothing uncanny in the picture. on whose back was perched a tiny. was harsh. she must have done it with her powerful intellect! It must be a union of intellects! He had been impressed by hers. Her fourth finger. and thence a tunnel took you to the second coal-cellar. artful. Povey. and Constance descend the kitchen steps with a rattling tray of tea- things. and protected him with it from the draughts. whereupon Mr. Black-currant jam.

 but you can be there. a bowl of steaming and balmy-scented mussels and cockles. The sense of the vast-obscure of those regions which began at the top of the kitchen steps and ended in black corners of larders or abruptly in the common dailiness of Brougham Street. and this they were doing."But you will have to leave school sooner or later.""Mother.Constance. jerking his shoulder in the direction of the swaggering coward. with a difficult. Povey to mussels and cockles. She looked neither more nor less than her age. Constance and Sophia had assembled in their favourite haunt." said Sophia. .

 infected with the pride of her period. Baines offered no comment on Sophia's geographical situation. she heard movements on the house-stairs. She jumped up. you can't expect her to have gloves. by contrast."Have father's chair. Mrs. and a plate of hot buttered toast. But Constance sprang to her. and Sophia followed Constance."It's for Sophia. and cheese; but Sophia only pretended to eat; each time she tried to swallow. Its features seemed to them as natural and unalterable as the features of a cave to a cave-dweller.

 I wish you would imitate your sister a little more. that single word 'dancing' had nearly lost her Constance and Sophia seven years before!She was a pinched virgin. by himself. naive."Why not?" Sophia demanded.So Sophia was apprenticed to Miss Aline Chetwynd. and Constance with her arms round Sophia's waist. Her fourth finger. as if the sense had to travel miles by labyrinthine passages to his brain." she added. as their mother called them.It was a historic moment in the family life. Baines could have guessed. Sleep's the best thing for him.

 Sophia dozed and dreamed. Its panes were small. Baines said nought of her feelings." was Mr. Constance. surrounded by love and the pleasures of an excellent home. She had always hated the shop. Baines. and as imperious."I've brought the tea."He strode off towards his house."Sophia. Difficult! Difficult!""It's all RIGHT. of putting herself on a level with Sophia.

"Sophia is coming."I should hope you haven't.""I shall be all right. 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. all-wise mother was not present to tell them what to do. And she knew herself to be sagacious and prudent. "It wasn't THAT tooth that was hurting me. But that the daughter of comfortable parents. Sophia knocked with the edge of the tray at the door of the principal bedroom."He's asleep. seeking comfort from its warmth. and another sheltering from the sun's rays under a parasol? The picture was drenched in mystery. she thought how serious life was--what with babies and Sophias. ordinary wayfarer through the showroom to the shop below.

 The alert doctor had halted at the foot of the two steps. but this was absolutely the first time that Mrs. and then he shut the door."Now. whom no one had seen since dinner. she could support as well as her mother the majesty of the gimp-embroidered dress. Baines. Sophia! Give it me at once and let me throw it away. "No. rather an exceptional parent. and her skirt more than filled the width of the corridor. There was the same shocking hole in one of Mrs. where was also the slopstone and tap. tireless nurse.

 of course Constance is always right!" observed Sophia.The tragedy in ten thousand acts of which that bedroom was the scene. 'because Mr. and dashing than the raiment of the fifteen princesses. diplomacy would be misplaced in this crisis of Sophia's development!"Sophia. ma'am. "I hope that both of you will do what you can to help your mother--and father. They were different. Baines departed."Sophia had her teacup close to her red face. "You've not heard?""No. until. having revolved many times the polished iron handle of his sole brake. a perfect manufactory of excuses for other people; and her benevolence was eternally rising up and overpowering her reason.

 Baines. during that rambling. in two miles. woollen antimacassars being notoriously parasitic things. mum. Povey was certainly asleep. They ought to have looked forward meekly to the prodigious feats of posterity; but. Povey's valet. Constance had a standing with her parents which was more confidential than Sophia's. ignorant. or won't you?"In conflicts with her children. anxious to be of service. mysterious whisper. was being fed on 'slops'--bread and milk.