The Old Wives' Tale

of the twisting stairs which led down to the parlour

's chair," s

side of the hearth. That to the left was still entitled "father's chair," though its own

id Mr. Povey, "because it's on the right si

d protected him with it from the draughts. He did not instantly rebel, and therefore was permanently barred from rebellion. He was entrapped by the antimacassar. It formally constituted him an invalid, and Constance and Sophia his nurses. Constance drew the curtain across the street doo

an archangelic primness; Sophia especially presented a marvellous imitation of saintly innocence. As for the toothache, its action on Mr. Povey was apparently periodic; it gathered to a crisis like a wave, gradually, the torture increasing till the wave broke and left Mr. Povey exhausted, but free for a moment from pain. These crises recurred about once a minute. And now, accustomed to the presence of

u haven't got

into life. "Laud

hold in m

forming. The excellent fellow was l

some in mother's cup

a piece with the deep green "flock" wall paper, and the tea-urn, and the rocking-chairs with their antimacassars, and the harmonium in rosewood with a Chinese paper-mache tea-caddy on the top of it; even with the carpet, certainly the most curious parlour carpet that ever was, being made of lengths of the stair-carpet sewn together side by side. That corner cupbo

g inhabited by an army of diminutive prisoners, each crying aloud

s!" said So

lue bottle, with a sa

les Critchlow, M.P.S.

quare, B

tent, all-wise mother was not present to tell them what to do. They, who had never decided, had to decide now. And Constance was the elder. Must this f

ter ask Mr. Critchlow

livened Mr. Povey, had already, indeed, by a

low … Two or three drops in a little water."

antipathy existed bet

ve

right," said Sophia.

tance intended) into a cup containing a little water. And as they handed the cup to Mr. Povey their

remained, awaiting the sweet influence of the remedy. The girls, out of a nice modesty, turned away, for Mr. Povey must not swallow the medicine, and they preferred to

you any goo

orse-hair sofa between the fireplace and the window, where he lay stripped of all his dignity, a mere beaten animal in a grey suit with p

she spread softly on his shoulders; and Sophia put

rk, with secret self-accusations

swallowed it!" Co

yhow," said Soph

shop-door. The only question was whether his sleep was not an eternal

ly; his snore seemed

h he were a bomb, and stared,

her sister, "do come a

sizeable fragment of a tooth, that was attached to Mr. Povey by the slenderest tie, so that at each respiration of Mr. Povey, when his body slig

ing. "And it's as loose as anything.

f the thing had lulled

sudden

n," said Constance, preoccup

then stopped, glancing at the sewing-

onstance, engaged in sniffing at the lees of the potion in order to estimate its probable deadliness, heard the

ghast. "What in the name o

g," sai

Povey sprang up out o

reflective pause, "but it's much bet

t hand was be

ed down King Street, cr

ckles for tea!" And she rushed to the door, and unlocked an

an adventurous age, when errant knights of commerce were numerous and enterprising. You went on to your doo

er sister on the top step. Soph

. He was the celebrated Hollins, a professional Irish drunkard, aged in iniquity, who cheerfully saluted

embling from

g at, you silly thing

tly thrust into her pocket. Between their points was a most

phia's career as a perpe

inal contortions of that horrified in

nd her that they were in the street

ns. "Three pence a pint, and how's your honou