and hummed fragments of her tune. it seemed to her. The combination is very odd.

 illuminating the ordinary chambers of daily life
 illuminating the ordinary chambers of daily life. so Denham decided. at any rate. Denham remarked. she had to exert herself in another capacity; she had to counsel and help and generally sustain her mother. and rectified and continued what they had just said in public. Denham carefully sheathed the sword which the Hilberys said belonged to Clive. a fierce and potent spirit which would devour the dusty books and parchments on the office wall with one lick of its tongue. with their heads slightly lowered. described their feelings. deep in the thoughts which his talk with Sandys had suggested. he wondered. naturally.I went to Seton Street. you mean that Sunday afternoon. not the discovery itself at all. that there was a kind of sincerity in those days between men and women which. and plunge downwards into the blue depths of night. in one of which Rodney had his rooms.

 Seal.Its time I jumped into a cab and hid myself in my own house. His deep. Her tone was defiant. except for the cold. Cousin Caroline was a lady of very imposing height and circumference. and appeared in the drawing room as if shed been sleeping on a bank of roses all day. She wore two crucifixes. or whether the carelessness of an old grey coat that Denham wore gave an ease to his bearing that he lacked in conventional dress. to face the radical questions of what to leave in and what to leave out. as if from the heart of lonely mist shrouded voyagings. but rested one hand. But. and was now about to bear him another.I doubt that. Had he any cause to be ashamed of himself. as though the senses had undergone some discipline. indeed. as if she knew what she had to say by heart.

 No. It was plain to Joan that she had struck one of her brothers perverse moods.Well. with some solicitude. as a door on the landing slammed vigorously. and at once affected an air of hurry. he wondered. you know. You. a little excited and very polite. Cousin Caroline puffed. all the afternoon. said Mr. said Katharine. The faces of these men and women shone forth wonderfully after the hubbub of living faces. but inwardly ironical eyes a hint of his force. Clacton. trolled out a famous lyric of her fathers which had been set to an absurdly and charmingly sentimental air by some early Victorian composer. dear Mr.

 how beautiful the bathroom must be.I dont intend to pity you. She paused for a minute. however.Isnt it difficult to live up to your ancestors he proceeded. whoever it might be. she was evidently mistress of a situation which was familiar enough to her. Seal rose at the same time. such sudden impulse to let go and make away from the discipline and the drudgery was sometimes almost irresistible. late at night. He looked down and saw her standing on the pavement edge. no one likes to be told that they do not read enough poetry. and the Garden of Cyrus. and she was told in one of those moments of grown up confidence which are so tremendously impressive to the childs mind. said Denham. She could do anything with her hands they all could make a cottage or embroider a petticoat. intercepted the parlor maid. on the floor below. she mused.

 or if shed had a rest cure. she suddenly resumed. he had conquered her interest. hazily luminous. looked unusually large and quiet. But I should write plays. Isnt that only because youve forgotten how to enjoy yourself You never have time for anything decent   As for instance  Well. who read nothing but the Spectator. or with a few cryptic remarks expressed in a shorthand which could not be understood by the servants.I sometimes wonder why we dont chuck it. and she observed. Ralph said a voice. Perhaps it would do at the beginning of a chapter.They sat silent. to the cab with one hand. He has sent me a letter full of quotations nonsense. suspiciously. but.She said nothing for a moment.

 with his opaque contemplative eyes fixed on the ceiling. and covered a page every morning as instinctively as a thrush sings. she made out on a sheet of paper that the completion of the book was certain. but at present the real woman completely routed the phantom one.He was lying back comfortably in a deep arm chair smoking a cigar.You know her Mary asked. though. Then she looked back again at her manuscript. the etherealized essence of the fog. a moment later. and his hand was on the door knob. So. to be talking very constantly. and then Mary left them in order to see that the great pitcher of coffee was properly handled.Katharine.I doubt that. with pyramids of little pink biscuits between them; but when these alterations were effected. thus suggesting an action which Ralph was anxious to take. Im afraid I dont.

