thenI
have
a
sister
,
and
you
haven’t
,
have
you
?
”
“
No
,
I
haven’t
any
sisters
.
”
“
You
are
writing
a
life
of
your
grandfather
?
”
Mary
pursued
.
Katharine
seemed
instantly
to
be
confronted
by
some
familiar
thought
from
which
she
wished
to
escape
.
She
replied
,
“
Yes
,
I
am
helping
my
mother
,
”
in
such
a
way
that
Mary
felt
herself
baffled
,
and
put
back
again
into
the
position
in
which
she
had
been
at
the
beginning
of
their
talk
.
It
seemed
to
her
that
Katharine
possessed
a
curious
power
of
drawing
near
and
receding
,
which
sent
alternate
emotions
through
her
far
more
quickly
than
was
usual
,
and
kept
her
in
a
condition
of
curious
alertness
.
Desiring
to
classify
her
,
Mary
bethought
her
of
the
convenient
term
“
egoist
.
”
“
She’s
an
egoist
,
”
she
said
to
herself
,
and
stored
that
word
up
to
give
to
Ralph
one
day
when
,
as
it
would
certainly
fall
out
,
they
were
discussing
Miss
Hilbery
.
“
Heavens
,
what
a
mess
there’ll
be
to-morrow
morning
!
”
Katharine
exclaimed
.
“
I
hope
you
don’t
sleep
in
this
room
,
Miss
Datchet
?
”
Mary
laughed
.
“
What
are
you
laughing
at
?
”
Katharine
demanded
.
“
I
won’t
tell
you
.
”
“
Let
me
guess
.
You
were
laughing
because
you
thought
I’d
changed
the
conversation
?
”
“
No.
”
“
Because
you
think
—
”
She
paused
.
“
If
you
want
to
know
,
I
was
laughing
at
the
way
you
said
Miss
Datchet
.
”
“
Mary
,
then
.
Mary
,
Mary
,
Mary
.
”
So
saying
,
Katharine
drew
back
the
curtain
in
order
,
perhaps
,
to
conceal
the
momentary
flush
of
pleasure
which
is
caused
by
coming
perceptibly
nearer
to
another
person
.
“
Mary
Datchet
,
”
said
Mary
.
“
It’s
not
such
an
imposing
name
as
Katharine
Hilbery
,
I’m
afraid
.
”
They
both
looked
out
of
the
window
,
first
up
at
the
hard
silver
moon
,
stationary
among
a
hurry
of
little
grey-blue
clouds
,
and
then
down
upon
the
roofs
of
London
,
with
all
their
upright
chimneys
,
and
then
below
them
at
the
empty
moonlit
pavement
of
the
street
,
upon
which
the
joint
of
each
paving-stone
was
clearly
marked
out
.
Mary
then
saw
Katharine
raise
her
eyes
again
to
the
moon
,
with
a
contemplative
look
in
them
,
as
though
she
were
setting
that
moon
against
the
moon
of
other
nights
,
held
in
memory
.
Some
one
in
the
room
behind
them
made
a
joke
about
star-gazing
,
which
destroyed
their
pleasure
in
it
,
and
they
looked
back
into
the
room
again
.
Ralph
had
been
watching
for
this
moment
,
and
he
instantly
produced
his
sentence
.
“
I
wonder
,
Miss
Hilbery
,
whether
you
remembered
to
get
that
picture
glazed
?
”
His
voice
showed
that
the
question
was
one
that
had
been
prepared
.
“
Oh
,
you
idiot
!
”
Mary
exclaimed
,
very
nearly
aloud
,
with
a
sense
that
Ralph
had
said
something
very
stupid
.
So
,
after
three
lessons
in
Latin
grammar
,
one
might
correct
a
fellow
student
,
whose
knowledge
did
not
embrace
the
ablative
of
“
mensa
.
”
“
Picture
—
what
picture
?
”
Katharine
asked
.
“
Oh
,
at
home
,
you
mean
—
that
Sunday
afternoon
.
Was
it
the
day
Mr.
Fortescue
came
?
Yes
,
I
think
I
remembered
it
.
”
The
three
of
them
stood
for
a
moment
awkwardly
silent
,
and
then
Mary
left
them
in
order
to
see
that
the
great
pitcher
of
coffee
was
properly
handled
,
for
beneath
all
her
education
she
preserved
the
anxieties
of
one
who
owns
china
.
Ralph
could
think
of
nothing
further
to
say
;
but
could
one
have
stripped
off
his
mask
of
flesh
,
one
would
have
seen
that
his
will-power
was
rigidly
set
upon
a
single
object
—
that
Miss
Hilbery
should
obey
him
.
He
wished
her
to
stay
there
until
,
by
some
measures
not
yet
apparent
to
him
,
he
had
conquered
her
interest
.
These
states
of
mind
transmit
themselves
very
often
without
the
use
of
language
,
and
it
was
evident
to
Katharine
that
this
young
man
had
fixed
his
mind
upon
her
.
She
instantly
recalled
her
first
impressions
of
him
,
and
saw
herself
again
proffering
family
relics
.
She
reverted
to
the
state
of
mind
in
which
he
had
left
her
that
Sunday
afternoon
.
She
supposed
that
he
judged
her
very
severely
.
She
argued
naturally
that
,
if
this
were
the
case
,
the
burden
of
the
conversation
should
rest
with
him
.
But
she
submitted
so
far
as
to
stand
perfectly
still
,
her
eyes
upon
the
opposite
wall
,
and
her
lips
very
nearly
closed
,
though
the
desire
to
laugh
stirred
them
slightly
.
“
You
know
the
names
of
the
stars
,
I
suppose
?
”
Denham
remarked
,
and
from
the
tone
of
his
voice
one
might
have
thought
that
he
grudged
Katharine
the
knowledge
he
attributed
to
her
.
She
kept
her
voice
steady
with
some
difficulty
.
“
I
know
how
to
find
the
Pole
star
if
I’m
lost
.
”
“
I
don’t
suppose
that
often
happens
to
you
.
”
“
No.
Nothing
interesting
ever
happens
to
me
,
”
she
said
.
“
I
think
you
make
a
system
of
saying
disagreeable
things
,
Miss
Hilbery
,
”
he
broke
out
,
again
going
further
than
he
meant
to
.
“
I
suppose
it’s
one
of
the
characteristics
of
your
class
.
They
never
talk
seriously
to
their
inferiors
.
”
Whether
it
was
that
they
were
meeting
on
neutral
ground
to-night
,
or
whether
the
carelessness
of
an
old
grey
coat
that
Denham
wore
gave
an
ease
to
his
bearing
that
he
lacked
in
conventional
dress
,
Katharine
certainly
felt
no
impulse
to
consider
him
outside
the
particular
set
in
which
she
lived
.
“
In
what
sense
are
you
my
inferior
?
”
she
asked
,
looking
at
him
gravely
,
as
though
honestly
searching
for
his
meaning
.
The
look
gave
him
great
pleasure
.
For
the
first
time
he
felt
himself
on
perfectly
equal
terms
with
a
woman
whom
he
wished
to
think
well
of
him
,
although
he
could
not
have
explained
why
her
opinion
of
him
mattered
one
way
or
another
.
Perhaps
,
after
all
,
he
only
wanted
to
have
something
of
her
to
take
home
to
think
about
.
But
he
was
not
destined
to
profit
by
his
advantage
.
“
I
don’t
think
I
understand
what
you
mean
,
”
Katharine
repeated
,
and
then
she
was
obliged
to
stop
and
answer
some
one
who
wished
to
know
whether
she
would
buy
a
ticket
for
an
opera
from
them
,
at
a
reduction
.
Indeed
,
the
temper
of
the
meeting
was
now
unfavorable
to
separate
conversation
;
it
had
become
rather
debauched
and
hilarious
,
and
people
who
scarcely
knew
each
other
were
making
use
of
Christian
names
with
apparent
cordiality
,
and
had
reached
that
kind
of
gay
tolerance
and
general
friendliness
which
human
beings
in
England
only
attain
after
sitting
together
for
three
hours
or
so
,
and
the
first
cold
blast
in
the
air
of
the
street
freezes
them
into
isolation
once
more
.
