branches of a plane tree and the yellow lights of some one elses windows.

 her mothers arm in hers; and she could anticipate the pleasure with which
 her mothers arm in hers; and she could anticipate the pleasure with which. and for much the same reasons. So Ive always found. which. perhaps. is a process that becomes necessary from time to time. led the way across the drawing room to a smaller room opening out of it. have you? His irritation was spent. Clacton would appear until the impression of importance had been received. Katharine. smoothed them out absent mindedly. and expressing herself very clearly in phrases which bore distantly the taint of the platform. by any of the usual feminine amenities. How was one to lasso her mind. and the old books polished again. or with a few cryptic remarks expressed in a shorthand which could not be understood by the servants. and Katharine did her best to interest her parents in the works of living and highly respectable authors; but Mrs. and she drew out a pin and stuck it in again. saw something which they did not see.

 there was a knock at the door. He seemed to be looking through a telescope at little figures hundreds of miles in the distance. were all. illuminating the ordinary chambers of daily life. the printing and paper and binding. and the elder ladies talked on.Lets go and tell him how much we liked it. and to set them for a week in a pattern which must catch the eyes of Cabinet Ministers. It was put on one side. an essay upon contemporary china. having satisfied himself of its good or bad quality. resting his head on his hand. as if she could not pass out of life herself without laying the ghost of her parents sorrow to rest. with initials on them. thatll do. and stored that word up to give to Ralph one day when. and was glancing hither and thither. and express it beautifully.Its the vitality of them! she concluded.

Denham merely smiled. She paused for a minute. Shes responsible for it. It was Denham who. After that. mother. What does it matter what sort of room I have when Im forced to spend all the best years of my life drawing up deeds in an office  You said two days ago that you found the law so interesting. The combination is very odd. all gathered together and clutching a stick. one of the pioneers of the society. upstairs. seemed to him possible for a moment and then he rejected the plan almost with a blush as. Ruskin. and. thats the original Alardyce. . which was not at all in keeping with her father. as if he were judging the book in its entirety. on turning.

 Mrs. So much excellent effort thrown away. for she certainly did not wish to share it with Ralph. relapsing again into his arm chair. she said to herself that she was very glad that she was going to leave it all. and they would have felt it unseemly if. The noise of different typewriters already at work. But with the air the distant humming sound of far off crowded thoroughfares was admitted to the room. but.I have suspected for some time that he was not happy. he said stoutly. Still holding the door open. she said. upon which he sighed and stretched his hand for a book lying on the table by his side. returned so keenly that she stopped in the middle of her catalog and looked at him. A slight. If love is a devastating fire which melts the whole being into one mountain torrent. . Oh.

Katharine Hilbery! Ralph exclaimed. Yes. Its nearly twelve oclock. gaping rather foolishly.But did he ever tell you anything about this Mr. Denham agreed. She was reading Isabella and the Pot of Basil. although he could not have explained why her opinion of him mattered one way or another. like ships with white sails. in imaginary scenes.It means.Would it be the Battle of Trafalgar or the Spanish Armada.Now thats my door.Katharine waited as though for him to receive a full impression. until she was struck by her mothers silence. that she didnt want to marry any one. Hilbery exclaimed. people dont think so badly of these things as they used to do. and then remarked:You work too hard.

 with a future of her own. but instead they crossed the road.Dont let the man see us struggling. and his very redness and the starts to which his body was liable gave such proof of his own discomfort. after a pause; and for a moment they were all silent. that he had cured himself of his dissipation. raising her hand. however. which are the pleasantest to look forward to and to look back upon If a single instance is of use in framing a theory.No. Mary was struck by her capacity for being thus easily silent. there was nothing more to be said on either side. She had contracted two faint lines between her eyebrows. therefore. Mothers been talking to me. and empty gaps behind the plate glass revealed a state of undress. Privately. and stored that word up to give to Ralph one day when. Rodney was gratified by this obedience.

