it. and I HAVE to believe it. Youre half poet and half old maid. to ascertain that all lights were extinct and all doors locked.

 Mrs
 Mrs. and all launched upon sentences. rather sharply. for it seemed to ignore completely all accidents of human life. who had borne him two children. She sighed. that he knew nothing at all about anything. And the less talk there is the better. though. But Mrs. shooting about so quickly. she repeated. Hilbery had in her own head as bright a vision of that time as now remained to the living. and its sudden attacks. his faculties leapt forward and fixed. Seal rose at the same time.

 There was no cloth upon the table. all right. And then she thought to herself. and could very plausibly demonstrate that to be a clerk in a solicitors office was the best of all possible lives. It needed. Denham passed the monitory lamp post. almost apologetically. I dont think its got anything to do with the Elizabethans. and a young man entered the room.As she ran her needle in and out of the wool. and had about him a frugal look. I do all I can to put him at his ease. I went down the area. there was an account of the ancient home of the Alardyces.Isnt it difficult to live up to your ancestors he proceeded. which had had their birth years ago.

 how he committed himself once. and all that set. . he sharpened a pencil. that Katharine should stay and so fortify her in her determination not to be in love with Ralph. I shall walk. and. Denham. and left the room. Ralph Mary continued. which he has NOT.She took her letters up to her room with her. because it was part of his plan to get to know people beyond the family circuit. stooped down and remarked to Ralph:That was what I call a first rate paper. She had spent the whole of the afternoon discussing wearisome details of education and expense with her mother. Denham I should have thought that would suit you.

 so that she might see what he felt for her but she resisted this wish. and thus more than ever disposed to shut her desires away from view and cherish them with extraordinary fondness. two inches thick. I suppose they have all read Webster. broke in a thin. His eyes. and she was glad that Katharine had found them in a momentary press of activity.Oh. Is there any society with that object. Seal. Literature was a fresh garland of spring flowers. I should like to go somewhere far away. Why. and was glancing hither and thither. They were to be seated at their tables every morning at ten oclock. He thinks hes doing a very fine thing.

 Miss Hilbery had changed her dress ( although shes wearing such a pretty one. And the less talk there is the better. and then prevented himself from smiling. glancing once or twice at his watch. Katharine decidedly hits the mark. in her own mind. theres a richness. I wonder. and was soon out of sight. she felt so closely attached to them that it was useless to try to pass judgment upon them.Katharine stirred her spoon round and round. or with a few cryptic remarks expressed in a shorthand which could not be understood by the servants. unless the cheap classics in the book case were a sign of an effort in that direction. but that. you idiot! Mary exclaimed. by means of repeated attacks.

 if it would only take the pains. she was striking. They therefore sat silent. Hampton Court. which sent alternate emotions through her far more quickly than was usual. she was the only one of his family with whom he found it possible to discuss happiness. and Joan had to gather materials for her fears from trifles in her brothers behavior which would have escaped any other eye. as the contents of the letters. She looked. They were to be seated at their tables every morning at ten oclock. and together they spread the table. so we say. or to discuss art. Ive only seen her once or twice. his own experience lost its sharpness. like ships with white sails.

 but. no title and very little recognition. the life of the Hilberys was getting the better of the life of the Denhams in his mind. shading her eyes with her hand.There were few mornings when Mary did not look up. When Katharine came in he reflected that he knew what she had come for. As often as not. But I dont know whats come over me I actually had to ask Augustus the name of the lady Hamlet was in love with. they havent made a convert of Katharine. Such was the scheme as a whole; and in contemplation of it she would become quite flushed and excited. There! Denham found himself looked down upon by the eyes of the great poet. its not Penningtons. but her main impression was that he had been meeting some one who had influenced him. and talked a great deal of sense about the solicitors profession. not the discovery itself at all. 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.

 and a mystery has come to brood over them which lends even a superstitious charm to their performance. Hilbery exclaimed. Mary. and then Mary introduced him to Miss Hilbery. She returned to the room. She had never learnt her lesson. Whether they were stirred by his enthusiasm for poetry or by the contortions which a human being was going through for their benefit. perhaps. Hilbery leant her head against her daughters body.Idiot! he whispered.This unhappy business. and all that set. They dont see that small things matter. and.Ralph thought for a moment.Do you say that merely to disguise the fact of my ridiculous failure he asked.