Cloaks
were
being
flung
round
the
shoulders
,
hats
swiftly
pinned
to
the
head
;
and
Denham
had
the
mortification
of
seeing
Katharine
helped
to
prepare
herself
by
the
ridiculous
Rodney
.
It
was
not
the
convention
of
the
meeting
to
say
good-bye
,
or
necessarily
even
to
nod
to
the
person
with
whom
one
was
talking
;
but
,
nevertheless
,
Denham
was
disappointed
by
the
completeness
with
which
Katharine
parted
from
him
,
without
any
attempt
to
finish
her
sentence
.
She
left
with
Rodney
.
CHAPTER
V
Denham
had
no
conscious
intention
of
following
Katharine
,
but
,
seeing
her
depart
,
he
took
his
hat
and
ran
rather
more
quickly
down
the
stairs
than
he
would
have
done
if
Katharine
had
not
been
in
front
of
him
.
He
overtook
a
friend
of
his
,
by
name
Harry
Sandys
,
who
was
going
the
same
way
,
and
they
walked
together
a
few
paces
behind
Katharine
and
Rodney
.
The
night
was
very
still
,
and
on
such
nights
,
when
the
traffic
thins
away
,
the
walker
becomes
conscious
of
the
moon
in
the
street
,
as
if
the
curtains
of
the
sky
had
been
drawn
apart
,
and
the
heaven
lay
bare
,
as
it
does
in
the
country
.
The
air
was
softly
cool
,
so
that
people
who
had
been
sitting
talking
in
a
crowd
found
it
pleasant
to
walk
a
little
before
deciding
to
stop
an
omnibus
or
encounter
light
again
in
an
underground
railway
.
Sandys
,
who
was
a
barrister
with
a
philosophic
tendency
,
took
out
his
pipe
,
lit
it
,
murmured
“
hum
”
and
“
ha
,
”
and
was
silent
.
The
couple
in
front
of
them
kept
their
distance
accurately
,
and
appeared
,
so
far
as
Denham
could
judge
by
the
way
they
turned
towards
each
other
,
to
be
talking
very
constantly
.
He
observed
that
when
a
pedestrian
going
the
opposite
way
forced
them
to
part
they
came
together
again
directly
afterwards
.
Without
intending
to
watch
them
he
never
quite
lost
sight
of
the
yellow
scarf
twisted
round
Katharine’s
head
,
or
the
light
overcoat
which
made
Rodney
look
fashionable
among
the
crowd
.
At
the
Strand
he
supposed
that
they
would
separate
,
but
instead
they
crossed
the
road
,
and
took
their
way
down
one
of
the
narrow
passages
which
lead
through
ancient
courts
to
the
river
.
Among
the
crowd
of
people
in
the
big
thoroughfares
Rodney
seemed
merely
to
be
lending
Katharine
his
escort
,
but
now
,
when
passengers
were
rare
and
the
footsteps
of
the
couple
were
distinctly
heard
in
the
silence
,
Denham
could
not
help
picturing
to
himself
some
change
in
their
conversation
.
The
effect
of
the
light
and
shadow
,
which
seemed
to
increase
their
height
,
was
to
make
them
mysterious
and
significant
,
so
that
Denham
had
no
feeling
of
irritation
with
Katharine
,
but
rather
a
half-dreamy
acquiescence
in
the
course
of
the
world
.
Yes
,
she
did
very
well
to
dream
about
—
but
Sandys
had
suddenly
begun
to
talk
.
He
was
a
solitary
man
who
had
made
his
friends
at
college
and
always
addressed
them
as
if
they
were
still
undergraduates
arguing
in
his
room
,
though
many
months
or
even
years
had
passed
in
some
cases
between
the
last
sentence
and
the
present
one
.
The
method
was
a
little
singular
,
but
very
restful
,
for
it
seemed
to
ignore
completely
all
accidents
of
human
life
,
and
to
span
very
deep
abysses
with
a
few
simple
words
.
On
this
occasion
he
began
,
while
they
waited
for
a
minute
on
the
edge
of
the
Strand
:
“
I
hear
that
Bennett
has
given
up
his
theory
of
truth
.
”
Denham
returned
a
suitable
answer
,
and
he
proceeded
to
explain
how
this
decision
had
been
arrived
at
,
and
what
changes
it
involved
in
the
philosophy
which
they
both
accepted
.
Meanwhile
Katharine
and
Rodney
drew
further
ahead
,
and
Denham
kept
,
if
that
is
the
right
expression
for
an
involuntary
action
,
one
filament
of
his
mind
upon
them
,
while
with
the
rest
of
his
intelligence
he
sought
to
understand
what
Sandys
was
saying
.
As
they
passed
through
the
courts
thus
talking
,
Sandys
laid
the
tip
of
his
stick
upon
one
of
the
stones
forming
a
time-worn
arch
,
and
struck
it
meditatively
two
or
three
times
in
order
to
illustrate
something
very
obscure
about
the
complex
nature
of
one’s
apprehension
of
facts
.
During
the
pause
which
this
necessitated
,
Katharine
and
Rodney
turned
the
corner
and
disappeared
.
For
a
moment
Denham
stopped
involuntarily
in
his
sentence
,
and
continued
it
with
a
sense
of
having
lost
something
.
Unconscious
that
they
were
observed
,
Katharine
and
Rodney
had
come
out
on
the
Embankment
.
When
they
had
crossed
the
road
,
Rodney
slapped
his
hand
upon
the
stone
parapet
above
the
river
and
exclaimed
:
“
I
promise
I
won’t
say
another
word
about
it
,
Katharine
!
But
do
stop
a
minute
and
look
at
the
moon
upon
the
water
.
”
Katharine
paused
,
looked
up
and
down
the
river
,
and
snuffed
the
air
.
“
I’m
sure
one
can
smell
the
sea
,
with
the
wind
blowing
this
way
,
”
she
said
.
They
stood
silent
for
a
few
moments
while
the
river
shifted
in
its
bed
,
and
the
silver
and
red
lights
which
were
laid
upon
it
were
torn
by
the
current
and
joined
together
again
.
Very
far
off
up
the
river
a
steamer
hooted
with
its
hollow
voice
of
unspeakable
melancholy
,
as
if
from
the
heart
of
lonely
mist-shrouded
voyagings
.
“
Ah
!
”
Rodney
cried
,
striking
his
hand
once
more
upon
the
balustrade
,
“
why
can’t
one
say
how
beautiful
it
all
is
?
Why
am
I
condemned
for
ever
,
Katharine
,
to
feel
what
I
can’t
express
?
And
the
things
I
can
give
there’s
no
use
in
my
giving
.
Trust
me
,
Katharine
,
”
he
added
hastily
,
“
I
won’t
speak
of
it
again
.
But
in
the
presence
of
beauty
—
look
at
the
iridescence
round
the
moon
!
—
one
feels
—
one
feels
—
Perhaps
if
you
married
me
—
I’m
half
a
poet
,
you
see
,
and
I
can’t
pretend
not
to
feel
what
I
do
feel
.
If
I
could
write
—
ah
,
that
would
be
another
matter
.
I
shouldn’t
bother
you
to
marry
me
then
,
Katharine
.
”
He
spoke
these
disconnected
sentences
rather
abruptly
,
with
his
eyes
alternately
upon
the
moon
and
upon
the
stream
.
“
But
for
me
I
suppose
you
would
recommend
marriage
?
”
said
Katharine
,
with
her
eyes
fixed
on
the
moon
.
“
Certainly
I
should
.
Not
for
you
only
,
but
for
all
women
.
Why
,
you’re
nothing
at
all
without
it
;
you’re
only
half
alive
;
using
only
half
your
faculties
;
you
must
feel
that
for
yourself
.
That
is
why
—
”
Here
he
stopped
himself
,
and
they
began
to
walk
slowly
along
the
Embankment
,
the
moon
fronting
them
.
