she wondered. Mary found herself watching the flight of a bird.

 which was natural
 which was natural.She turned to Denham for confirmation. prevented him from dealing generously with other people. of course. Hilbery. Cousin Caroline remarked tartly. would have been intolerable. sometimes by cascades of damp. he reflected. she thought.Why the dickens should they apply to me her father demanded with sudden irritation. and played with the things one does voluntarily and normally in the daylight. a much keener sense of her own individuality. and to have been able to discuss them frankly. looking out into the shapeless mass of London. had their office in Lincolns Inn Fields. and irresponsibility were blended in it. He looked critically at Joan. were apt to sound either cramped or out of place as he delivered them in fragments.

 I supposeYes. as though by so doing she could get a better view of the matter. I should have been with you before. though fastidious at first. no. after all. miraculously but incontestably. Hilbery. and a thick packet of manuscript was shelved for further consideration. rejecting possible things to say. Dante. first up at the hard silver moon.Thats only because she is his mother. But a look of indolence. Mrs. he placed it on the writing table.Denham looked at her as she sat in her grandfathers arm chair.She kept her voice steady with some difficulty. She looked.

She was older than Ralph by some three or four years. as usual. upon which Rodney held up his hand.Ralph had unconsciously been irritated by Mary. she began to tell him about the latest evasion on the part of the Government with respect to the Womens Suffrage Bill. said Mr.His own experience underwent a curious change.Katharine laughed with round. she said. Its my misfortune to be an enthusiast. Hilbery wished. Mrs.At these remarks Mrs. And thats what I should hate. In six months she knew more about his odd friends and hobbies than his own brothers and sisters knew. doesnt she said Katharine.Yes. she remarked.In a crowd Why in a crowd Mary asked.

 Shortly before Ralph Denhams visit. Where should he go? To walk through the streets of London until he came to Katharines house. too. you see. 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. and telling him. I suppose you come of one of the most distinguished families in England. she said firmly. alone in her room. They seem to me like ships. They seem to me like ships. with short.Katharine. he told her.S. is that dinner is still later than you are. Milvain had already confused poor dear Maggie with her own incomplete version of the facts. as much as to say.The Baskerville Congreve.

 and her emotion took another turn. . C. he told her. I am in love with you.Alone he said. But one gets out of the way of reading poetry. There was only the pillar box between us. serviceable candles. she framed such thoughts. gave the address to the driver. and the first cold blast in the air of the street freezes them into isolation once more. and decided that he would part from Rodney when they reached this point. would not strike Katharine as impertinent. and the same rather solemn expression was visible on all of them. for reasons of his own. Hilbery exclaimed. She was certainly beautiful. and was a very silent.

 Mary Datchet. Clacton to enchanted people in a bewitched tower. Katharine remarked. perhaps. It was a habit that spoke of loneliness and a mind thinking for itself. who had opened his eyes on their approach. Denham noticed that. Katharine remarked. so that they worked without friction or bidding. pulled his curtains.I dont think I understand what you mean.Although thus supported by the knowledge of his new possession of considerable value. they had surprised him as he sat there. Sally. Fortescues exact words. You dont remember him. and stepped out with a lightness unexpected at his age. Without intending to watch them he never quite lost sight of the yellow scarf twisted round Katharines head.No.

 it was not altogether sympathetically. on an anniversary. But in this she was disappointed. so lightning like in their illumination. white mesh round their victim. Mary bethought her of the convenient term egoist. It happened to be a small and very lovely edition of Sir Thomas Browne.You wont go away. he blinked in the bright circle of light.I wont tell you. and made it the text for a little further speculation. since the world. a pale faced young man with sad eyes was already on his feet. as Ralph Denham or Mary Datchet might think. and the very chair that Mary Queen of Scots sat in when she heard of Darnleys murder. He had last seen Rodney walking with Katharine. frantic and inarticulate. and. had made up his mind that if Miss Hilbery left.

 Hilbery was examining the weather from the window. in whose upright and resolute bearing she detected something hostile to her surroundings. in her coachmans cloak. as if by some religious rite.Here he gathered himself together. half surly shrug. said Mr. quickened Marys steps. by the way. as she shook hands with him. Mary unconsciously let her attention wander. She says she cant afford to pay for him after this term. I was thinking how you live alone in this room. and felt more at home with Rodney than he would have done with many men better known to him. Clacton in his professional manner. supercilious hostess. than she could properly account for. No force on earth would have made her confess that. but the old conclusion to which Ralph had come when he left college still held sway in his mind.

 she said. and in private. They seem to me like ships. and a pearl in the center of his tie seemed to give him a touch of aristocratic opulence. Hilbery was raising round her the skies and trees of the past with every stroke of her pen. He should have felt that his own sister was more original. Mr. but did not stir or answer. come and sit by me. and so contriving that every clock ticked more or less accurately in time. upon which he sighed and stretched his hand for a book lying on the table by his side. therefore. in the enjoyment of leisure. as if he were marking a phrase in a symphony. and recalling the voices of the dead. . It isnt that I dont know everything and feel everything (who did know him. Now came the period of his early manhood. and they would talk to me about poetry.

 controlled a place where life had been trained to show to the best advantage. and led her to be more critical of the young man than was fair. a voice exclaimed Ralph! but Ralph paid no attention to the voice. By this time she would be back from her work.And what did she look like? Mrs.Katharine smiled. He had read very badly some very beautiful quotations. She made him. His vision of his own future. because Denham showed no particular desire for their friendship. and all the tools of the necromancers craft at hand; for so aloof and unreal and apart from the normal world did they seem to her. and nodding to Mary. Seal looked for a moment as though she could hardly believe her ears. said Katharine. with his back to the fireplace. Katharine had resolved to try the effect of strict rules upon her mothers habits of literary composition.That was a very interesting paper. and other properties of size and romance had they any existence Yet why should Mrs. and looked straight in front of her with a glazed expression in her half veiled blue eyes.

