Helen with the High Hand (2nd ed.)

g-room and the scullery. This door was shut; that is to say, it was nearly shut. He had been turned out of the scullery; not with vi

ildish daughter of that chit Susan-an afternoon on which he had raised his hat to Mrs. Prockter-a Saturday afternoon on which he had foregone, on

s. Butt. And Mrs. Butt had departed. Already he missed her as one misses an ancient and supersensitive corn-if the simile may be per

ent in three lives. Certainly Mrs. Butt possessed a wondrous instinct for theatrical effect. Helen, on the contrary, seemed to possess none. She

l kidney," sh

ey, lass?" James had asked, caref

are not passionately fond of kidney

What art goin

get our tea,

to have such a sensation again, was most distinctly conscious of an agreea

asked her, "w

t it be a good thing for you to go out for

alk," he said,

rs which constituted the receptacles of the scullery-larders; she had been spying out the riches and the poverty of the establishment. Then she had turned

heard nothing whatever for years, and when he looked at the clock it was fourteen minutes past four. In the act of looking at the clock, his eye had to traverse the region of the sofa. On the sofa were one parasol and two gloves. Astonishing, sin

ith a swish of silk that was like the retreat o

lease do make yourself scarce. You

plates, two of which she dropped on the table,

" he questioned her politely

tively, and with just the least

ye i

secret breast. The truth was, he knew that she had not got all she wanted. He knew that, despite her extraordinary capableness (of which she was rather vain), despite her ability to calculate mentally the interest on eighty-nine pounds for six months at four-and-a-half per cent., she could not possibly

China tea; and he fancied China tea that cost five shillings a pound. He was the last person to leave China tea at five shillings a pound to the economic prudence of a Mrs.

k octagonal case. He opened this case, which was not locked, and drew from it a concertina, all inlaid with mother-of-pearl. Then he went to the desk, and from under a pile of rent books he extracted several pieces of music, and selected one. This selected piece he rea

age of music first through his spectacles, and then, bending forward his head, over his spectacles. Then he put down the concertina, gingerly, on a chair, and moved the music half-an-inch (perhaps five-eighths) to the left. He resumed the concertina, and was on the very point of

e Hallelu

scorners) two musical instruments, the concertina and the cornet. And the Five Towns would like to see the composer clever enough to compose a piece of music that cannot be arranged for either of these instruments. It is conceivable that Beethoven imagined, when he wrote the last movement of the C Min

h Chorus to its profoundest depths; which was not surprising in view of the fact that he had been playing it

sound of chopping, which quite marred the soft tenderness at which he had been aiming. He stopped abruptly. The sound of chopping intrigued his curiosity. What could she be chopping? He advanced cautiously to the doorway; he had left the door open. The othe

on that she was being overlooked. After the chopping of the kidney, James wit

stantly poured it out of the coffee-cup into a basin. She did the same to another egg, and yet another. Four eggs! The ent

the basin. All the time she had held her hands and her implements and utensils away from her as much as possible, doubtless out of consideration for her frock; not an inch of apron was she wearing. Now she leant over the gas-stove, fork in hand, and made baffling motions inside the saucepan with the fork; and while doing so she stretched forth her left hand, obtained some salt, and sprinkled the saucepan therew

led eggs, because you have to sti

stood quite still, re

e said, without moving her head. She must

d out of the window at the stir

eady," s

not come to him and confessed that she could not make tea without tea