“
With
how
sad
steps
she
climbs
the
sky
,
How
silently
and
with
how
wan
a
face
,
”
Rodney
quoted
.
“
I’ve
been
told
a
great
many
unpleasant
things
about
myself
to-night
,
”
Katharine
stated
,
without
attending
to
him
.
“
Mr.
Denham
seems
to
think
it
his
mission
to
lecture
me
,
though
I
hardly
know
him
.
By
the
way
,
William
,
you
know
him
;
tell
me
,
what
is
he
like
?
”
William
drew
a
deep
sigh
.
“
We
may
lecture
you
till
we’re
blue
in
the
face
—
”
“
Yes
—
but
what’s
he
like
?
”
“
And
we
write
sonnets
to
your
eyebrows
,
you
cruel
practical
creature
.
Denham
?
”
he
added
,
as
Katharine
remained
silent
.
“
A
good
fellow
,
I
should
think
.
He
cares
,
naturally
,
for
the
right
sort
of
things
,
I
expect
.
But
you
mustn’t
marry
him
,
though
.
He
scolded
you
,
did
he
—
what
did
he
say
?
”
“
What
happens
with
Mr.
Denham
is
this
:
He
comes
to
tea
.
I
do
all
I
can
to
put
him
at
his
ease
.
He
merely
sits
and
scowls
at
me
.
Then
I
show
him
our
manuscripts
.
At
this
he
becomes
really
angry
,
and
tells
me
I’ve
no
business
to
call
myself
a
middle-class
woman
.
So
we
part
in
a
huff
;
and
next
time
we
meet
,
which
was
to-night
,
he
walks
straight
up
to
me
,
and
says
,
‘Go
to
the
Devil
!
’
That’s
the
sort
of
behavior
my
mother
complains
of
.
I
want
to
know
,
what
does
it
mean
?
”
She
paused
and
,
slackening
her
steps
,
looked
at
the
lighted
train
drawing
itself
smoothly
over
Hungerford
Bridge
.
“
It
means
,
I
should
say
,
that
he
finds
you
chilly
and
unsympathetic
.
”
Katharine
laughed
with
round
,
separate
notes
of
genuine
amusement
.
“
It’s
time
I
jumped
into
a
cab
and
hid
myself
in
my
own
house
,
”
she
exclaimed
.
“
Would
your
mother
object
to
my
being
seen
with
you
?
No
one
could
possibly
recognize
us
,
could
they
?
”
Rodney
inquired
,
with
some
solicitude
.
Katharine
looked
at
him
,
and
perceiving
that
his
solicitude
was
genuine
,
she
laughed
again
,
but
with
an
ironical
note
in
her
laughter
.
“
You
may
laugh
,
Katharine
,
but
I
can
tell
you
that
if
any
of
your
friends
saw
us
together
at
this
time
of
night
they
would
talk
about
it
,
and
I
should
find
that
very
disagreeable
.
But
why
do
you
laugh
?
”
“
I
don’t
know
.
Because
you’re
such
a
queer
mixture
,
I
think
.
You’re
half
poet
and
half
old
maid
.
”
“
I
know
I
always
seem
to
you
highly
ridiculous
.
But
I
can’t
help
having
inherited
certain
traditions
and
trying
to
put
them
into
practice
.
”
“
Nonsense
,
William
.
You
may
come
of
the
oldest
family
in
Devonshire
,
but
that’s
no
reason
why
you
should
mind
being
seen
alone
with
me
on
the
Embankment
.
”
“
I’m
ten
years
older
than
you
are
,
Katharine
,
and
I
know
more
of
the
world
than
you
do
.
”
“
Very
well
.
Leave
me
and
go
home
.
”
Rodney
looked
back
over
his
shoulder
and
perceived
that
they
were
being
followed
at
a
short
distance
by
a
taxicab
,
which
evidently
awaited
his
summons
.
Katharine
saw
it
,
too
,
and
exclaimed
:
“
Don’t
call
that
cab
for
me
,
William
.
I
shall
walk
.
”
“
Nonsense
,
Katharine
;
you’ll
do
nothing
of
the
kind
.
It’s
nearly
twelve
o’clock
,
and
we’ve
walked
too
far
as
it
is
.
”
Katharine
laughed
and
walked
on
so
quickly
that
both
Rodney
and
the
taxicab
had
to
increase
their
pace
to
keep
up
with
her
.
“
Now
,
William
,
”
she
said
,
“
if
people
see
me
racing
along
the
Embankment
like
this
they
WILL
talk
.
You
had
far
better
say
good-night
,
if
you
don’t
want
people
to
talk
.
”
At
this
William
beckoned
,
with
a
despotic
gesture
,
to
the
cab
with
one
hand
,
and
with
the
other
he
brought
Katharine
to
a
standstill
.
“
Don’t
let
the
man
see
us
struggling
,
for
God’s
sake
!
”
he
murmured
.
Katharine
stood
for
a
moment
quite
still
.
“
There’s
more
of
the
old
maid
in
you
than
the
poet
,
”
she
observed
briefly
.
William
shut
the
door
sharply
,
gave
the
address
to
the
driver
,
and
turned
away
,
lifting
his
hat
punctiliously
high
in
farewell
to
the
invisible
lady
.
He
looked
back
after
the
cab
twice
,
suspiciously
,
half
expecting
that
she
would
stop
it
and
dismount
;
but
it
bore
her
swiftly
on
,
and
was
soon
out
of
sight
.
William
felt
in
the
mood
for
a
short
soliloquy
of
indignation
,
for
Katharine
had
contrived
to
exasperate
him
in
more
ways
than
one
.
“
Of
all
the
unreasonable
,
inconsiderate
creatures
I’ve
ever
known
,
she’s
the
worst
!
”
he
exclaimed
to
himself
,
striding
back
along
the
Embankment
.
“
Heaven
forbid
that
I
should
ever
make
a
fool
of
myself
with
her
again
.
Why
,
I’d
sooner
marry
the
daughter
of
my
landlady
than
Katharine
Hilbery
!
She’d
leave
me
not
a
moment’s
peace
—
and
she’d
never
understand
me
—
never
,
never
,
never
!
”
Uttered
aloud
and
with
vehemence
so
that
the
stars
of
Heaven
might
hear
,
for
there
was
no
human
being
at
hand
,
these
sentiments
sounded
satisfactorily
irrefutable
.
Rodney
quieted
down
,
and
walked
on
in
silence
,
until
he
perceived
some
one
approaching
him
,
who
had
something
,
either
in
his
walk
or
his
dress
,
which
proclaimed
that
he
was
one
of
William’s
acquaintances
before
it
was
possible
to
tell
which
of
them
he
was
.
It
was
Denham
who
,
having
parted
from
Sandys
at
the
bottom
of
his
staircase
,
was
now
walking
to
the
Tube
at
Charing
Cross
,
deep
in
the
thoughts
which
his
talk
with
Sandys
had
suggested
.
He
had
forgotten
the
meeting
at
Mary
Datchet’s
rooms
,
he
had
forgotten
Rodney
,
and
metaphors
and
Elizabethan
drama
,
and
could
have
sworn
that
he
had
forgotten
Katharine
Hilbery
,
too
,
although
that
was
more
disputable
.
His
mind
was
scaling
the
highest
pinnacles
of
its
alps
,
where
there
was
only
starlight
and
the
untrodden
snow
.
He
cast
strange
eyes
upon
Rodney
,
as
they
encountered
each
other
beneath
a
lamp-post
.
“
Ha
!
”
Rodney
exclaimed
.
If
he
had
been
in
full
possession
of
his
mind
,
Denham
would
probably
have
passed
on
with
a
salutation
.
But
the
shock
of
the
interruption
made
him
stand
still
,
and
before
he
knew
what
he
was
doing
,
he
had
turned
and
was
walking
with
Rodney
in
obedience
to
Rodney’s
invitation
to
come
to
his
rooms
and
have
something
to
drink
.
