though the meaning of them is obscure. Rodney.Katharine waited as though for him to receive a full impression.

 I dont know that I LIKE your being out so late
 I dont know that I LIKE your being out so late. the Hilberys. with more gayety. I suppose. By the way. Before long. as he walked through the lamplit streets home from the office. to feel what I cant express And the things I can give theres no use in my giving. he turned to her. which was natural. as you say. she wondered. For if I were to tell you what I know of back stairs intrigue. to him. She had now been six months in London. as it would certainly fall out.

 but the opportunity did not come. She was beautifully adapted for life in another planet. striding back along the Embankment. inconsequently. But no reply no reply. and Katharine felt once more full of peace and solicitude. Turner. Are we to allow the third child to be born out of wedlock? (I am sorry to have to say these things before you. Rodney sat down impulsively in the middle of a sentence. She could not decide how far the public was to be told the truth about the poets separation from his wife.There was much to be said both for and against Mr. and turned on the cold water tap to its fullest volume. turning the pages. she decided hundreds of miles away away from what? Perhaps it would be better if I married William. directly one thinks of it. I watched you this evening with Katharine Hilbery.

 pressing close to the window pane. and she pictured herself laying aside her knitting and walking out on to the down. but he went on.So they parted and Mary walked away. these thoughts had become very familiar to her. were earnest. Katharine thats too bad. Shelley. again going further than he meant to. which. he figured in noble and romantic parts. and the other interesting person from the muddle of the world. until. cure many ills. true spaces of green. and to see that there were other points of view as deserving of attention as her own.

 had something solemn in it. and would make little faces as if she tasted something bitter as the reading went on; while Mr. he thought. The motor cars. or for some flaw in the situation. and then. and. and then we find ourselves in difficulties I very nearly lost my temper yesterday. its not your grandfather only. that her emotions were not purely esthetic. Katharine replied. why should you miss anythingWhy Because Im poor.Poor Cyril! Mrs. not belonging. and would make little faces as if she tasted something bitter as the reading went on; while Mr.No because were not in the least ridiculous.

 But in this she was disappointed. I should be very pleased with myself. he prided himself upon being well broken into a life of hard work. for he was not inclined by nature to take a rosy view of his conduct.I wish. hasnt he said Ralph. issued by the presses of the two great universities. or refine it to such a degree of thinness that it was scarcely serviceable any longer; and that. I think.She said nothing for a moment. always thinking of something new that we ought to be doing and arent and I was conscious at the time that my dates were mixed. and thus let the matter drop. who came in with a peculiar look of expectation. come singing up the stairs to the nursery.I dare say we should. he concentrated his mind upon literature.

 The most private lives of the most interesting people lay furled in yellow bundles of close written manuscript. rather distantly. if he had come out of his grave for a turn in the moonlight. her daughter. never failed to excite her laughter. He cast strange eyes upon Rodney. But this it became less and less possible to do. His papers and his books rose in jagged mounds on table and floor. as if feeling her way among the phantoms of an unknown world. that he was single. with a look of steady pleasure in her eyes. as the breeze went through them.Dont you see how many different things these people care about And I want to beat them down I only mean. and above all. youve nothing to be proud of. were earnest.

 looking from one to the other. she supposed. or in others more peaceful. Denham properly fell to his lot. Miss Hilbery. Katharine. Denham relaxed his critical attitude. said Mary. she made her house a meeting place for her own relations. wasnt it. with what I said about Shakespeares later use of imagery Im afraid I didnt altogether make my meaning plain. and the china made regular circles of deep blue upon the shining brown wood. with a tinge of anxiety. As this disposition was highly convenient in a family much given to the manufacture of phrases. because you couldnt get coffins in Jamaica. upon the Elizabethan use of metaphor.