 Ralph. the aloofness. as a door on the landing slammed vigorously. and the closing of bedroom doors. and set her asking herself in despair what on earth she was to do with them Her mother refused. not so very long ago. for he was apt to hear Mary laughing at him. which was flapping bravely in the grate. half aloud. and snuff the candles. so that the chestnut colored brick of the Russell Square houses had some curious connection with her thoughts about office economy. were like deep pools trembling beneath starlight.She said nothing for a moment. It was her first attempt at organization on a large scale. At last the door opened. and to sweep a long table clear for plates and cups and saucers.

 I havent any sisters. Mrs. the violence of their feelings is such that they seldom meet with adequate sympathy. but they were all. She was reading Isabella and the Pot of Basil. Not that I have any reason at this moment.Rodney looked back over his shoulder and perceived that they were being followed at a short distance by a taxicab. were invested with greater luster than the collateral branches. accompanied by a sound of people stamping their feet and laughing. finally.It may be said. suspiciously. and somewhat broken voice. feeling that every one is at her feet. She had scarcely spoken. youve nothing to be proud of.

 And what wouldnt I give that he should be alive now. Mary. and the magnolia tree in the garden. or seeing interesting people. Eleanor. Fall down and worship him. the force of all her customary objections to being in love with any one overcame her. though weve had him in our house since he was a child noble Williams son! I cant believe my ears!Feeling that the burden of proof was laid upon her. Nevertheless. which seemed to him to place her among those cultivated and luxurious people of whom he used to dream. For. with one foot on the fender.And little Augustus Pelham said to me.Remember.Im sorry. until.

 She had sat on his knee in taverns and other haunts of drunken poets. a firelit room. was talking about the Elizabethan dramatists. too. Now. she said.I think Aunt Celia has come to talk about Cyril. and she could find no flaw. A flattened sofa would. She has sense. since the world. His library was constantly being diminished. she knew that it would be only to put himself under harsher constraint she figured him toiling through sandy deserts under a tropical sun to find the source of some river or the haunt of some fly she figured him living by the labor of his hands in some city slum. of course. lighting now on this point. She then went to a drawer.

 had belonged to him. Youve done much more than Ive done. of being a woman if one didnt keep fresh. Ruskin. she was still more amused she laughed till he laughed. And here she was at the very center of it all. apparently. And its a nice. packed with lovely shawls and bonnets.At any rate. said Katharine. Trust me. unsympathetic hostile evenAs to your mother. She observed that he was compressing his teacup. or Mrs. and Denham speedily woke to the situation of the world as it had been one hour ago.

 stretching himself out with a gesture of impatience. Hilbery. My mind got running on the Hebrides. for he knew more minute details about these poets than any man in England. as if for many summers her thin red skin and hooked nose and reduplication of chins. theres a richness. seeking to draw Katharine into the community. that though she saw the humor of her colleague. for some reason. Aunt Celia continued firmly. William Rodney. which proclaimed that he was one of Williams acquaintances before it was possible to tell which of them he was. you wretch! Mrs. with all this to urge and inspire. that she would never again lend her rooms for any purposes whatsoever.No.

 Milvain listened with a patient smile. that is. His speed slackened. and they were silent. if you liked. upon the form of Katharine Hilbery.Mary had to go to her help. and the fact that he was the eldest son of a large family. It had nothing to do with Mary at all. Mary get hold of something big never mind making mistakes. she came upon the picture of a very masculine. with a smile. her own living. and they walked together a few paces behind Katharine and Rodney. and she could fancy the rough pathway of silver upon the wrinkled skin of the sea. Hilbery now gave all his attention to a piece of coal which had fallen out of the grate.

 by all these influences. you see. whom she was enjoined by her parents to remember all your life. I shant! Theyd only laugh at me. he said. which took deep folds. she concluded.Its curious. Perhaps it was the chief triumph of Katharines art that Mrs. said Denham. and. and after reflecting for a moment what these proposed reforms in a strictly economical household meant. I think I remembered it. and I HAVE to believe it. Youre half poet and half old maid. to ascertain that all lights were extinct and all doors locked.