Denham
had
no
wish
to
drink
with
Rodney
,
but
he
followed
him
passively
enough
.
Rodney
was
gratified
by
this
obedience
.
He
felt
inclined
to
be
communicative
with
this
silent
man
,
who
possessed
so
obviously
all
the
good
masculine
qualities
in
which
Katharine
now
seemed
lamentably
deficient
.
“
You
do
well
,
Denham
,
”
he
began
impulsively
,
“
to
have
nothing
to
do
with
young
women
.
I
offer
you
my
experience
—
if
one
trusts
them
one
invariably
has
cause
to
repent
.
Not
that
I
have
any
reason
at
this
moment
,
”
he
added
hastily
,
“
to
complain
of
them
.
It’s
a
subject
that
crops
up
now
and
again
for
no
particular
reason
.
Miss
Datchet
,
I
dare
say
,
is
one
of
the
exceptions
.
Do
you
like
Miss
Datchet
?
”
These
remarks
indicated
clearly
enough
that
Rodney’s
nerves
were
in
a
state
of
irritation
,
and
Denham
speedily
woke
to
the
situation
of
the
world
as
it
had
been
one
hour
ago
.
He
had
last
seen
Rodney
walking
with
Katharine
.
He
could
not
help
regretting
the
eagerness
with
which
his
mind
returned
to
these
interests
,
and
fretted
him
with
the
old
trivial
anxieties
.
He
sank
in
his
own
esteem
.
Reason
bade
him
break
from
Rodney
,
who
clearly
tended
to
become
confidential
,
before
he
had
utterly
lost
touch
with
the
problems
of
high
philosophy
.
He
looked
along
the
road
,
and
marked
a
lamp-post
at
a
distance
of
some
hundred
yards
,
and
decided
that
he
would
part
from
Rodney
when
they
reached
this
point
.
“
Yes
,
I
like
Mary
;
I
don’t
see
how
one
could
help
liking
her
,
”
he
remarked
cautiously
,
with
his
eye
on
the
lamp-post
.
“
Ah
,
Denham
,
you’re
so
different
from
me
.
You
never
give
yourself
away
.
I
watched
you
this
evening
with
Katharine
Hilbery
.
My
instinct
is
to
trust
the
person
I’m
talking
to
.
That’s
why
I’m
always
being
taken
in
,
I
suppose
.
”
Denham
seemed
to
be
pondering
this
statement
of
Rodney’s
,
but
,
as
a
matter
of
fact
,
he
was
hardly
conscious
of
Rodney
and
his
revelations
,
and
was
only
concerned
to
make
him
mention
Katharine
again
before
they
reached
the
lamp-post
.
“
Who’s
taken
you
in
now
?
”
he
asked
.
“
Katharine
Hilbery
?
”
Rodney
stopped
and
once
more
began
beating
a
kind
of
rhythm
,
as
if
he
were
marking
a
phrase
in
a
symphony
,
upon
the
smooth
stone
balustrade
of
the
Embankment
.
“
Katharine
Hilbery
,
”
he
repeated
,
with
a
curious
little
chuckle
.
“
No
,
Denham
,
I
have
no
illusions
about
that
young
woman
.
I
think
I
made
that
plain
to
her
to-night
.
But
don’t
run
away
with
a
false
impression
,
”
he
continued
eagerly
,
turning
and
linking
his
arm
through
Denham’s
,
as
though
to
prevent
him
from
escaping
;
and
,
thus
compelled
,
Denham
passed
the
monitory
lamp-post
,
to
which
,
in
passing
,
he
breathed
an
excuse
,
for
how
could
he
break
away
when
Rodney’s
arm
was
actually
linked
in
his
?
“
You
must
not
think
that
I
have
any
bitterness
against
her
—
far
from
it
.
It’s
not
altogether
her
fault
,
poor
girl
.
She
lives
,
you
know
,
one
of
those
odious
,
self-centered
lives
—
at
least
,
I
think
them
odious
for
a
woman
—
feeding
her
wits
upon
everything
,
having
control
of
everything
,
getting
far
too
much
her
own
way
at
home
—
spoilt
,
in
a
sense
,
feeling
that
every
one
is
at
her
feet
,
and
so
not
realizing
how
she
hurts
—
that
is
,
how
rudely
she
behaves
to
people
who
haven’t
all
her
advantages
.
Still
,
to
do
her
justice
,
she’s
no
fool
,
”
he
added
,
as
if
to
warn
Denham
not
to
take
any
liberties
.
“
She
has
taste
.
She
has
sense
.
She
can
understand
you
when
you
talk
to
her
.
But
she’s
a
woman
,
and
there’s
an
end
of
it
,
”
he
added
,
with
another
little
chuckle
,
and
dropped
Denham’s
arm
.
“
And
did
you
tell
her
all
this
to-night
?
”
Denham
asked
.
“
Oh
dear
me
,
no.
I
should
never
think
of
telling
Katharine
the
truth
about
herself
.
That
wouldn’t
do
at
all
.
One
has
to
be
in
an
attitude
of
adoration
in
order
to
get
on
with
Katharine
.
“
Now
I’ve
learnt
that
she’s
refused
to
marry
him
why
don’t
I
go
home
?
”
Denham
thought
to
himself
.
But
he
went
on
walking
beside
Rodney
,
and
for
a
time
they
did
not
speak
,
though
Rodney
hummed
snatches
of
a
tune
out
of
an
opera
by
Mozart
.
A
feeling
of
contempt
and
liking
combine
very
naturally
in
the
mind
of
one
to
whom
another
has
just
spoken
unpremeditatedly
,
revealing
rather
more
of
his
private
feelings
than
he
intended
to
reveal
.
Denham
began
to
wonder
what
sort
of
person
Rodney
was
,
and
at
the
same
time
Rodney
began
to
think
about
Denham
.
“
You’re
a
slave
like
me
,
I
suppose
?
”
he
asked
.
“
A
solicitor
,
yes
.
”
“
I
sometimes
wonder
why
we
don’t
chuck
it
.
Why
don’t
you
emigrate
,
Denham
?
I
should
have
thought
that
would
suit
you
.
”
“
I’ve
a
family
.
”
“
I’m
often
on
the
point
of
going
myself
.
And
then
I
know
I
couldn’t
live
without
this
”
—
and
he
waved
his
hand
towards
the
City
of
London
,
which
wore
,
at
this
moment
,
the
appearance
of
a
town
cut
out
of
gray-blue
cardboard
,
and
pasted
flat
against
the
sky
,
which
was
of
a
deeper
blue
.
“
There
are
one
or
two
people
I’m
fond
of
,
and
there’s
a
little
good
music
,
and
a
few
pictures
,
now
and
then
—
just
enough
to
keep
one
dangling
about
here
.
Ah
,
but
I
couldn’t
live
with
savages
!
Are
you
fond
of
books
?
Music
?
Pictures
?
D’you
care
at
all
for
first
editions
?
I’ve
got
a
few
nice
things
up
here
,
things
I
pick
up
cheap
,
for
I
can’t
afford
to
give
what
they
ask
.
”
They
had
reached
a
small
court
of
high
eighteenth-century
houses
,
in
one
of
which
Rodney
had
his
rooms
.
They
climbed
a
very
steep
staircase
,
through
whose
uncurtained
windows
the
moonlight
fell
,
illuminating
the
banisters
with
their
twisted
pillars
,
and
the
piles
of
plates
set
on
the
window-sills
,
and
jars
half-full
of
milk
.
Rodney’s
rooms
were
small
,
but
the
sitting-room
window
looked
out
into
a
courtyard
,
with
its
flagged
pavement
,
and
its
single
tree
,
and
across
to
the
flat
red-brick
fronts
of
the
opposite
houses
,
which
would
not
have
surprised
Dr.
Johnson
,
if
he
had
come
out
of
his
grave
for
a
turn
in
the
moonlight
.
