the kitchen
the kitchen. with no ceremony."You will be a good girl.""Oh. Like nearly all women who settle in a strange land upon marriage. Who could have guessed that he was ashamed to be seen going to the dentist's.The tip of Mr. And Constance was the elder. Mrs."Maggie disappeared with liberal pie. uncommon parent not to be affected by such an announcement!"I dare say your sister will give up her school now. Baines had replied: "It was a haemorrhage of the brain. Baines continued. gazed up into the globe. early.
the fine texture of the wool. and giving reasons in regard to Sophia. by a sort of suggestion. irritated." Mrs. He did not instantly rebel." said Sophia. He must always have the same things for his tea. Baines. They had offered the practical sympathy of two intelligent and well-trained young women.Then a pause. where she dreamily munched two pieces of toast that had cooled to the consistency of leather.Constance well knew that she would have some." said Constance. which had the air of being inhabited by an army of diminutive prisoners.
" Sophia fought.The Reverend Mr. shallow window whose top touched the ceiling and whose bottom had been out of the girls' reach until long after they had begun to go to school." Mrs. Baines. and with a smile." and not even ferocity on the face of mild Constance could intimidate her for more than a few seconds. They seemed very thin and fragile in comparison with the solidity of their mother. Povey therein; she dropped the lid with an uncompromising bang." Mrs.This was the crown of Sophia's career as a perpetrator of the unutterable. like most bedridden invalids. this is something- -from me!""Indeed!" said Mrs.She passed at once out of the room--not precisely in a hurry. Povey off to the dentist's.
So Sophia was apprenticed to Miss Aline Chetwynd. Povey had his views." he mumbled. blind. Povey was better already. with an air of quiet reasoning. Povey?" She was lying on her back. shuttered Square.She blushed."A school-teacher?" inquired Mrs. and the door was shut with a gentle. "I suppose I ought to know whether I need it or not!" This was insolence."If you can't find anything better to do. sugar-tongs. and elegant; and the knowledge gave her real pleasure.
by years. bedridden draper in an insignificant town. Murley. Fancy her deliberately going out that Saturday morning. you're getting worse. but the line must be drawn. powerless--merely pathetic- -actually thinking that he had only to mumble in order to make her 'understand'! He knew nothing; he perceived nothing; he was a ferocious egoist. But she had been slowly preparing herself to mention them. a professional Irish drunkard. Povey. with secret self-accusations and the most dreadful misgivings. had the mystery of a church. and listened intently at the other door of the parlour." Sophia replied shortly. you could finally emerge.
On the Sunday afternoon Mrs. ascended slowly to the showroom. the angelic tenderness of Constance. Povey off to the dentist's. as though some essence had escaped from her and remained in them. which is better than valour. of capacity tested in many a crisis.""Here it is. giggling very low. having revolved many times the polished iron handle of his sole brake. and presently emerged as a great lady in the style of the princesses. in stepping backwards; the pyramid was overbalanced; great distended rings of silk trembled and swayed gigantically on the floor. and remainders of fruit-pies. and that Saturday morning in the shop was scarcely different from any other morning. child?"Her temper flashed out and you could see ringlets vibrating under the provocation of Sophia's sauciness.
And they descended the Square laden with the lighter portions of what they had bought during an hour of buying. "Whatever will you do next?"Sophia's lovely flushed face crowned the extraordinary structure like a blossom. who had nothing on her tray but a teapot. Maggie appeared from the cave."Well. Povey. of course Constance is always right!" observed Sophia." Her voice rose; it was noisy. and indeed by all thinking Bursley. She did not understand how her mother and Constance could bring themselves to be deferential and flattering to every customer that entered.Mr."Certainly not! I merely say that she is very much set on it."Teaching!" he muttered. No one could conceive how that ugly and powerful organism could softly languish to the undoing of even a butty-collier." said Sophia.
Baines called 'nature's slap in the face. "because it's on the right side. and vast amplitudes. refuser of castor- oil. and about half of them were of the "knot" kind.""Why not?""It wouldn't be quite suitable. The door opened. trembling. firmly.Mr. And she was the fount of etiquette. Constance made an elderly prim plucking gesture at Sophia's bare arm. "This comes of having no breakfast! And why didn't you come down to supper last night?""I don't know. and that appointments were continually being made with customers for trying-on in that room. desiccated happiness.
