Tales of the Five Towns

ichness, solidity, and comfort, but especially comfort; and this aim was achieved in new oak furniture of immovable firmness, in a Turkey carpet which swallowed up the feet like a feathe

while leaving the pictures in a gloom so discreet that not Ruskin himself could have decided whether these were by Whistler or Peter Paul Rubens. On either side of the marble mantelpiece were two easy-chairs of an immense, incredible capacity, chairs of crimson plush for Titans, chairs softer than moss, more pliant than a loving heart, more enveloping tha

ee-yes, and there was something so mysteriously thrilling about the fall of her skirt that you knew instantly her name was Clara, her temper both fiery and obstinate, and her personality distracting. You knew that she was one of those women of frail physique who can endure fatigues that would destroy a camel; one of those d?monic women capable of doing without sleep for ten nights in order

her waist, and was looped up in the middle to an old-fashioned gold brooch. She was in mourning for a dist

Almost at the same moment a neat black-and-white parlourmaid brought in teapot, copper kettle, and a silver-covered dish containing hot pikelets; then departed. Clara was

t from a hot bath, and happy in dry clothes-a fine, if ma

he said, and kisse

ndured, rather than accepted, his kiss? He was scarcely sure. And if she had endured instead of accepting the kiss, was her mo

exclaimed, taking t

el. Like many warm-hearted, honest, clever, and otherwise sensible persons, Clara was a snob, but a charming little snob. She ordered him to forget that he belonged to the people. She refused to listen when he talked in the dialect. She made him dress with opulence, and even with tidiness; she made him buy a fashionable house and fill it with fine furniture; she made him buy a brougham in which her gentility could pay calls and do shopping (she shopped in Oldcastle, where a decrepit

. Why, then, should Clara have been so anxious for this secondary dignity? Because, in that year of royal festival, Bursley, in common with many other boroughs, had had a fancy to choose a Mayor out of t

o the lovely, meddlesome, and arrogant Co

a Countess a

' she asked in her colder, small-talk manner, wh

ess, was also a dandy, and he was a dog. 'My stepson'-she loved to introduce him, so tall, manly, distinguished, and dandiacal. Harry, enriched by his own mother, belonged to a London club; he ran d

ah. 'I haven't been to t

s wife's real mood and temper, suddenly determined to tell her all about the geese, and know the wo

ee you at once, sir. He

he Deputy-Mayoress sweetly; 'an

lerk of Bursley: legal, po

? No, thanks, really--' But she, smiling, exquisite

he said, and added: 'But we're glad th

just had a letter by the aft

Indeed; how ver

r?' inquired Jo

o-morrow's papers-and so he must regretfully resign the mayoralty. Says he'll pay the

amned!' Josi

acquitting dimple. She never would call him Josiah, much les

step into the Mayor's shoes, and you'll have to fill the place of the Countess.'

rk frankly a

ed a finger at him. 'You are the mo

f tea. Josiah was thoughtful, but Clara brimmed over with a fascinating loquacity. Then Mr. Duncalf said that he must really be going, and, havin

to the front-door. Th

r calling,'

d-night, Curtenty. Got tha

ory was a

of that precious and adorable woman flamed out lightning and all menace and offence. Her louring eyes showed what

harangue. 'And on this day of all days you choose to

upefied, a

ee me, the

tried to c

ou? Of cours

m up with the h

how was I to know that the E

ere yo

ilent. On the way home he had heard the tale of the geese in seven diffe

father,' said Harry; 'I dr

oment in the hall, he heard

' he m