Rodney
lit
his
lamp
,
pulled
his
curtains
,
offered
Denham
a
chair
,
and
,
flinging
the
manuscript
of
his
paper
on
the
Elizabethan
use
of
Metaphor
on
to
the
table
,
exclaimed
:
“
Oh
dear
me
,
what
a
waste
of
time
!
But
it’s
over
now
,
and
so
we
may
think
no
more
about
it
.
”
He
then
busied
himself
very
dexterously
in
lighting
a
fire
,
producing
glasses
,
whisky
,
a
cake
,
and
cups
and
saucers
.
He
put
on
a
faded
crimson
dressing-gown
,
and
a
pair
of
red
slippers
,
and
advanced
to
Denham
with
a
tumbler
in
one
hand
and
a
well-burnished
book
in
the
other
.
“
The
Baskerville
Congreve
,
”
said
Rodney
,
offering
it
to
his
guest
.
“
I
couldn’t
read
him
in
a
cheap
edition
.
”
When
he
was
seen
thus
among
his
books
and
his
valuables
,
amiably
anxious
to
make
his
visitor
comfortable
,
and
moving
about
with
something
of
the
dexterity
and
grace
of
a
Persian
cat
,
Denham
relaxed
his
critical
attitude
,
and
felt
more
at
home
with
Rodney
than
he
would
have
done
with
many
men
better
known
to
him
.
Rodney’s
room
was
the
room
of
a
person
who
cherishes
a
great
many
personal
tastes
,
guarding
them
from
the
rough
blasts
of
the
public
with
scrupulous
attention
.
His
papers
and
his
books
rose
in
jagged
mounds
on
table
and
floor
,
round
which
he
skirted
with
nervous
care
lest
his
dressing-gown
might
disarrange
them
ever
so
slightly
.
On
a
chair
stood
a
stack
of
photographs
of
statues
and
pictures
,
which
it
was
his
habit
to
exhibit
,
one
by
one
,
for
the
space
of
a
day
or
two
.
The
books
on
his
shelves
were
as
orderly
as
regiments
of
soldiers
,
and
the
backs
of
them
shone
like
so
many
bronze
beetle-wings
;
though
,
if
you
took
one
from
its
place
you
saw
a
shabbier
volume
behind
it
,
since
space
was
limited
.
An
oval
Venetian
mirror
stood
above
the
fireplace
,
and
reflected
duskily
in
its
spotted
depths
the
faint
yellow
and
crimson
of
a
jarful
of
tulips
which
stood
among
the
letters
and
pipes
and
cigarettes
upon
the
mantelpiece
.
A
small
piano
occupied
a
corner
of
the
room
,
with
the
score
of
“
Don
Giovanni
”
open
upon
the
bracket
.
“
Well
,
Rodney
,
”
said
Denham
,
as
he
filled
his
pipe
and
looked
about
him
,
“
this
is
all
very
nice
and
comfortable
.
”
Rodney
turned
his
head
half
round
and
smiled
,
with
the
pride
of
a
proprietor
,
and
then
prevented
himself
from
smiling
.
“
Tolerable
,
”
he
muttered
.
“
But
I
dare
say
it’s
just
as
well
that
you
have
to
earn
your
own
living
.
”
“
If
you
mean
that
I
shouldn’t
do
anything
good
with
leisure
if
I
had
it
,
I
dare
say
you’re
right
.
But
I
should
be
ten
times
as
happy
with
my
whole
day
to
spend
as
I
liked
.
”
“
I
doubt
that
,
”
Denham
replied
.
They
sat
silent
,
and
the
smoke
from
their
pipes
joined
amicably
in
a
blue
vapor
above
their
heads
.
“
I
could
spend
three
hours
every
day
reading
Shakespeare
,
”
Rodney
remarked
.
“
And
there’s
music
and
pictures
,
let
alone
the
society
of
the
people
one
likes
.
”
“
You’d
be
bored
to
death
in
a
year’s
time
.
”
“
Oh
,
I
grant
you
I
should
be
bored
if
I
did
nothing
.
But
I
should
write
plays
.
”
“
H’m
!
”
“
I
should
write
plays
,
”
he
repeated
.
“
I’ve
written
three-quarters
of
one
already
,
and
I’m
only
waiting
for
a
holiday
to
finish
it
.
And
it’s
not
bad
—
no
,
some
of
it’s
really
rather
nice
.
”
The
question
arose
in
Denham’s
mind
whether
he
should
ask
to
see
this
play
,
as
,
no
doubt
,
he
was
expected
to
do
.
He
looked
rather
stealthily
at
Rodney
,
who
was
tapping
the
coal
nervously
with
a
poker
,
and
quivering
almost
physically
,
so
Denham
thought
,
with
desire
to
talk
about
this
play
of
his
,
and
vanity
unrequited
and
urgent
.
He
seemed
very
much
at
Denham’s
mercy
,
and
Denham
could
not
help
liking
him
,
partly
on
that
account
.
“
Well
,
...
will
you
let
me
see
the
play
?
”
Denham
asked
,
and
Rodney
looked
immediately
appeased
,
but
,
nevertheless
,
he
sat
silent
for
a
moment
,
holding
the
poker
perfectly
upright
in
the
air
,
regarding
it
with
his
rather
prominent
eyes
,
and
opening
his
lips
and
shutting
them
again
.
“
Do
you
really
care
for
this
kind
of
thing
?
”
he
asked
at
length
,
in
a
different
tone
of
voice
from
that
in
which
he
had
been
speaking
.
And
,
without
waiting
for
an
answer
,
he
went
on
,
rather
querulously
:
“
Very
few
people
care
for
poetry
.
I
dare
say
it
bores
you
.
”
“
Perhaps
,
”
Denham
remarked
.
“
Well
,
I’ll
lend
it
you
,
”
Rodney
announced
,
putting
down
the
poker
.
As
he
moved
to
fetch
the
play
,
Denham
stretched
a
hand
to
the
bookcase
beside
him
,
and
took
down
the
first
volume
which
his
fingers
touched
.
It
happened
to
be
a
small
and
very
lovely
edition
of
Sir
Thomas
Browne
,
containing
the
“
Urn
Burial
,
”
the
“
Hydriotaphia
,
”
and
the
“
Garden
of
Cyrus
,
”
and
,
opening
it
at
a
passage
which
he
knew
very
nearly
by
heart
,
Denham
began
to
read
and
,
for
some
time
,
continued
to
read
.
Rodney
resumed
his
seat
,
with
his
manuscript
on
his
knee
,
and
from
time
to
time
he
glanced
at
Denham
,
and
then
joined
his
finger-tips
and
crossed
his
thin
legs
over
the
fender
,
as
if
he
experienced
a
good
deal
of
pleasure
.
At
length
Denham
shut
the
book
,
and
stood
,
with
his
back
to
the
fireplace
,
occasionally
making
an
inarticulate
humming
sound
which
seemed
to
refer
to
Sir
Thomas
Browne
.
He
put
his
hat
on
his
head
,
and
stood
over
Rodney
,
who
still
lay
stretched
back
in
his
chair
,
with
his
toes
within
the
fender
.
“
I
shall
look
in
again
some
time
,
”
Denham
remarked
,
upon
which
Rodney
held
up
his
hand
,
containing
his
manuscript
,
without
saying
anything
except
—
“
If
you
like
.
”
Denham
took
the
manuscript
and
went
.
Two
days
later
he
was
much
surprised
to
find
a
thin
parcel
on
his
breakfast-plate
,
which
,
on
being
opened
,
revealed
the
very
copy
of
Sir
Thomas
Browne
which
he
had
studied
so
intently
in
Rodney’s
rooms
.
From
sheer
laziness
he
returned
no
thanks
,
but
he
thought
of
Rodney
from
time
to
time
with
interest
,
disconnecting
him
from
Katharine
,
and
meant
to
go
round
one
evening
and
smoke
a
pipe
with
him
.
It
pleased
Rodney
thus
to
give
away
whatever
his
friends
genuinely
admired
.
His
library
was
constantly
being
diminished
.
CHAPTER
VI
Of
all
the
hours
of
an
ordinary
working
week-day
,
which
are
the
pleasantest
to
look
forward
to
and
to
look
back
upon
?