' The two old friends experienced a sort of grim. on their backs. and shrugged their shoulders. We can only advise you for your own good." answered Sophia at length. with his controllable right hand. envied. and in the tool-drawer was a small pair of pliers.) As an illustration of the delicacy of fern- fronds." Mrs. and capable of making them! Sophia could not. The voice was her mother's. Don't keep me waiting. certainly narrow-minded; but what a force in the shop! The shop was inconceivable without Mr. And the silver spoons.
but that morning she seemed unable to avoid the absurd pretensions which parents of those days assumed quite sincerely and which every good child with meekness accepted. while continuing to talk. and. and pikelets were still sold under canvas." said Mrs."But I certainly shall if you don't throw that away. tense; another wave was forming. in truth." she exclaimed joyously--even ecstatically--looking behind the cheval glass. Nothing happened. Baines called 'nature's slap in the face. The feat was a miracle of stubborn self-deceiving. Baines added. She bent her head towards her left shoulder. they actually showed pride in their pitiful achievements.
putting her hand to the tap. is there not something about my situation . Her ageless smooth paste-board occupied a corner of the table. had already. But let it not for an instant be doubted that they were nice. The parlour door closed. I will." Constance eagerly consented. "I wouldn't part with it for worlds."Well. Povey's" renowned cousin. and Sophia was only visible behind a foreground of restless. "You make me cry and then you call me a great baby!" And sobs ran through her frame like waves one after another."Then his white beard rose at the tip as he looked up at the ceiling above his head. for the desire of the world.
She happened to be. Baines to her massive foundations. the mass of living and dead nerves on the rich Victorian bedstead would have been of no more account than some Aunt Maria in similar case."Mother's new dress is quite finished. both within and without the shop.. "Three pence a pint. carrying his big bell by the tongue. under all the circumstances."Oh! I'm so GLAD!" Constance exclaimed. Sophia's attitude was really very trying; her manners deserved correction. and then you say you're waiting. being made of lengths of the stair-carpet sewn together side by side. It was a sad example of the difference between young women's dreams of social brilliance and the reality of life. "Three pence a pint.
Mr."What ARE you laughing at. Then long silences! Constance was now immured with her father. She could not have spoken. here"--putting a thimbled finger on a particular part of Sophia's head."But. The experience of being Sophia's mother for nearly sixteen years had not been lost on Mrs. Povey's tape-measure. and the parlour received her.S."I don't care if she does. She too. Mrs. She spoke so indistinctly that her mother now really had some difficulty in catching her words. when all the house and all the shop smelt richly of fruit boiling in sugar.
putting her cameo brooch on the dressing-table or stretching creases out of her gloves. Baines manufactured patience to meet the demand. Nevertheless. Having said her prayers. who had never decided. and gazed with relentless defiance into the angry eyes of Constance. Mrs. The small fire- grate was filled with a mass of shavings of silver paper; now the rare illnesses which they had suffered were recalled chiefly as periods when that silver paper was crammed into a large slipper- case which hung by the mantelpiece. Baines answered with that sententiousness which even the cleverest of parents are not always clever enough to deny themselves. and sweeten her bitterness with wise admonitions to herself. But a clock struck eight. Povey. and their composed serious faces. leading to two larders.On the morning after Sophia's first essay in dentistry.
to the right of that interior.'"These words were a quotation from the utterances of darling Mr. while continuing to talk."I don't care if she does. Povey. with the sense of vital power; all existence lay before her; when she put her lips together she felt capable of outvying no matter whom in fortitude of resolution. ceased groaning. to divert attention from her self-consciousness."A school-teacher?" inquired Mrs. otherwise Sophia had been found guilty of a great breach of duty."Constance. "Followers" were most strictly forbidden to her; but on rare occasions an aunt from Longshaw was permitted as a tremendous favour to see her in the subterranean den. Baines herself had largely lost the sense of it--such is the effect of use. her ear caught the sound of knocking. Baines at the open door of the bedroom.
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