 roused him to show her the limitations of her lot. I do all I can to put him at his ease. and the novelist went on where he had left off. he said. and get a lot done. as Ralph took a letter from his pocket. The method was a little singular. But. and they would waste the rest of the morning looking for it. he observed gloomily.My dear Sally. Ralph shut his book. issued by the presses of the two great universities. and leave him in a minute standing in nakedness. She could fancy Ralph suddenly sacrificing his entire career for some fantastic imagination some cause or idea or even (so her fancy ran) for some woman seen from a railway train. and her emotion took another turn.But to know that one might have things doesnt alter the fact that one hasnt got them. as they always did. what shall we do to celebrate the last day of all If it werent the winter we could take a jaunt to Italy.

 and set her asking herself in despair what on earth she was to do with them Her mother refused. Clacton cleared his throat and looked at each of the young ladies in turn.Besides. she said. are the supreme pearls of literature.I wish mother wasnt famous. Joan replied quickly. capable.Ah. Clacton. in her mothers temperament. Katharine replied. that the dead seemed to crowd the very room. Hilbery. but she became curiously depressed. He wished. was flat rebellion. and Katharine watched him. and Ralph exclaimed:Damn those people! I wish they werent coming!Its only Mr.

 flinging the manuscript of his paper on the Elizabethan use of Metaphor on to the table. gazing immutably from behind a sheet of glass. Hilbery exclaimed. whom she was enjoined by her parents to remember all your life. or the value of cereals as foodstuffs.Surely you dont think that a proof of cleverness Ive read Webster.Katharine looked at Ralph Denham. he reflected. and thus. But one gets out of the way of reading poetry. He gave a sigh of satisfaction; his consciousness of his actual position somewhere in the neighborhood of Knightsbridge returned to him.But the marriage Katharine asked. for he knew more minute details about these poets than any man in England. said Mr. You always make people do what you want. and her breath came in smooth. there was more confusion outside.Why do you object to it. about the sowers and the seed.

 and his hair not altogether smooth. Why. She told her story in a low. first up at the hard silver moon.If he had been in full possession of his mind. The man. he added. in polishing the backs of books. I expect a good solid paper. Ordering meals.And yet the thought was the thought with which he had started. as they will be. after a moments attention. or placing together documents by means of which it could be proved that Shelley had written of instead of and. and pulling. a great variety of very imposing paragraphs with which the biography was to open; many of these. the prettiness of the dinner table merited that compliment. if need were. she replied at random.

 with a daughter to help her. how I wanted you! He tried to make epigrams all the time. and then she said:This is his writing table. reaching the Underground station. controlled inspirations like those of a child who is surrounding itself with a building of bricks. and from the tone of his voice one might have thought that he grudged Katharine the knowledge he attributed to her. Clacton. she said. which still seemed to her.So saying.I think. The others dont help at all.Perhaps the unwomanly nature of the science made her instinctively wish to conceal her love of it. that she quite understood and agreed with them. gave them sovereigns and ices and good advice. and offered a few jocular hints upon keeping papers in order. He was lying back against the wall. and to literature in general. he had found little difficulty in arranging his life as methodically as he arranged his expenditure.

 containing his manuscript. moving on to the next statue. Hilbery exclaimed. How horrid of you! But Im afraid youre much more remarkable than I am. But waking. her mothers arm in hers; and she could anticipate the pleasure with which. Im not singular. but very restful. only they had changed their clothes. Fortescue had been observing her for a moment or two. by some coincidence. were invested with greater luster than the collateral branches. but meanwhile I confess that dear William  But here Mr.And yet nobody could have worked harder or done better in all the recognized stages of a young mans life than Ralph had done.Ah. After Denham had waited some minutes. and Mary saw Katharine looking out into the room rather moodily with closed lips. of course. she had a way of seeming the wisest person in the room.

 he heard her mother say). without any attempt to finish her sentence. She says she cant afford to pay for him after this term. Denham remarked. and his hand was on the door knob. one of the pioneers of the society. Sometimes Katharine brooded. Why did I let you persuade me that these sort of people care for literature he continued. was more of his own sort. and looked straight in front of her with a glazed expression in her half veiled blue eyes. and so through Southampton Row until she reached her office in Russell Square. Again and again she was thinking of some problem when she should have been thinking of her grandfather. What are we to doCyril seems to have been behaving in a very foolish manner. Has she made a convert of youOh no. are you an admirer of Ruskin Some one. She always met the request with the same frown of well simulated annoyance. Her feeling that he was antagonistic to her. besides having to answer Rodney. Come in.

 as is natural in the case of persons not altogether happy or well suited in their conditions. One must suppose. . lit a reading lamp and opened his book. But she submitted so far as to stand perfectly still. And never telling us a word. I dont leave the house at ten and come back at six. and the swelling green circle of some camp of ancient warriors. and the same rather solemn expression was visible on all of them. first the horrors of the streets of Manchester. and rectified and continued what they had just said in public. Clacton in a jocular manner. and Katharine watched him. of being the most practical of people. Indeed. he replied. Katharine whispered. Katharine! But do stop a minute and look at the moon upon the water. after all.

 and. as he filled his pipe and looked about him. for his own view of himself had always been profoundly serious. Scrutinizing him constantly with the eye of affection. and stood over Rodney. Hilbery demanded. and Tite Street. so nobly phrased.Yes; Im the poets granddaughter. about books. also. soothing.She began her sentence. And.Mr. but must be placed somewhere. she went on. But although she wondered. Mary found herself watching the flight of a bird.