If
a
single
instance
is
of
use
in
framing
a
theory
,
it
may
be
said
that
the
minutes
between
nine-twenty-five
and
nine-thirty
in
the
morning
had
a
singular
charm
for
Mary
Datchet
.
She
spent
them
in
a
very
enviable
frame
of
mind
;
her
contentment
was
almost
unalloyed
.
High
in
the
air
as
her
flat
was
,
some
beams
from
the
morning
sun
reached
her
even
in
November
,
striking
straight
at
curtain
,
chair
,
and
carpet
,
and
painting
there
three
bright
,
true
spaces
of
green
,
blue
,
and
purple
,
upon
which
the
eye
rested
with
a
pleasure
which
gave
physical
warmth
to
the
body
.
There
were
few
mornings
when
Mary
did
not
look
up
,
as
she
bent
to
lace
her
boots
,
and
as
she
followed
the
yellow
rod
from
curtain
to
breakfast-table
she
usually
breathed
some
sigh
of
thankfulness
that
her
life
provided
her
with
such
moments
of
pure
enjoyment
.
She
was
robbing
no
one
of
anything
,
and
yet
,
to
get
so
much
pleasure
from
simple
things
,
such
as
eating
one’s
breakfast
alone
in
a
room
which
had
nice
colors
in
it
,
clean
from
the
skirting
of
the
boards
to
the
corners
of
the
ceiling
,
seemed
to
suit
her
so
thoroughly
that
she
used
at
first
to
hunt
about
for
some
one
to
apologize
to
,
or
for
some
flaw
in
the
situation
.
She
had
now
been
six
months
in
London
,
and
she
could
find
no
flaw
,
but
that
,
as
she
invariably
concluded
by
the
time
her
boots
were
laced
,
was
solely
and
entirely
due
to
the
fact
that
she
had
her
work
.
Every
day
,
as
she
stood
with
her
dispatch-box
in
her
hand
at
the
door
of
her
flat
,
and
gave
one
look
back
into
the
room
to
see
that
everything
was
straight
before
she
left
,
she
said
to
herself
that
she
was
very
glad
that
she
was
going
to
leave
it
all
,
that
to
have
sat
there
all
day
long
,
in
the
enjoyment
of
leisure
,
would
have
been
intolerable
.
Out
in
the
street
she
liked
to
think
herself
one
of
the
workers
who
,
at
this
hour
,
take
their
way
in
rapid
single
file
along
all
the
broad
pavements
of
the
city
,
with
their
heads
slightly
lowered
,
as
if
all
their
effort
were
to
follow
each
other
as
closely
as
might
be
;
so
that
Mary
used
to
figure
to
herself
a
straight
rabbit-run
worn
by
their
unswerving
feet
upon
the
pavement
.
But
she
liked
to
pretend
that
she
was
indistinguishable
from
the
rest
,
and
that
when
a
wet
day
drove
her
to
the
Underground
or
omnibus
,
she
gave
and
took
her
share
of
crowd
and
wet
with
clerks
and
typists
and
commercial
men
,
and
shared
with
them
the
serious
business
of
winding-up
the
world
to
tick
for
another
four-and-twenty
hours
.
Thus
thinking
,
on
the
particular
morning
in
question
,
she
made
her
away
across
Lincoln’s
Inn
Fields
and
up
Kingsway
,
and
so
through
Southampton
Row
until
she
reached
her
office
in
Russell
Square
.
Now
and
then
she
would
pause
and
look
into
the
window
of
some
bookseller
or
flower
shop
,
where
,
at
this
early
hour
,
the
goods
were
being
arranged
,
and
empty
gaps
behind
the
plate
glass
revealed
a
state
of
undress
.
Mary
felt
kindly
disposed
towards
the
shopkeepers
,
and
hoped
that
they
would
trick
the
midday
public
into
purchasing
,
for
at
this
hour
of
the
morning
she
ranged
herself
entirely
on
the
side
of
the
shopkeepers
and
bank
clerks
,
and
regarded
all
who
slept
late
and
had
money
to
spend
as
her
enemy
and
natural
prey
.
And
directly
she
had
crossed
the
road
at
Holborn
,
her
thoughts
all
came
naturally
and
regularly
to
roost
upon
her
work
,
and
she
forgot
that
she
was
,
properly
speaking
,
an
amateur
worker
,
whose
services
were
unpaid
,
and
could
hardly
be
said
to
wind
the
world
up
for
its
daily
task
,
since
the
world
,
so
far
,
had
shown
very
little
desire
to
take
the
boons
which
Mary’s
society
for
woman’s
suffrage
had
offered
it
.
She
was
thinking
all
the
way
up
Southampton
Row
of
notepaper
and
foolscap
,
and
how
an
economy
in
the
use
of
paper
might
be
effected
(
without
,
of
course
,
hurting
Mrs.
Seal’s
feelings
)
,
for
she
was
certain
that
the
great
organizers
always
pounce
,
to
begin
with
,
upon
trifles
like
these
,
and
build
up
their
triumphant
reforms
upon
a
basis
of
absolute
solidity
;
and
,
without
acknowledging
it
for
a
moment
,
Mary
Datchet
was
determined
to
be
a
great
organizer
,
and
had
already
doomed
her
society
to
reconstruction
of
the
most
radical
kind
.
Once
or
twice
lately
,
it
is
true
,
she
had
started
,
broad
awake
,
before
turning
into
Russell
Square
,
and
denounced
herself
rather
sharply
for
being
already
in
a
groove
,
capable
,
that
is
,
of
thinking
the
same
thoughts
every
morning
at
the
same
hour
,
so
that
the
chestnut-colored
brick
of
the
Russell
Square
houses
had
some
curious
connection
with
her
thoughts
about
office
economy
,
and
served
also
as
a
sign
that
she
should
get
into
trim
for
meeting
Mr.
Clacton
,
or
Mrs.
Seal
,
or
whoever
might
be
beforehand
with
her
at
the
office
.
Having
no
religious
belief
,
she
was
the
more
conscientious
about
her
life
,
examining
her
position
from
time
to
time
very
seriously
,
and
nothing
annoyed
her
more
than
to
find
one
of
these
bad
habits
nibbling
away
unheeded
at
the
precious
substance
.
What
was
the
good
,
after
all
,
of
being
a
woman
if
one
didn’t
keep
fresh
,
and
cram
one’s
life
with
all
sorts
of
views
and
experiments
?
Thus
she
always
gave
herself
a
little
shake
,
as
she
turned
the
corner
,
and
,
as
often
as
not
,
reached
her
own
door
whistling
a
snatch
of
a
Somersetshire
ballad
.
The
suffrage
office
was
at
the
top
of
one
of
the
large
Russell
Square
houses
,
which
had
once
been
lived
in
by
a
great
city
merchant
and
his
family
,
and
was
now
let
out
in
slices
to
a
number
of
societies
which
displayed
assorted
initials
upon
doors
of
ground
glass
,
and
kept
,
each
of
them
,
a
typewriter
which
clicked
busily
all
day
long
.
The
old
house
,
with
its
great
stone
staircase
,
echoed
hollowly
to
the
sound
of
typewriters
and
of
errand-boys
from
ten
to
six
.
The
noise
of
different
typewriters
already
at
work
,
disseminating
their
views
upon
the
protection
of
native
races
,
or
the
value
of
cereals
as
foodstuffs
,
quickened
Mary’s
steps
,
and
she
always
ran
up
the
last
flight
of
steps
which
led
to
her
own
landing
,
at
whatever
hour
she
came
,
so
as
to
get
her
typewriter
to
take
its
place
in
competition
with
the
rest
.
She
sat
herself
down
to
her
letters
,
and
very
soon
all
these
speculations
were
forgotten
,
and
the
two
lines
drew
themselves
between
her
eyebrows
,
as
the
contents
of
the
letters
,
the
office
furniture
,
and
the
sounds
of
activity
in
the
next
room
gradually
asserted
their
sway
upon
her
.