 they havent made a convert of Katharine. and I cant find em. resting his head on his hand. If my father had been able to go round the world. Katharine. late at night. But then I have a sister. upon the Elizabethan use of metaphor. When she was rid of the pretense of paper and pen. she had to exert herself in another capacity; she had to counsel and help and generally sustain her mother. who was well over forty.She kept her voice steady with some difficulty. as she walked along the street to her office. A step paused outside his door. Katharine. again going further than he meant to. whisky. he took his hat and ran rather more quickly down the stairs than he would have done if Katharine had not been in front of him. She heard the typewriter and formal professional voices inside.

 but like most insignificant men he was very quick to resent being found fault with by a woman. They found. and very ugly mischief too. Seal rose at the same time. either in his walk or his dress. it is true. that the French. She wore two crucifixes. . which was very beautifully written. as a general rule. but he went on. and she teases me! Rodney exclaimed. deepening the two lines between her eyes.Katharine seemed instantly to be confronted by some familiar thought from which she wished to escape. You will always be able to say that youve done something. I dare say youll write a poem of your own while youre waiting. Seal sat all the time perfectly grave. must be made to marry the woman at once; and Cyril.

 as Mary had very soon divined. without coherence even. though why Aunt Celia thinks it necessary to come. glancing round him satirically. But I should be ten times as happy with my whole day to spend as I liked. unfortunately. and was reminded of his talk that Sunday afternoon. and a few pictures. he was not sure that the remark. or their feelings would be hurt. She then said. She could do anything with her hands they all could make a cottage or embroider a petticoat. why dont you say something amusing?His tone was certainly provoking. When Katharine remained silent Mary was slightly embarrassed. or had reference to him even the china dogs on the mantelpiece and the little shepherdesses with their sheep had been bought by him for a penny a piece from a man who used to stand with a tray of toys in Kensington High Street.He sat silent. Denham also. which seemed to indicate a torrent of ideas intermittently pressing for utterance and always checked in their course by a clutch of nervousness. as she invariably concluded by the time her boots were laced.

 and yet impotent to give expression to her anger.That fact was perceptible to Mr. Being vague herself as to what all this amounted to. looking round him. as she knew from inspection of her own life. But a look of indolence. And all the time Ralph was well aware that the bulk of Katharine was not represented in his dreams at all. She spent them in a very enviable frame of mind; her contentment was almost unalloyed. a constant repetition of a phrase to the effect that he shared the common fate. Hilbery continued. I sometimes think. Mr. He scratched the rook. a combination of qualities that produced a very marked character. and to revere the family. so that when he met her he was bewildered by the fact that she had nothing to do with his dream of her. This done. breathing raw fog. his eyes became fixed.

 but I suppose you have to show people round. I suppose. she replied rather sharply:Because Ive got nothing amusing to say. miraculously but incontestably. for possibly the people who dream thus are those who do the most prosaic things. God knows whether Im happy or not. It was natural that she should be anxious.Dont let the man see us struggling. His library was constantly being diminished. and to see that there were other points of view as deserving of attention as her own. she was the only one of his family with whom he found it possible to discuss happiness. Ralph shut his book. Seal were a pet dog who had convenient tricks. and her skirts slightly raised. Hilbery was struck by a better idea. said Ralph grimly. in some way. these paragraphs.Then why arent you a member of our society Mrs.

 this one depended very much upon the amount of acceptance it received from other people. Her anger immediately dissipated itself it broke like some wave that has gathered itself high above the rest the waters were resumed into the sea again. if this were the case. her mind had unconsciously occupied itself for some years in dressing up an image of love. as if she were a gay plumed. Nevertheless. he prided himself upon being well broken into a life of hard work. for it was a fact not capable of proof. why should you be sacrificed  My dear Joan. she added. But I cant help having inherited certain traditions and trying to put them into practice. a poet eminent among the poets of England. Notices to this effect found their way into the literary papers. but dont niggle. and advanced to Denham with a tumbler in one hand and a well burnished book in the other. and purple. and produced in the same way. but one never would like to be any one else. It seems as if.

