The Making of a Prig

edroom shortly before eight o'clock, and rang the bell for breakfast. He yawned as though he w

ast and his letters, and wisely withdrew without saying anything. Ted took the lid off the teapot, and examined the three

it, good old Kit! That'll wait, and that. Well, I ca

s face faded gradually as he read, and he looked almost thoughtful when he folded it up again and placed it in his breast-p

s like this,"

en there is plenty of money in the world waiting to be earned by some one. Don't you think so? But when I said I would come up to London and give lessons, Aunt Esther had heroics, and said I should kill her. She didn't say how, and I'm sure I did not feel particularly murderous; I only wanted to laugh, while she lay on the sofa and said I was undutiful for trying to save her anxiety! I don't understand parents. They hide everything from you, and behave as if they were wealthy; then they abuse you for costing so much to keep; and then, when you say you will keep yourself, they call you undutiful. There is no doubt that if we were to send away one of the servan

riting letters was always a labour to him,

so close, but I don't advise your coming here; this street pals on to Regent Street, you know, and it isn't supposed to be pleasant for a girl. I will explain more fully when I see you. Let me know if I can do anything for you. I'm a rotten ass at

y conscious of not having encouraged her as much as she expected. Then came a

like people more than they like me? Why, I believe daddy was rather relieved than otherwise. And I thought he would never be able to do without me! Am I very conceited, I wonder? But indeed, I do believe he will miss me dreadfully when I am gone. Aunt Esther won't speak to me at all; I feel in disgrace, without having done anything wrong. Parents are inexplicable; they seem to grow tired of us as we grow up, just like birds! And they persist in treating us like children, while they

back imm

of us ought to have been born. I will

bearing, which did not conceal her provincial look and rather showed that she felt less composed than she wished to appear. Ted examined her for a moment doubtfully, and then made his way towards her. He had not seen her once since she left him in the summer-house, eight months ago; and he was amazed at himself for not feeling more disturbed at meeting her again now. Perhaps her prosaic w

eems confused. I don't speak a different language, do I? Just look at that glorious pair of bays; but, oh, what a shame to give them bearing-reins! Why, Ted, what a

ever understand these things. Hadn't you better get in, instead of examining the

and Katharine settled herself in her corner

. I believe you would go into the post office at Stoke for your own stamps, now, instead of sending me because

t on there; no decent chap would," said T

l," she said, as they came

. "I always wonder the horses don't tr

manner, and he leaned back c

u haven't altered

are quite long now. Besides, I hav

d. About time you did, wasn't it? But why don't you

tingly, that at all events her new coat was "all there." They chattered in the same trivial manner all the rest of the way; it was like

ay, when they stood at last on the well-worn door

all the way; isn't it? And I've got such a heap of things to tell you," said Katharine, in a nervous tone; and she gave a little shiver as an

ing soon. Let me know if you want bucki

ooking maid, who was greeting her with the air of conventional welcome she had been told to

hat's in your cubicle ain't cleared out yet, miss, so I can't take your box

here to look or what to do. The room into which she had been ushered was a bare-looking one, though clean enough, and better lighted than the hall outside. Long tables were placed across it, and around these, on wooden chairs, sat some twenty or thirty girls of various ages, some of whom were talking and others reading, as they occupied themselves with their tea. They all looked u

he asked, moving towards a

upside down," volunteered the girl in the next chair. She was r

e sat down and looked helplessly about her. However, by following out the instructions thus thrown at her, she managed, with a little difficulty, to procu

asked of her neighbour, who at least

ost of them don't get back from

sked Katharine,

in the city, or something like that. Some of them are shorthand clerks, like me,-it's sh

l stared again. The possibility of liking

ing else. I'm sorry for you if you mean to stop here long; you don't look as th

eroic mood had been completely dissipated by the leaden a

t's safer. You can't go far wrong with treacle. The jam's always

d the shorthand clerk, who had not

rine, "but your cynical view of

s, like I have," said the shorthand cl

Not that they were noisy,-for they seemed a quiet set on the whole; either daily routine or respectability had succeeded in subduing their spirits;

; "and the girls don't stare, or ask questions, or do anything unpleasant. I couldn't tell them anything a

her thoughts, and Katharine

ou going to have?

said it was not empty yet. I

u about for a week or two first. I expect you are coming into our room for the present; Miss King is going up to Scotland by the night mail. Jenny will tell you when she comes in. S

rthand clerk had gone. But the servant came to her rescue a few min

when she found herself alone with her two boxes in a curtained corner of a dingy room, the corner that was the farthest from the window and the smallest of the four compartments. There

urtains are just horribly dirty, and I don't feel as though

d. "I guessed you'd feel pretty bad when you saw what it was like. They all do. But you might as well turn up

and broke into a laugh. There was a grim humour in her situation

yself," she called out. "But don't stay moping here; come into

hed with a horsehair sofa and three basket chairs, which were all occupied, several cane chairs, and two square tables, at which som

owne?" asked the shorthand clerk, pushing a c

ho had spoken to her, in a peevish tone. "I have go

ne. The other two looked at

end. "Let me introduce you: Miss Polly Newland,

tharine. "Won't y

-Phyllis Hyam; and they returned

iss Newland passed the paper across the table. The

adly taught!" she said, and tilte

um to the satisfaction of Polly Newland, who then unbent a little, and e

each?" asked Phyllis Hyam, bringing the fro

never have," replied Katharine. Th

in London?"

ns; and they

work," said the shorthand clerk dubiously. Katharine chan

wspapers?" she as

w them anywhere else!" said

nd. "They all do," she added gravely. "It's lik

s not a fallacy?" exclai

d for it, so only three people can have a bath every evening. You have to

said Katharine, s

cking and the brushes; but, my eye, what brushes! Of course you get used to i

t to one's worst?

l, and staring across in a curious manner at Katharine. "I shoul

d Katharine, a little impatien

s glanced at

Phyllis shortly; and Polly

kings. She wondered if her existence would simply become like theirs,-a daily routine, with just enough money to support life, and not enough to buy its pleasures; enough energy to get through its toil, and not enough to enjoy its leisure. Ivingdon, with its recent troubles, its more distant happiness, seemed separated from this rud

made an interruption in the sound of the traffic outside on the cobble-stones, and Katharine glanced round the room characteristically, in search of an answering smile. But the other girls were as unaffect

t going to wear itself out in a miserable struggle to keep alive! She was worth something more than that: she was intellectual beyond her years; every one had told her so, until she had come to believe it was true; and her future was in her own hands. She would be a teacher of a new school; she would make a name for herself by her lectures; and then, some day, when she had acquired a fortune, and all the world was talking of her t

have a little chat together. I was sorry not

she was able to smile as she

or," she reflected. "She is just like Widow