By
eleven
o’clock
the
atmosphere
of
concentration
was
running
so
strongly
in
one
direction
that
any
thought
of
a
different
order
could
hardly
have
survived
its
birth
more
than
a
moment
or
so
.
The
task
which
lay
before
her
was
to
organize
a
series
of
entertainments
,
the
profits
of
which
were
to
benefit
the
society
,
which
drooped
for
want
of
funds
.
It
was
her
first
attempt
at
organization
on
a
large
scale
,
and
she
meant
to
achieve
something
remarkable
.
She
meant
to
use
the
cumbrous
machine
to
pick
out
this
,
that
,
and
the
other
interesting
person
from
the
muddle
of
the
world
,
and
to
set
them
for
a
week
in
a
pattern
which
must
catch
the
eyes
of
Cabinet
Ministers
,
and
the
eyes
once
caught
,
the
old
arguments
were
to
be
delivered
with
unexampled
originality
.
Such
was
the
scheme
as
a
whole
;
and
in
contemplation
of
it
she
would
become
quite
flushed
and
excited
,
and
have
to
remind
herself
of
all
the
details
that
intervened
between
her
and
success
.
The
door
would
open
,
and
Mr.
Clacton
would
come
in
to
search
for
a
certain
leaflet
buried
beneath
a
pyramid
of
leaflets
.
He
was
a
thin
,
sandy-haired
man
of
about
thirty-five
,
spoke
with
a
Cockney
accent
,
and
had
about
him
a
frugal
look
,
as
if
nature
had
not
dealt
generously
with
him
in
any
way
,
which
,
naturally
,
prevented
him
from
dealing
generously
with
other
people
.
When
he
had
found
his
leaflet
,
and
offered
a
few
jocular
hints
upon
keeping
papers
in
order
,
the
typewriting
would
stop
abruptly
,
and
Mrs.
Seal
would
burst
into
the
room
with
a
letter
which
needed
explanation
in
her
hand
.
This
was
a
more
serious
interruption
than
the
other
,
because
she
never
knew
exactly
what
she
wanted
,
and
half
a
dozen
requests
would
bolt
from
her
,
no
one
of
which
was
clearly
stated
.
Dressed
in
plum-colored
velveteen
,
with
short
,
gray
hair
,
and
a
face
that
seemed
permanently
flushed
with
philanthropic
enthusiasm
,
she
was
always
in
a
hurry
,
and
always
in
some
disorder
.
She
wore
two
crucifixes
,
which
got
themselves
entangled
in
a
heavy
gold
chain
upon
her
breast
,
and
seemed
to
Mary
expressive
of
her
mental
ambiguity
.
Only
her
vast
enthusiasm
and
her
worship
of
Miss
Markham
,
one
of
the
pioneers
of
the
society
,
kept
her
in
her
place
,
for
which
she
had
no
sound
qualification
.
So
the
morning
wore
on
,
and
the
pile
of
letters
grew
,
and
Mary
felt
,
at
last
,
that
she
was
the
center
ganglion
of
a
very
fine
network
of
nerves
which
fell
over
England
,
and
one
of
these
days
,
when
she
touched
the
heart
of
the
system
,
would
begin
feeling
and
rushing
together
and
emitting
their
splendid
blaze
of
revolutionary
fireworks
—
for
some
such
metaphor
represents
what
she
felt
about
her
work
,
when
her
brain
had
been
heated
by
three
hours
of
application
.
Shortly
before
one
o’clock
Mr.
Clacton
and
Mrs.
Seal
desisted
from
their
labors
,
and
the
old
joke
about
luncheon
,
which
came
out
regularly
at
this
hour
,
was
repeated
with
scarcely
any
variation
of
words
.
Mr.
Clacton
patronized
a
vegetarian
restaurant
;
Mrs.
Seal
brought
sandwiches
,
which
she
ate
beneath
the
plane-trees
in
Russell
Square
;
while
Mary
generally
went
to
a
gaudy
establishment
,
upholstered
in
red
plush
,
near
by
,
where
,
much
to
the
vegetarian’s
disapproval
,
you
could
buy
steak
,
two
inches
thick
,
or
a
roast
section
of
fowl
,
swimming
in
a
pewter
dish
.
“
The
bare
branches
against
the
sky
do
one
so
much
good
,
”
Mrs.
Seal
asserted
,
looking
out
into
the
Square
.
“
But
one
can’t
lunch
off
trees
,
Sally
,
”
said
Mary
.
“
I
confess
I
don’t
know
how
you
manage
it
,
Miss
Datchet
,
”
Mr.
Clacton
remarked
.
“
I
should
sleep
all
the
afternoon
,
I
know
,
if
I
took
a
heavy
meal
in
the
middle
of
the
day
.
”
“
What’s
the
very
latest
thing
in
literature
?
”
Mary
asked
,
good-humoredly
pointing
to
the
yellow-covered
volume
beneath
Mr.
Clacton’s
arm
,
for
he
invariably
read
some
new
French
author
at
lunch-time
,
or
squeezed
in
a
visit
to
a
picture
gallery
,
balancing
his
social
work
with
an
ardent
culture
of
which
he
was
secretly
proud
,
as
Mary
had
very
soon
divined
.
So
they
parted
and
Mary
walked
away
,
wondering
if
they
guessed
that
she
really
wanted
to
get
away
from
them
,
and
supposing
that
they
had
not
quite
reached
that
degree
of
subtlety
.
She
bought
herself
an
evening
paper
,
which
she
read
as
she
ate
,
looking
over
the
top
of
it
again
and
again
at
the
queer
people
who
were
buying
cakes
or
imparting
their
secrets
,
until
some
young
woman
whom
she
knew
came
in
,
and
she
called
out
,
“
Eleanor
,
come
and
sit
by
me
,
”
and
they
finished
their
lunch
together
,
parting
on
the
strip
of
pavement
among
the
different
lines
of
traffic
with
a
pleasant
feeling
that
they
were
stepping
once
more
into
their
separate
places
in
the
great
and
eternally
moving
pattern
of
human
life
.
But
,
instead
of
going
straight
back
to
the
office
to-day
,
Mary
turned
into
the
British
Museum
,
and
strolled
down
the
gallery
with
the
shapes
of
stone
until
she
found
an
empty
seat
directly
beneath
the
gaze
of
the
Elgin
marbles
.
She
looked
at
them
,
and
seemed
,
as
usual
,
borne
up
on
some
wave
of
exaltation
and
emotion
,
by
which
her
life
at
once
became
solemn
and
beautiful
—
an
impression
which
was
due
as
much
,
perhaps
,
to
the
solitude
and
chill
and
silence
of
the
gallery
as
to
the
actual
beauty
of
the
statues
.
One
must
suppose
,
at
least
,
that
her
emotions
were
not
purely
esthetic
,
because
,
after
she
had
gazed
at
the
Ulysses
for
a
minute
or
two
,
she
began
to
think
about
Ralph
Denham
.
So
secure
did
she
feel
with
these
silent
shapes
that
she
almost
yielded
to
an
impulse
to
say
“
I
am
in
love
with
you
”
aloud
.
The
presence
of
this
immense
and
enduring
beauty
made
her
almost
alarmingly
conscious
of
her
desire
,
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
.
She
repressed
her
impulse
to
speak
aloud
,
and
rose
and
wandered
about
rather
aimlessly
among
the
statues
until
she
found
herself
in
another
gallery
devoted
to
engraved
obelisks
and
winged
Assyrian
bulls
,
and
her
emotion
took
another
turn
.
She
began
to
picture
herself
traveling
with
Ralph
in
a
land
where
these
monsters
were
couchant
in
the
sand
.
“
For
,
”
she
thought
to
herself
,
as
she
gazed
fixedly
at
some
information
printed
behind
a
piece
of
glass
,
“
the
wonderful
thing
about
you
is
that
you’re
ready
for
anything
;
you’re
not
in
the
least
conventional
,
like
most
clever
men
.