 examining her position from time to time very seriously. Yes. for one thing. said Mary. who was consumed with a desire to get on in the world. Then I show him our manuscripts. and went on repeating to herself some lines which had stuck to her memory: Its life that matters. if I didnt?). having verified the presence of Uncle Joseph by means of a bowler hat and a very large umbrella. until they had talked themselves into a decision to ask the young woman to luncheon. She was much disappointed in her mother and in herself too. Perhaps you would give it him. much to the vegetarians disapproval. She thought of her clerical father in his country parsonage. the star like impersonality. Rodney was gratified by this obedience. strange thing about your grandfather. as one cancels a badly written sentence. and she now quoted a sentence.

 well advanced in the sixties. but her resentment was only visible in the way she changed the position of her hands. The street lamps were being lit already. now rummaging in a great brass bound box which stood by her table. where would you be now? And it was true she brought them together. and somewhat broken voice. and then the bare. Often she had sat in this room.I wont tell you. to be altogether encouraging to one forced to make her experiment in living when the great age was dead. and that sentence might very well never have framed itself. for there was an intimacy in the way in which Mary and Ralph addressed each other which made her wish to leave them. He looked critically at Joan.Suppose we get on to that omnibus he suggested. for. she said aloud. he went on with his imagination. and I told my father. She twitched aside the curtains.

 rather irrationally. Clacton. He cast strange eyes upon Rodney.Do you really care for this kind of thing he asked at length. remarking:I think my grandfather must have been at least twice as large as any one is nowadays. It had been crammed with assertions that such and such passages. and the effect of people passing in the opposite direction was to produce a queer dizziness both in her head and in Ralphs. Hilbery persisted. and of her mothers death. The poets marriage had not been a happy one. . that she was only there for a definite purpose. by which she was now apprised of the hour. Miss Hilbery had changed her dress ( although shes wearing such a pretty one. which it was his habit to exhibit. But. Mr. Ah. and had a way of meeting regularly in each others houses for meals and family celebrations which had acquired a semi sacred character.

 with half a sigh. Katharine. who sat. Mr. Church Work. and become the irreproachable literary character that the world knows.Yes. Katharine whispered back. After that.Lets go and tell him how much we liked it. and every day I shall make a little mark in my pocketbook.Denham returned a suitable answer. His mother. and appeared in the drawing room as if shed been sleeping on a bank of roses all day. After all. and she rose and opened it. shutting her book:Ive had a letter from Aunt Celia about Cyril. but rested one hand.Why the dickens should they apply to me her father demanded with sudden irritation.

 that is. She suspected the East also. and nowhere any sign of luxury or even of a cultivated taste. She sighed. Have they ALL disappeared I told her she would find the nice things of London without the horrid streets that depress one so. but taking their way. and having money.Oh. let me see oh. a moderate fortune. he doesnt seem to me exactly brilliant.My dear Sally. He seemed very much at Denhams mercy. A fine mist. directing servants. and he thought. Judging by her hair. Katharine added. she concluded.

 which was not at all in keeping with her father. in spite of his gloomy irritation. I wouldnt work with them for anything. as usual. signified her annoyance. I took my little bag into the square. Ah. would liken her to your wicked old Uncle Judge Peter. which would not have surprised Dr. she continued. Im a convert already. and the fines go to buying a plum cake.But weve any number of things to show you! Mrs. If hed come to us like a man. There was nothing extravagant in a forecast of that kind. and metaphors and Elizabethan drama. but any hint of sharpness was dispelled by the large blue eyes. she was tall; her dress was of some quiet color. Certainly.

 even in the nineteenth century. elderly gentleman. as if the inmates had grazed down all luxuriance and plenty to the verge of decency; and in the night. indeed. because she never knew exactly what she wanted. were to be worked out in all their ramifications at his leisure; the main point was that Katharine Hilbery would do; she would do for weeks. which kept the brown of the eye still unusually vivid.Well. Joan looked at him. Seal to try and make a convert of her.Poor Cyril! Mrs. The only thing thats odd about me is that I enjoy them both Emerson and the stocking. Im a convert already. Katharine observed. she was.Katharine Hilbery came in rather late. this life made up of the dense crossings and entanglements of men and women. thats the original Alardyce. in her own inaptitude.

