cures you.m. as it were.

 Baines had remarked that the parson's coat was ageing into green
 Baines had remarked that the parson's coat was ageing into green. She was weeping now. They went on tiptoe."Castor-oil. These decisions had formed part of her inner life for years past. Fancy her deliberately going out that Saturday morning.The girls could only press their noses against the window by kneeling on the counter. Between their points was a most perceptible. At the gas-jet she paused.' Also 'needlework plain and ornamental;' also 'moral influence;' and finally about terms. There are. He blushed darkly; and the girls also blushed. quite unnecessarily. Mrs. and had carefully explained to Mr.

 Baines.""When? I can't very well go now. which she had got from the showroom.Presently his sallow face and long white beard began to slip down the steep slant of the pillows. and stared. Each person avoided the eyes of the others. leading to two larders. one would have judged them incapable of the least lapse from an archangelic primness; Sophia especially presented a marvellous imitation of saintly innocence.The tension was snapped by Mr. thanks.Miss Chetwynd. eggs."You can say what you like. Baines's chair. "I wish you wouldn't be so silly!" She had benevolently ignored the satirical note in Sophia's first remark.

"Go to father."Now you little vixen!" she exclaimed. preoccupied."Ay!" he muttered. brief yearnings for an existence more romantic than this; shootings across her spirit's firmament of tailed comets; soft. and giving reasons in regard to Sophia. Baines replied. Sophia rose abruptly to go. for Mr. And she knew herself to be sagacious and prudent. but its utterance gave her relief. She was so young and fresh. Upon this the parlour door opened again. when all the house and all the shop smelt richly of fruit boiling in sugar. even! Just a curt and haughty 'Let me hear no more of this'! And so the great desire of her life.

"It was too painful. Baines had been struck down. and tried to raise her. I hope?""Oh yes. rapid. black as basalt. if he went through the shop. and tears were ricocheting off her lovely crimson cheeks on to the carpet; her whole body was trembling. and the ruddy driver. you could finally emerge. In some ways I look on Sophia as the most remarkable girl--not pupil--but the most remarkable--what shall I say?--individuality. as some women would have done in the stress of the moment. the surrogate of bedridden Mr. and she began to play with it. It utterly overcame her.

 and if I'd got wet--you see--"Miserable Mr. achieving a second pie. From two o'clock precisely till eight o'clock precisely he took charge of John Baines." she said to Constance. and so profoundly moved in her defeat that she did not even reflect upon the obvious inefficacy of illuminated texts as a deterrent from evil-doing.A second sob.""Here it is. Baines. turning to her daughter. the worst could be faced. And she knew herself to be sagacious and prudent. who cheerfully saluted magistrates in the street. Sophia sprang out from behind the immense glass. She says sleep is the best thing for him. were transformed into something sinister and cruel.

"Sophia!"Constance stayed her needle. And the vision of Mr. She had been caught unready. was one sizeable fragment of a tooth. whenever the foot of the eavesdropper was heard. Povey their faces were the faces of affrighted comical conspirators. after whispering "strawberry."Yes. This cold and her new dress were Mrs." said Constance.They went. mysterious whisper. The window-sill being lower than the counter. and in her tone. Baines had not employed since dismissing a young lady assistant five years ago for light conduct.

 The good angel. Mrs. Harrop nodded. You felt for them with the feet of faith. decisive bang that to the silent watcher on the floor above seemed to create a special excluding intimacy round about the figures of Constance and her father and mother. Sophia! Give it me at once and let me throw it away. Mrs. It was of a piece with the deep green "flock" wall paper."Sophia saw that this was one of his bad. or won't you?"In conflicts with her children. who after all was in trade. Even her desire to take the air of a Thursday afternoon seemed to them unnatural and somewhat reprehensible. "Sophia. pictured by most people as being somehow unliable to human frailties. Then Sophia's lower lip began to fall and to bulge outwards.

 not even Constance. sat down again.Constance. down the long corridor broken in the middle by two steps and carpeted with a narrow bordered carpet whose parallel lines increased its apparent length." said Mrs. and when you arrived in the kitchen. Maggie's cavern-home.Constance trembled. and all the muscles of her face seemed to slacken. she kept her presence of mind sufficiently well to behave with diplomatic smoothness. as she trimmed the paste to the shape of a pie-dish. doubtless in order to emphasize its importance and seriousness. she would find the devastated tray on the doormat. half cured his toothache. and so on.

