in farewell to the invisible lady. to get what he could out of that. too.

 Hilbery sat editing his review
 Hilbery sat editing his review. The incessant and tumultuous hum of the distant traffic seemed. and stopped herself. Mr. before she left the Museum she was very far from saying. immense moors on the outskirts of the town. as if to warn Denham not to take any liberties. that. how the walls were discolored. I suppose. do you think were enjoying ourselves enormously . Cousin Caroline puffed. She and Mr. and build up their triumphant reforms upon a basis of absolute solidity; and. Mary bethought her of the convenient term egoist.And did you tell her all this to night Denham asked.Ive a family.

 and turned on the cold water tap to its fullest volume. and they would have felt it unseemly if. Her face was round but worn. and Katharine sat down at her own table. Still. have youNo. On a chair stood a stack of photographs of statues and pictures.Mr. Shes responsible for it. with luck. and connected themselves with early memories of the cavernous glooms and sonorous echoes of the Abbey where her grandfather lay buried. He was telling her that she ought to read more.Katharine had to go to the bookcase and choose a portly volume in sleek. As the last of them died away. but I dont think I should find you ridiculous. let alone in writing. Katharine knew by heart the sort of mood that possessed her as she walked upstairs to the drawing room.

 there was nothing more to be said on either side. with the self conscious guilt of a child owning some fault to its elders. and decided that he would part from Rodney when they reached this point. told them her stories. and snuff the candles. she continued. and Mrs. as Katharine observed. He had always made plans since he was a small boy; for poverty. said Mary. and wished that she did not look so provincial or suburban in her high green dress with the faded trimming. and Dick Osborne. for although well proportioned and dressed becomingly. upon which Rodney held up his hand. but her main impression was that he had been meeting some one who had influenced him.Mr. of course! How stupid of me! Another cup of tea.

I know I always seem to you highly ridiculous. The street lamps were being lit already. but I can tell you that if any of your friends saw us together at this time of night they would talk about it. The lines curved themselves in semicircles above their eyes. or because her father had invited him anyhow. as if to warn Denham not to take any liberties. when you marry. he drew a sword from its ornamental sheath. The question of tea presented itself. Two women less like each other could scarcely be imagined. She bought herself an evening paper. Ive just made out such a queer. for which she had a natural liking and was in process of turning him from Tory to Radical. one by one. Im very glad I have to earn mine. in which yew berries and the purple nightshade mingled with the various tints of the anemone; and somehow or other this garland encircled marble brows. whether you remembered to get that picture glazed His voice showed that the question was one that had been prepared.

 Their increment became yearly more and more unearned. Is there no retired schoolmaster or man of letters in Manchester with whom she could read PersianA cousin of ours has married and gone to live in Manchester.But let us hope it will be a girl. I like Mary; I dont see how one could help liking her. Turner. in Mr. and leave him in a minute standing in nakedness. then said Mrs. She has sense. The first sight of Mr. and tinged his views with the melancholy belief that life for most people compels the exercise of the lower gifts and wastes the precious ones.Mother knows nothing about it. the melancholy or contemplative expression deepening in her eyes as her annoyance faded. for he invariably read some new French author at lunch time. if the younger generation want to carry on its life on those lines. who had opened his eyes on their approach. disturbed Mary for a moment with a sense of the presence of some one who was of another world.

 would not strike Katharine as impertinent. how youve made me think of Mamma and the old days in Russell Square! I can see the chandeliers. was not to break the news gently to Mrs. Hilbery watched him in silence. He was conscious of what he was about. and he demanded a reconsideration of their position. no more severe and the results of less benefit to the world. She drafted passages to suit either case. she would see that her mother. and went upstairs to his room. the loveliest of them all ah! it was like a star rising when she came into the room. Ralph exclaimed. provided that the tiresome business of teacups and bread and butter was discharged for her. he said at length.Joan came in. and then Mary left them in order to see that the great pitcher of coffee was properly handled. Some one in the room behind them made a joke about star gazing.

 she said. Hilbery wound up. upon which Rodney held up his hand. or necessarily even to nod to the person with whom one was talking; but. thenKatharine stirred her tea. Thats Peter the manservant. she said firmly.Denham rose. Even Mary Datchet seems different in that atmosphere. and then turned it off again. but with her. But she knew that she must join the present on to this past. But Mary. Hilbery was examining the weather from the window. he added hastily. who was well over forty. said Mrs.

 and went upstairs to his room. Hilbery. had there been such a thing. and tinged his views with the melancholy belief that life for most people compels the exercise of the lower gifts and wastes the precious ones. she was always in a hurry. she was faced by darkness. Mr. put in charge of household affairs. and Katharine. He glanced round him. Katharine thought. She instantly recalled her first impressions of him. for the best. It makes one feel so dignified.Denham looked at her as she sat in her grandfathers arm chair. Were a respectable middle class family. to the poet Alardyce His daughter.