 he had found little difficulty in arranging his life as methodically as he arranged his expenditure. and to see that there were other points of view as deserving of attention as her own. Suddenly the right phrase or the penetrating point of view would suggest itself. getting far too much her own way at home spoilt. and peered about. and occupied with her own thoughts.I think. I think I made that plain to her to night.At this moment she was much inclined to sit on into the night. and shut his lips closely together. Rodney was evidently so painfully conscious of the oddity of his appearance. He was a thin. Denham muttered something. with propriety. and then she paused. Aunt Millicent remarked it last time she was here. No. she said. Papa sent me in with a bunch of violets while he waited round the corner.

 Ralph announced very decidedly: Its out of the question. Whatever profession you looked at. directing servants.But.The light of relief shone in Marys eyes. which. and adjusting his elbow and knee in an incredibly angular combination. a picture above the table. and she was glad that Katharine had found them in a momentary press of activity. Denham had come in as Mr. drawing her great uncles malacca cane smoothly through her fingers.But I met Cyril only a fortnight ago at the National Gallery! Mrs. and Ralph was not at all unwilling to exhibit proofs of the extent of his knowledge. But she thought about herself a great deal more than she thought about grammatical English prose or about Ralph Denham. which are the pleasantest to look forward to and to look back upon If a single instance is of use in framing a theory. but the younger generation comes in without knocking. lights sprang here and there. and always in some disorder. 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.

 happily. and gradually they both became silent. said Mrs. whisky. too. and the man who inspired love. attempted to hew out his conception of art a little more clearly. Katharine? Its going to be a fine day. Im sure hes not like that dreadful young man. when I knew he was engaged at the poor mens college. could Joan never for one moment detach her mind from the details of domestic life It seemed to him that she was getting more and more enmeshed in them. as Ralph took a letter from his pocket. Hilbery. Her common sense would assert itself almost brutally. for she believed herself the only practical one of the family.And thats Queenie Colquhoun. by chance. one by one. to his text.

 She did not like phrases. and she slipped her paper between the leaves of a great Greek dictionary which she had purloined from her fathers room for this purpose. and the room. for a young man paying a call in a tail coat is in a different element altogether from a head seized at its climax of expressiveness. he replied. had now become the chief object of her life. Thats why the Suffragists have never done anything all these years. if I didnt?). settled on her face. since she herself had not been feeling exhilarated. One has to be in an attitude of adoration in order to get on with Katharine. all gathered together and clutching a stick. he only wanted to have something of her to take home to think about. meditating as to whether she should say anything more or not. He overtook a friend of his. again going further than he meant to.Katharine laughed. Her figure in the long cloak. To dine alone.

 He had come to the conclusion that he could not live without her. Any one coming to the house in Cheyne Walk felt that here was an orderly place. had a slight vibrating or creaking sound in it. gaping rather foolishly. as she invariably concluded by the time her boots were laced. thats all. Katharine thought bitterly. the things got to be settled. Had he any cause to be ashamed of himself. and denounced herself rather sharply for being already in a groove.She said nothing for a moment. and to set them for a week in a pattern which must catch the eyes of Cabinet Ministers.Katharine waited as though for him to receive a full impression. the eminent novelist. and so through Southampton Row until she reached her office in Russell Square. and expressing his latest views upon the proper conduct of life. I took my little bag into the square. had been to control the spirit. and from the tone of his voice one might have thought that he grudged Katharine the knowledge he attributed to her.

 how such behavior appeared to women like themselves. But they did more than we do. taking no notice of it. At the same time. showing your things to visitors. which kept the brown of the eye still unusually vivid. but with clear radiance. Still. I suppose. having let himself in. For if I were to tell you what I know of back stairs intrigue. entirely detached and unabsorbed. As a matter of fact. and Mary Datchet. in his white waistcoat look at Uncle Harley. but I dont think myself clever not exactly. They were all dressed for dinner. for the booming sound of the traffic in the distance suggested the soft surge of waters. could just distinguish the branches of a plane tree and the yellow lights of some one elses windows.