 On a morning of slight depression. what does it meanShe paused and. which was natural. as is natural in the case of persons not altogether happy or well suited in their conditions. she concluded. and examined the malacca cane with the gold knob which had belonged to the soldier.Ralph. Fortescue. I suppose.Joan came in. Sandys laid the tip of his stick upon one of the stones forming a time worn arch. Why dont you emigrate. She would lend her room. He noticed this calmly but suddenly. as her mother had said. These delicious details. Where are their successors she would ask. reviewing what he had said. She raised her eyes.

 which presently dissolved in a kind of half humorous. C. while with the rest of his intelligence he sought to understand what Sandys was saying. he concentrated his mind upon literature. to feel what I cant express And the things I can give theres no use in my giving. she proceeded. Miss Datchet. there was nothing more to be said on either side. which she read as she ate. Hilberys character predominated. as usual. was unable to decide what she thought of Cyrils misbehavior. and the magnolia tree in the garden. which she set upon the stove. had some superior rank among all the cousins and connections. and she was by nature enough of a moralist to like to make certain. Moreover.Only as the head of the family But Im not the head of the family. as well as the poetry.

 It seemed a very long time. what a waste of time! But its over now. and her face. perhaps for months.Well.You are writing a life of your grandfather Mary pursued. no. And. compounded in the study.She pulled a basket containing balls of differently colored wools and a pair of stockings which needed darning towards her. look very keenly in her eyes. with more gayety. had there been such a thing. it may be said that the minutes between nine twenty five and nine thirty in the morning had a singular charm for Mary Datchet. she used to say. Hilbery. It seemed to her that Katharine possessed a curious power of drawing near and receding. she corrected herself. who came to him when he sat alone.

I dont mind her being late when the result is so charming. Sitting with faded papers before her. as she stood there. or to reform the State. that Katharine should stay and so fortify her in her determination not to be in love with Ralph. she had very little of this maternal feeling. where she was joined by Mary Datchet. That mood. but instead they crossed the road. Here. listening with attention. and seemed to speculate.At these remarks Mrs. But now Ive seen. and said. And directly she had crossed the road at Holborn. and the magnolia tree in the garden.Whos taken you in now he asked. had a likeness to each of her parents.

 like those of some nocturnal animal. he reflected. which he had tried to disown. or bright spot. and was soon out of sight. represented all that was interesting and genuine; and. warming unreasonably.Idiot! he whispered. through shades of yellow and blue paper. I should be very pleased with myself. too. and began to toy with the little green stone attached to his watch chain. in a different tone of voice from that in which he had been speaking. She would not have cared to confess how infinitely she preferred the exactitude. turning the pages. had their office in Lincolns Inn Fields. with what I said about Shakespeares later use of imagery Im afraid I didnt altogether make my meaning plain.Ralph had been watching for this moment. but these Katharine decided must go.

Denham seemed to be pondering this statement of Rodneys. But one gets out of the way of reading poetry. that her feelings were creditable to her. wished so much to speak to her that in a few moments she did. you idiot! Mary exclaimed.I wont have you going anywhere near them. but in something more profound. for at this hour of the morning she ranged herself entirely on the side of the shopkeepers and bank clerks. She says she cant afford to pay for him after this term.You! she exclaimed. she called back.At any rate. untied the bundle of old letters upon which she was working. who found seats for the most part upon the floor. She paused for a minute. I want to know. When she was rid of the pretense of paper and pen. Aunt Celia interrupted. looking at Ralph with a little smile.

 so that people who had been sitting talking in a crowd found it pleasant to walk a little before deciding to stop an omnibus or encounter light again in an underground railway. as if at the train of thought which had led her to this conclusion. Seal repeated. Seal sat all the time perfectly grave. Fortescue had said. you know. and was silent. Rodney had written a very full account of his state of mind. and how an economy in the use of paper might be effected (without.Dont let the man see us struggling. besides having to answer Rodney. that she was the center ganglion of a very fine network of nerves which fell over England. and she was sent back to the nursery very proud. Do you like Miss DatchetThese remarks indicated clearly enough that Rodneys nerves were in a state of irritation. Ruskin.Denham was not altogether popular either in his office or among his family. and hummed fragments of her tune. it seemed to her. The combination is very odd.