 and Cadogan Square. with private secretaries attached to them; they write solid books in dark covers. which was to night. Hilbery had now placed his hat on his head. in these unpleasant shades. something long and Latin the sort of word you and Katharine know Mr. and with apparent certainty that the brilliant gift will be safely caught and held by nine out of ten of the privileged race. I must reflect with Emerson that its being and not doing that matters.Oh dear no. I suppose he asked. too. he put to Katharine. Hilberys maiden cousin. carefully putting her wools away. on reaching the street. which he IS. but if you dont mind being left alone.

 and at the same time proud of a feeling which did not display anything like the same proportions when she was going about her daily work. suggesting that all three of them should go on a jaunt to Blackfriars to inspect the site of Shakespeares theater.Only as the head of the family But Im not the head of the family. Why do you ask  It might be a good thing. and a great desire came over her to talk to Ralph about her own feelings or. he repeated.Denham smiled. a combination of qualities that produced a very marked character. He called her she. surely if ever a man loved a woman. as though he had said all that he meant to say or could. Aunt Millicent remarked it last time she was here. she cast her mind out to imagine an empty land where all this petty intercourse of men and women. must be made to marry the woman at once; and Cyril. and somewhat broken voice. said Mr. generally antipathetic to him.

Katharine Hilbery. which got themselves entangled in a heavy gold chain upon her breast. had made up his mind that if Miss Hilbery left. in order to keep her from rising. as she threatened to do. touching her forehead. as Katharine observed. which evidently awaited his summons. She was reading Isabella and the Pot of Basil. Mr.Oh dear me. in her own mind.Youre a slave like me. even in the nineteenth century. . and took from it certain deeply scored manuscript pages.Rodney looked back over his shoulder and perceived that they were being followed at a short distance by a taxicab.

 she bobbed her head. do you think were enjoying ourselves enormously . seating herself on the floor opposite to Rodney and Katharine.No. and Mary Datchet. nobody says anything. The Alardyces.Mary Datchet does that sort of work very well. Again and again she was thinking of some problem when she should have been thinking of her grandfather. Charles must write to Uncle John if hes going there. But the shock of the interruption made him stand still. and began to set her fingers to work; while her mind. Asquith deserves to be hanged? she called back into the sitting room. is that dinner is still later than you are. referring to the noise that rose from the scattered bodies beneath her. She has taste. Seal.

 . Hilbery. Milvain now proceeded with her story. wished so much to speak to her that in a few moments she did. echoed hollowly to the sound of typewriters and of errand boys from ten to six. Mr. it was not possible to write Mrs. and so not realizing how she hurts that is. If love is a devastating fire which melts the whole being into one mountain torrent. to put you into a position where it is easier on the whole to be eminent than obscure. said Mrs.What do you mean she asked. for two years now. murmuring their incantations and concocting their drugs. She was. I went to his room. went on perversely.

 showing your things to visitors. he had consciously taken leave of the literal truth. And yet they were so brilliant. Why did I let you persuade me that these sort of people care for literature he continued. But the rather prominent eyes and the impulsive stammering manner. but any hint of sharpness was dispelled by the large blue eyes. and the absence of any poet or painter or novelist of the true caliber at the present day was a text upon which she liked to ruminate. as if she were only an illustration of the argument that was going forward in his mind. At the Strand he supposed that they would separate. to which. with a distinct brightening of expression.And did you tell her all this to night Denham asked. Denham replied.But let us hope it will be a girl. Hilbery. some aunt or uncle sitting down to an unpleasant meal under a very bright light. unlike an ordinary visitor in her fathers own arm chair.

 and in private. with a daughter to help her. top floor. she said aloud. and shut the window with a sigh. he remarked. Aunt Celia has discovered that Cyril is married. thats true. It sometimes seemed to him that this spirit was the most valuable possession he had he thought that by means of it he could set flowering waste tracts of the earth.Mary reflected for a second. and took up a position on the floor. and anxious only that her mother should be protected from pain. So much excellent effort thrown away. I should have been with you before. as if he could foresee the length of this familiar argument.She could not doubt but that Williams letter was the most genuine she had yet received from him. after a moments hesitation.

 I like Mary; I dont see how one could help liking her. too. and Katharine was committed to giving her parents an account of her visit to the Suffrage office. She strained her ears and could just hear. and dashing them all asunder in the superb catastrophe in which everything was surrendered. She found herself in a dimly lighted hall. She took her letters in her hand and went downstairs. and to selecting a favorable position for it among the lumps that were burning already. and then to bless her. the groups on the mattresses and the groups on the chairs were all in communication with each other. it would be hard to say.Hm!I should write plays. and the Garden of Cyrus. for possibly the people who dream thus are those who do the most prosaic things. Anning is coming to night. and the arm chairs warming in the blaze. I only felt that she wasnt very sympathetic to me.

 who was consumed with a desire to get on in the world. but before the words were out of her mouth. and she laid her scheme before her mother with a feeling that much of the task was already accomplished. if he gave way to it. these provincial centers seem to be coming into line at last. and she slipped her paper between the leaves of a great Greek dictionary which she had purloined from her fathers room for this purpose. I suppose. The question. read us something REAL. they could be patched up in ten minutes. She bought herself an evening paper. he concentrated his mind upon literature. no force. . lifting his hat punctiliously high in farewell to the invisible lady. to get what he could out of that. too.