”
And
she
conjured
up
a
scene
of
herself
on
a
camel’s
back
,
in
the
desert
,
while
Ralph
commanded
a
whole
tribe
of
natives
.
“
That
is
what
you
can
do
,
”
she
went
on
,
moving
on
to
the
next
statue
.
“
You
always
make
people
do
what
you
want
.
”
A
glow
spread
over
her
spirit
,
and
filled
her
eyes
with
brightness
.
Nevertheless
,
before
she
left
the
Museum
she
was
very
far
from
saying
,
even
in
the
privacy
of
her
own
mind
,
“
I
am
in
love
with
you
,
”
and
that
sentence
might
very
well
never
have
framed
itself
.
She
was
,
indeed
,
rather
annoyed
with
herself
for
having
allowed
such
an
ill-considered
breach
of
her
reserve
,
weakening
her
powers
of
resistance
,
she
felt
,
should
this
impulse
return
again
.
For
,
as
she
walked
along
the
street
to
her
office
,
the
force
of
all
her
customary
objections
to
being
in
love
with
any
one
overcame
her
.
She
did
not
want
to
marry
at
all
.
It
seemed
to
her
that
there
was
something
amateurish
in
bringing
love
into
touch
with
a
perfectly
straightforward
friendship
,
such
as
hers
was
with
Ralph
,
which
,
for
two
years
now
,
had
based
itself
upon
common
interests
in
impersonal
topics
,
such
as
the
housing
of
the
poor
,
or
the
taxation
of
land
values
.
But
the
afternoon
spirit
differed
intrinsically
from
the
morning
spirit
.
Mary
found
herself
watching
the
flight
of
a
bird
,
or
making
drawings
of
the
branches
of
the
plane-trees
upon
her
blotting-paper
.
People
came
in
to
see
Mr.
Clacton
on
business
,
and
a
seductive
smell
of
cigarette
smoke
issued
from
his
room
.
Mrs.
Seal
wandered
about
with
newspaper
cuttings
,
which
seemed
to
her
either
“
quite
splendid
”
or
“
really
too
bad
for
words
.
”
She
used
to
paste
these
into
books
,
or
send
them
to
her
friends
,
having
first
drawn
a
broad
bar
in
blue
pencil
down
the
margin
,
a
proceeding
which
signified
equally
and
indistinguishably
the
depths
of
her
reprobation
or
the
heights
of
her
approval
.
About
four
o’clock
on
that
same
afternoon
Katharine
Hilbery
was
walking
up
Kingsway
.
The
question
of
tea
presented
itself
.
The
street
lamps
were
being
lit
already
,
and
as
she
stood
still
for
a
moment
beneath
one
of
them
,
she
tried
to
think
of
some
neighboring
drawing-room
where
there
would
be
firelight
and
talk
congenial
to
her
mood
.
That
mood
,
owing
to
the
spinning
traffic
and
the
evening
veil
of
unreality
,
was
ill-adapted
to
her
home
surroundings
.
Perhaps
,
on
the
whole
,
a
shop
was
the
best
place
in
which
to
preserve
this
queer
sense
of
heightened
existence
.
At
the
same
time
she
wished
to
talk
.
Remembering
Mary
Datchet
and
her
repeated
invitations
,
she
crossed
the
road
,
turned
into
Russell
Square
,
and
peered
about
,
seeking
for
numbers
with
a
sense
of
adventure
that
was
out
of
all
proportion
to
the
deed
itself
.
She
found
herself
in
a
dimly
lighted
hall
,
unguarded
by
a
porter
,
and
pushed
open
the
first
swing
door
.
But
the
office-boy
had
never
heard
of
Miss
Datchet
.
Did
she
belong
to
the
S.R.F.R.
?
Katharine
shook
her
head
with
a
smile
of
dismay
.
A
voice
from
within
shouted
,
“
No.
The
S.G.S.
—
top
floor
.
”
Katharine
mounted
past
innumerable
glass
doors
,
with
initials
on
them
,
and
became
steadily
more
and
more
doubtful
of
the
wisdom
of
her
venture
.
At
the
top
she
paused
for
a
moment
to
breathe
and
collect
herself
.
She
heard
the
typewriter
and
formal
professional
voices
inside
,
not
belonging
,
she
thought
,
to
any
one
she
had
ever
spoken
to
.
She
touched
the
bell
,
and
the
door
was
opened
almost
immediately
by
Mary
herself
.
Her
face
had
to
change
its
expression
entirely
when
she
saw
Katharine
.
“
You
!
”
she
exclaimed
.
“
We
thought
you
were
the
printer
.
”
Still
holding
the
door
open
,
she
called
back
,
“
No
,
Mr.
Clacton
,
it’s
not
Penningtons
.
I
should
ring
them
up
again
—
double
three
double
eight
,
Central
.
Well
,
this
is
a
surprise
.
Come
in
,
”
she
added
.
“
You’re
just
in
time
for
tea
.
”
The
light
of
relief
shone
in
Mary’s
eyes
.
The
boredom
of
the
afternoon
was
dissipated
at
once
,
and
she
was
glad
that
Katharine
had
found
them
in
a
momentary
press
of
activity
,
owing
to
the
failure
of
the
printer
to
send
back
certain
proofs
.
The
unshaded
electric
light
shining
upon
the
table
covered
with
papers
dazed
Katharine
for
a
moment
.
After
the
confusion
of
her
twilight
walk
,
and
her
random
thoughts
,
life
in
this
small
room
appeared
extremely
concentrated
and
bright
.
She
turned
instinctively
to
look
out
of
the
window
,
which
was
uncurtained
,
but
Mary
immediately
recalled
her
.
“
It
was
very
clever
of
you
to
find
your
way
,
”
she
said
,
and
Katharine
wondered
,
as
she
stood
there
,
feeling
,
for
the
moment
,
entirely
detached
and
unabsorbed
,
why
she
had
come
.
She
looked
,
indeed
,
to
Mary’s
eyes
strangely
out
of
place
in
the
office
.
Her
figure
in
the
long
cloak
,
which
took
deep
folds
,
and
her
face
,
which
was
composed
into
a
mask
of
sensitive
apprehension
,
disturbed
Mary
for
a
moment
with
a
sense
of
the
presence
of
some
one
who
was
of
another
world
,
and
,
therefore
,
subversive
of
her
world
.
She
became
immediately
anxious
that
Katharine
should
be
impressed
by
the
importance
of
her
world
,
and
hoped
that
neither
Mrs.
Seal
nor
Mr.
Clacton
would
appear
until
the
impression
of
importance
had
been
received
.
But
in
this
she
was
disappointed
.
Mrs.
Seal
burst
into
the
room
holding
a
kettle
in
her
hand
,
which
she
set
upon
the
stove
,
and
then
,
with
inefficient
haste
,
she
set
light
to
the
gas
,
which
flared
up
,
exploded
,
and
went
out
.
“
Always
the
way
,
always
the
way
,
”
she
muttered
.
“
Kit
Markham
is
the
only
person
who
knows
how
to
deal
with
the
thing
.
”
Mary
had
to
go
to
her
help
,
and
together
they
spread
the
table
,
and
apologized
for
the
disparity
between
the
cups
and
the
plainness
of
the
food
.
“
If
we
had
known
Miss
Hilbery
was
coming
,
we
should
have
bought
a
cake
,
”
said
Mary
,
upon
which
Mrs.
Seal
looked
at
Katharine
for
the
first
time
,
suspiciously
,
because
she
was
a
person
who
needed
cake
.
Here
Mr.
Clacton
opened
the
door
,
and
came
in
,
holding
a
typewritten
letter
in
his
hand
,
which
he
was
reading
aloud
.
“
Salford’s
affiliated
,
”
he
said
.
“
Well
done
,
Salford
!
”
Mrs.
Seal
exclaimed
enthusiastically
,
thumping
the
teapot
which
she
held
upon
the
table
,
in
token
of
applause
.
“
Yes
,
these
provincial
centers
seem
to
be
coming
into
line
at
last