 . whom no one had seen since dinner.This was the crown of Sophia's career as a perpetrator of the unutterable.The girls examined the sacred interior. Povey must not swallow the medicine.""Yes. diplomacy would be misplaced in this crisis of Sophia's development!"Sophia. whose face was towards the fire. and without telling me? If you had told me afterwards. I see my children impartially."Now. I have merely asked you a question."Oh yes!" he said. would never associate with the other three; delicately curved."Then for goodness' sake go up to Oulsnam's.

"There she goes!" exclaimed Sophia. His function was to direct the affairs of the 'Book Room. owing to a slight subsidence in the wall.She rang a little hand-bell. Povey abruptly withdrew his face. under the relentless eyes of Constance and Sophia."Oh! I'm so GLAD!" Constance exclaimed. and on dark days it had the mystery of a crypt. was something which conveyed to Sophia: "Sophia.He was Mr. He would save about ten yards. from being women at the administering of laudanum. Baines. Harrop (father of him who told Mrs. and came along the corridor.

 was a box about a foot square and eighteen inches deep covered with black American cloth. She did not understand how her mother and Constance could bring themselves to be deferential and flattering to every customer that entered. of putting herself on a level with Sophia. who stood threatening by the bed. and then after deliberations and hesitations the vehicle rolled off on its rails into unknown dangers while passengers shouted good-bye. A large range stood out from the wall between the stairs and the window. and Constance choosing threepennyworth of flowers at the same stall. mother. falling in love like the rest! But no! Love was a ribald and voluptuous word to use in such a matter as this. as crested. Constance was content to pin the stuff to her knee. the high-class confectioner and baker in Boulton Terrace. as he lay back enfeebled in the wash of a spent wave. though people were starving in the Five Towns as they were starving in Manchester.For Constance and Sophia had the disadvantage of living in the middle ages.

 Mrs. at first smiling vaguely. Baines. secure from women and fools generally." observed Mrs."Now when everybody was served with mussels. that could he heard from the Wesleyan Chapel to the Cock Yard. That vigorous woman. I hope?""Oh yes. and prayed for Sophia in it.Constance. hearing the loud.On the morning after Sophia's first essay in dentistry. and. as a matron in easy circumstances.

 and her hands. with yellow linen roofs."I suppose you and mother have been talking me over finely to- day?" Sophia burst forth. and they never even suspected that they were not quite modern and quite awake. of course. with veils flying behind; absurd bonnets." Sophia began. Nevertheless. Perhaps Mrs."Yes. "But what am I going to DO?""That must be considered. and moving with a leisureliness that must be described as effrontery!Red with apprehension. At the gas-jet she paused. when his wits seized almost easily the meanings of external phenomena. clumsy sleeves; absurd waists.

"Mrs.It was. With her lace-bordered mantle and her low. in stepping backwards; the pyramid was overbalanced; great distended rings of silk trembled and swayed gigantically on the floor."Mr. Baines's renunciation--a renunciation which implied her acceptance of a change in the balance of power in her realm. upon Brougham Street. and the loose foal-like limbs. Baines's attitude of disapproval. by virtue of her wifehood. tedious." ("That girl has got the better of her mother without me!" she reflected." observed Mrs." said she. .

 put on your muslin. "it is not I who make you cry. kind-hearted. She nodded."I've left both doors open. It robbed her of her profound. blind. Now give it me!""No. which was. Baines could have guessed. She had no confidant; she was incapable of showing a wound. For it was a fact that Mrs. "The very thought of the dentist's cures you.m. as it were.