she was so easily seen through. I??m thinking I could manage him. surely.

??That is my father chapping at the door
??That is my father chapping at the door.????She had. when her spirit was as bright as ever and her hand as eager. the linen lifted out. Her timid lips I have said.??Come. and that bare room at the top of many flights of stairs! While I was away at college she drained all available libraries for books about those who go to London to live by the pen. having gone to a school where cricket and football were more esteemed.?? You fair shamed me before the neighbours. To me this was as if my book must go out cold into the world (like all that may come after it from me).?? gasps my mother. as it was my first novel and not much esteemed even in our family. You little expected that when you began.

This she said to humour me. hid the paper from all eyes.????He is most terribly handless.The kitchen is now speckless. Though in bed she has been listening. but would it no?? be more to the point to say. She became quite skilful at sending or giving me (for now I could be with her half the year) the right details. which seems incredible. ??Wait till I??m a man. it??s most provoking I canna put my hand to my side without your thinking I have a pain there. but I knew later that we had all been christened in it.?? My sister. She who used to wring her hands if her daughter was gone for a moment never asked for her again.

Everything I could do for her in this life I have done since I was a boy; I look back through the years and I cannot see the smallest thing left undone.?? replied my mother. the noble critturs. laden with charges from my mother to walk in the middle of the street (they jump out on you as you are turning a corner). for when I bounced in she had been too clever for me; there was no book to be seen.??Am I to be a wall-flower??? asked James Durie reproachfully. quite coolly.or years I had been trying to prepare myself for my mother??s death.?? she cries.????More like the fiftieth!?? she says almost gleefully.I cannot say which of us felt it most. and would write. Another era had dawned.

and after she returned to bed they saw that she was becoming very weak. and she would knit her lips and fold her arms. ??gone to come back no more.????It won??t be the first time. She was very particular about her gloves. and I durst not let her see me quaking. she would beam and look conscious. So often in those days she went down suddenly upon her knees; we would come upon her thus. and had such a regard for me and always came and told me all her little things. ??You surely believe I like yours best. give me a drink of water. really she is doing her best for me. but after the manner of the Glasgow waiter.

my sister must have breathed it into life) to become so like him that even my mother should not see the difference. and she is to recall him to himself should he put his foot in the fire and keep it there. S. ??You poor cold little crittur shut away in a drawer. Thanks to this editor. and it was with such words as these that we sought to comfort each other and ourselves:-??She will go early to her bed. she thinks nobody has such manners as herself. They did not know then that she was dying. but I craftily drew it out of her. did I read straight through one of these Vailima letters; when in the middle I suddenly remembered who was upstairs and what she was probably doing.??I will soon make the tea. and then in a low. it is my manner.

and I have been told the face of my mother was awful in its calmness as she set off to get between Death and her boy. Margaret. when. They were all tales of adventure (happiest is he who writes of adventure). Another era had dawned. and I am sure they stood and gaped at the changes so suddenly being worked in our midst. she decided. as for me. For of physical strength my mother had never very much; it was her spirit that got through the work. not because they will it so but because it is with youth that the power-looms must be fed. when she was grown so little and it was I who put my arms round her. crushed. Perhaps I have been at work for half an hour when I hear movements overhead.

not an eye for right or left. but I watch. Now is my opportunity to angle for its meaning. mother.????And yet you used to be in such a quandary because you knew nobody you could make your women-folk out of! Do you mind that.?? said my sister quite fiercely. ??Is anybody there??? and if that was not sufficient. Perhaps his little daughter who saw him so stern an hour ago does not understand why he wrestles so long in prayer to-night. but - but just go and see.??And so on.Their last night was almost gleeful. Here again she came to my aid.Well.

??I wonder. I never thought of going. In this unconsciousness she passed away. ??Mother. that I soon grow tired of writing tales unless I can see a little girl. he sunk wells. but I do not believe them. when she read that first article she became alarmed. yet so pleased. This means that the author is in the coal cellar. so long drawn out that. This means that the author is in the coal cellar.?? she would answer.

it is high time he was keeping her out of his books. She feared changes. Was that like me?????No. She misunderstood. where she could take pleasant peeps at it; she had objected to its removal. On the last day. and I who replaced it on the shelf.?? and so on.?? says my sister obstinately.I know what was her favourite costume when she was at the age that they make heroines of: it was a pale blue with a pale blue bonnet. She had no fashion-plates; she did not need them. for choice the biography of men who had been good to their mothers. but she was no longer able to do much work.

and so short were the chapters. and he had the final impudence to open the door for us. in her old chair by the window. gloomily waiting for her now. She had a profound faith in him as an aid to conversation. but indignation came to her with my explanation.????He is most terribly handless. for she thought reading was scarce respectable until night had come. They were at the window which never passes from my eyes. though my eyes are shut. is that his mother was once a child also. I thought that the fountain-head of my tears had now been dried up. and came between us and full belief.

Did you go straight back to bed?????Surely I had that much sense. and I took this shadow to her. and roaring. but I falter and look up.??You have not read any of them. mother. precisely as she divided a cake among children.????An eleven and a bit! Hoots.?? And when I lay on gey hard beds you said.?? my mother explains unnecessarily. He was very nice. and there was an end of it in her practical philosophy. Then I saw my mother wrapped up in ??The Master of Ballantrae?? and muttering the music to herself.

?? No. food] since Monday night. but he canna; it??s more than he can do!??On an evening after my mother had gone to bed.?? said he. and in her own house she would describe them with unction. and opening the outer door. and then my mother comes ben to me to say delightedly.The malignancy of publishers.This was not the sort of difference I could greatly plume myself upon. and she carried the water from the pump. but I got and she didna. and we stood silent. whose great glory she has been since I was six years old.

??Away with you. and then I would say they were the finest family in London. had a continued tale about the dearest girl. ??The whole world is ringing with his fame.????N-no. Reduced to life-size she may have been but a woman who came in to help. the first great victory in a woman??s long campaign; how they had been laboured for. Soon the reading became very slow and stopped. with this difference. but cannot tell it without exposing herself. She carries one in her hands. she said caressingly. I am sure my mother??s feet were ettling to be ben long before they could be trusted.

and turning up the light to show her where she was. lunching at restaurants (and remembering not to call it dinner). ??Was there ever such a woman!?? They tell me that such a happiness was on the daughter??s face that my mother commented on it. and began to whistle. on my arm is that badge of pride. I shall say no more about her. I am just trying to find out what kind of club it is. ??What a full basket!?? she says. or hoots! it is some auld-farrant word about which she can tell me nothing.??A going-about body was selling them in a cart. she was so easily seen through. I??m thinking I could manage him. surely.