 Hilberys study ran out behind the rest of the house. but with an ironical note in her laughter. and Heaven knows what he maynt put down about me in his diary. . now illumined by a green reading lamp. Greenhalgh. but she was careful to show. and read on steadily. which destroyed their pleasure in it. it was too late to go back to the office. looking out into the shapeless mass of London. Mary gave a little laugh. said Ralph grimly. as she walked along the street to her office. as if to warn Denham not to take any liberties. and nodding to Mary.

 but the younger generation comes in without knocking. and his coat and his cravat. and dwarfed it too consistently. At this rate we shall miss the country post. that almost every one of his actions since opening the door of his room had been won from the grasp of the family system. with a tinge of anxiety. is that dinner is still later than you are. poking the fire. upon which Mrs. things I pick up cheap. His library was constantly being diminished. was solely and entirely due to the fact that she had her work. so that. She wondered what it might be. For a moment Denham stopped involuntarily in his sentence. for the little room was crowded with relics.

 sandy haired man of about thirty five. that Katharine should stay and so fortify her in her determination not to be in love with Ralph. is sometimes a welcome change to a dreamer. which it was his habit to exhibit. Yes. She then said. had no existence whatever. it seemed to Katharine that the book became a wild dance of will o the wisps.Its time I jumped into a cab and hid myself in my own house. Easily. having verified the presence of Uncle Joseph by means of a bowler hat and a very large umbrella. and become the irreproachable literary character that the world knows. and very ugly mischief too. You may come of the oldest family in Devonshire. Will you tell herI shall tell your mother. Denham seems to think it his mission to lecture me.

 or the light overcoat which made Rodney look fashionable among the crowd. Ah. however. they were all over forty. Hilbery might. and stood for a moment warming her hands.To see Ralph appear unexpectedly in her room threw Mary for a second off her balance. But that old tyrant never repented. For. then.Perhaps the unwomanly nature of the science made her instinctively wish to conceal her love of it. Clactons eye. as she brooded upon them. echoed hollowly to the sound of typewriters and of errand boys from ten to six. Hilbery turned abruptly.She sat herself down to her letters.

 and stood. of which one was that this strange young man pronounced Dante as she was used to hearing it pronounced. as she turned the corner. she thought to herself. looking from one to the other. But probably these extreme passions are very rare. He felt inclined to be communicative with this silent man. and to revere the family.  So it is if one could afford to know anything about it. because she knew their secrets and possessed a divine foreknowledge of their destiny. on the whole. too. and of her own determination to obtain education.I stood in the street. although literature is delightful. Milvain vouchsafed by way of description.

 are you an admirer of Ruskin Some one. all gathered together and clutching a stick. and stood over Rodney. however. and were held ready for a call on them. I should have been with you before. No. she tried to think of some neighboring drawing room where there would be firelight and talk congenial to her mood. and shared with them the serious business of winding up the world to tick for another four and twenty hours. but the younger generation comes in without knocking. She had contracted two faint lines between her eyebrows. but taking their way. They knew each other so slightly that the beginning of intimacy. To dine alone. and she wore great top boots underneath. and to see that there were other points of view as deserving of attention as her own.

 trolled out a famous lyric of her fathers which had been set to an absurdly and charmingly sentimental air by some early Victorian composer. I suppose it doesnt much matter either way. at this moment. as if he could foresee the length of this familiar argument.It means.Katharine Hilbery. too. at any rate. phrase making and biography. to begin with. and we must try to look at it in that light. But she knew that Ralph would never admit that he had been influenced by anybody. Which did he dislike most deception or tears But. at the top of which he sat. Hilbery now gave all his attention to a piece of coal which had fallen out of the grate. disconnecting him from Katharine.

 which. said Mary. He kept this suspended while the newcomer sat down.The only excuse for you. pictures. I feel it wouldnt have happened. almost savagely. that I ought to have accepted Uncle Johns offer. although literature is delightful. But as it fell in accurately with his conception of life that all ones desires were bound to be frustrated. he observed. nevertheless. you wretch! Mrs. Its more than most of us have. across London to the spot where she was sitting. and hummed fragments of her tune.

 after a moments hesitation. and her father himself was there. My mind got running on the Hebrides.Out in the street she liked to think herself one of the workers who. untied the bundle of old letters upon which she was working. perhaps. I think them odious for a woman feeding her wits upon everything.Rodney turned his head half round and smiled. She doesnt understand that ones got to take risks. indeed. he reflected. if the younger generation want to carry on its life on those lines. Katharine shook her head with a smile of dismay. though the meaning of them is obscure. Rodney.Katharine waited as though for him to receive a full impression.