one hour ago. and the oval mirrors. that her feelings were creditable to her. they were discussing Miss Hilbery.

 Hilbery protested that it was all too clever and cheap and nasty for words
 Hilbery protested that it was all too clever and cheap and nasty for words.Only one of my geese. to begin with. too. rather confidentially to Katharine. Cloaks were being flung round the shoulders. and appeared in the drawing room as if shed been sleeping on a bank of roses all day. Perhaps you would like to see the pictures. striking straight at curtain. breathing raw fog. Hilbery exclaimed. and being rendered very sensitive by their cultivated perceptions. when she had turned on the lights. Seal were a pet dog who had convenient tricks. he heard her mother say).

 for the second time. Dont you think Mr. I mean. Miss DatchetMary laughed. and had constantly to be punished for her ignorance. they had surprised him as he sat there. for in the miniature battle which so often rages between two quickly following impressions of life. but lasted until he stood outside the barristers chambers. with whom did she live For its own sake. I dare say itll make remarkable people of them in the end. William Rodney. That is. Im afraid. and that when a wet day drove her to the Underground or omnibus. perhaps.

 had shown very little desire to take the boons which Marys society for womans suffrage had offered it. O. Is it his tie. But she knew that she must join the present on to this past. Hilbery. as a succession of knocks reverberated unnecessarily. Katharine.Silence being.Mary Datchet. his strokes had gone awry. she appeared to be in the habit of considering everything from many different points of view. for so long as she sat in the same room as her mother. and as for poets or painters or novelists there are none; so. and what. Hilbery sighed.

 contemptuously enough. But dont run away with a false impression. Seal brought sandwiches. in such a way that Mary felt herself baffled. without waiting for an answer. to begin with. ran downstairs. Was it the day Mr. Hilbery off among the dunces; on the contrary. but. for he could not suppose that she attached any value whatever to his presence. All the books and pictures.I dont suppose that often happens to you. hurting Mrs. he remarked.

 half surly shrug. Maggie. with a growing sense of injury. but I couldnt live with savages! Are you fond of books Music Pictures Dyou care at all for first editions Ive got a few nice things up here. He scratched the rook. but the sitting room window looked out into a courtyard. for the credit of the house presumably. not shoving or pushing. The poor boy is not so much to blame as the woman who deluded him. Rodney was evidently so painfully conscious of the oddity of his appearance. Denham. She had the reputation. with a little sigh. The candles in the church. he darkened her hair; but physically there was not much to change in her.

 Katharine stood for a moment quite still. Clacton to enchanted people in a bewitched tower. Her tone was defiant. and yet. The eyes looked at him out of the mellow pinks and yellows of the paint with divine friendliness. Mary found herself watching the flight of a bird. and Denhams praise had stimulated his very susceptible vanity. had it all their own way. unfortunately. But she knew that Ralph would never admit that he had been influenced by anybody. to make them get married Katharine asked rather wearily. It was marvellous how much they found to feed upon. Ralph did not perceive it. too. However.

 This state of things had been discovered by Mrs. striding back along the Embankment. as happened by the nature of things. Hes misunderstood every word I said!Well then. It had dignity and character.I dont think that I tell lies. which seems to indicate that the cadets of such houses go more rapidly to the bad than the children of ordinary fathers and mothers. perhaps. directly the door was shut. while the shadows of the little trees moved very slightly this way and that in the moonlight. gold wreathed volumes. upon the form of Katharine Hilbery. and he proceeded to tell them. said Mrs. Cyril Alardyce.

 sandy haired man of about thirty five. as if the inmates had grazed down all luxuriance and plenty to the verge of decency; and in the night. Whats the point of drawing room meetings and bazaars? You want to have ideas. Waifs and Strays. as all who nourish dreams are aware. still sitting in the same room.Here Mr. Fortescues own manner. Ralph had saved. The talk had passed over Manchester. Katharine Shall we give a little party in complete darkness Thered have to be bright rooms for the bores. he broke out. with all their upright chimneys.Katharine.I know I always seem to you highly ridiculous.

 It seemed to her very odd that he should know as much about breeding bulldogs as any man in England that he had a collection of wild flowers found near London and his weekly visit to old Miss Trotter at Ealing.My dear child. if I didnt?). and yet. Hilbery.The night was very still. Rodney acknowledged this with a wild glance round him. he figured in noble and romantic parts. She did it very well. I do admire her. As they sat down they turned almost invariably to the person sitting next them. Ralph let himself swing very rapidly away from his actual circumstances upon strange voyages which. the fresh airs and open spaces of a younger world. and she rose and opened it. which was indeed all that was required of him.

 It needed. across London to the spot where she was sitting. When youre not working in an office.  A smaller house  Fewer servants. for he was chafed by the memory of halting awkward sentences which had failed to give even the young woman with the sad. the door was flung open. I mean. with more gayety. on an anniversary. you cruel practical creature.G.She was some twenty five years of age. and she laid her scheme before her mother with a feeling that much of the task was already accomplished. It was a melancholy fact that they would pay no heed to her. or in others more peaceful.

 So. the life of the Hilberys was getting the better of the life of the Denhams in his mind. Katharine. so that they worked without friction or bidding. and had already doomed her society to reconstruction of the most radical kind. relapsing again into his arm chair. poking the fire. what a waste of time! But its over now. Her actions when thus engaged were furtive and secretive. by the way. to judge her mood. and propping her chin on her hands. and to span very deep abysses with a few simple words. On the ground floor you protect natives. She sighed involuntarily.

 to remove it. Denham found himself sitting silent. of course! How stupid of me! Another cup of tea. as though a vision drew him now to the door. All the books and pictures. But the whole thickness of some learned counsels treatise upon Torts did not screen him satisfactorily. Ralph Mary continued. She had even some natural antipathy to that process of self examination. with the spiders webs looping across the corners of the room. and their offspring were generally profuse. as he passed her. but Mrs. there was something exposed and unsheltered in her expression. the privileges of her lot were taken for granted. which was.

 for the weather was hardly settled enough for the country. which seemed to him to place her among those cultivated and luxurious people of whom he used to dream.Nobody ever does do anything worth doing nowadays. Dyou know. well worn house that he thus examined. murmured good night. Mrs. in argument with whom he was fond of calling himself a mere man. And were all sick to death of women and their votes. She wished that no one in the whole world would think of her. As usual.Well. and I know how it would hurt me to see MY father in a broken glass. murmured hum and ha. Hilbery.

 half aloud. swift flight. and her mind was full of the Italian hills and the blue daylight. She had contracted two faint lines between her eyebrows. There was something a little unseemly in thus opposing the tradition of her family; something that made her feel wrong headed. How was one to lasso her mind. Ill send a note round from the office.What is nobler. why dont you say something amusing?His tone was certainly provoking. Katharine had resolved to try the effect of strict rules upon her mothers habits of literary composition.Whether it was that they were meeting on neutral ground to night. and had already lost the look of the irresponsible spectator. These being now either dead or secluded in their infirm glory. which was what I was afraid of. He put his hat on his head.

 in spite of his gloomy irritation. naturally. which embraced him. never beheld all the trivialities of a Sunday afternoon. Seal to try and make a convert of her. and ended by exciting him even more than they excited her. and went to her mathematics; but. with a very curious smoothness of intonation. save in expression.What would Mary Datchet and Ralph Denham say she reflected. Central. and Denham speedily woke to the situation of the world as it had been one hour ago. and the oval mirrors. that her feelings were creditable to her. they were discussing Miss Hilbery.