each movement of his fat hands was every word be uttered was kind the very of hia voice was comforting he was in a word human and this attracted all that was human in her on leaving mr walked along the streets trailing every word be bad said feeling his breath upon cheek and bis blue eyes looking into more distinctly in recollection than when be had held her in bis arms she walked in recollections clear and a sort of one she bad never known before being a of the people his violence bad not impressed her and she murmured to herself every now and then poor fellow what a fall he had i hope he didn t hurt himself by turns she thought of things totally different � of of the little girls who would regret her absence from the and it was not without surprise that she caught herself wishing suddenly they were her own the wish was only momentary but it was the first time a desire for had ever troubled her it amused her to think of their smiling faces and to make sure of their smiles she entered a shop and bought a small packet of and with the paper in her hand continued her walk home the cheap prints in a newspaper shop delayed her and the workmen who were tearing up the road forced her to consider how a a s wife of traffic would interfere with her business she was now in broad street and when she raised her eyes she saw her own house a new buildings high and narrow it stood in the main street at the corner of a lane the ground floor windows filled with light goods and underneath them black hats trimmed with wings and tails of birds there were also children s dresses and a few trimmed with white lace as she entered the shop mrs who was in the front kitchen cried well is that you where have you been i waited dinner an hour for you and how tired you look in her present state of mind mrs was the last person cared to meet what s the matter my dear aren t you well shall i get you a glass of water oh no mother i m all right can t you see that i m only very hot but where have you been i waited dinner an hour for you it s past two o clock did not know how to account for her absence from home but after a pause she answered thinking of mr as she spoke mrs kept me waiting above an hour trying her dress on and then i was so done up with night watching and sewing that i thought i d go for a walk and after wiping her weary hot face she asked her mother in law if many people had been in the shop that morning well yes half a dozen or more mrs answered and began to the different events of the morning mrs white had bought one of the she said she hadn t seen the pattern before a stranger had taken another and miss had called and wanted to know how much it would cost to her blue dress a s wife oh i know she wants me to the and put new on the for seven and sixpence we can do without her custom what then and then � ah i was forgetting � mrs west came in to tell us that her friend mrs wood the s wife you know up the street was going to be confined and would want some baby linen and she recommended her here did you see nobody else well yes a young man who bought half a dozen pocket handkerchiefs i let him have the half dozen for four shillings and i sold a pink to one of the factory bands over the way why mother you ve done s deal of business and i m glad about the baby linen we ve a lot in stock and it hasn t gone off well i don t know mrs wood but it s very kind of mrs west to recommend us and how has been getting on with the skirt well i must say she has been working very well she was here at half past eight and she did not stop away above three quarters of an hour for dinner i m glad of that for i was never so backward in my life with my work what with being ill and mr tried here to stop herself the conversation had so far been an agreeable one and she did not wish to spoil it by alluding to a subject on which there was no of their agreeing but her mother in law that was thinking of the said yes i wanted to talk to you about that he hasn t sent anyone to take away bis things and he didn t even speak when i took him up his breakfast this morning i don t think mr is leaving us she answered after a pause i thought it was settled last night that he was to be told that he mustn t bring a s wife home after eleven o clock at night i see him i ll to him about it the house is yours if you re satisfied i am and walked into the kitchen and when she had finished her dinner she went upstairs to see whom mrs declared to be much better on passing the the door opened suddenly and the bright faces of the little girls darted out oh is that yon mrs how we ve missed yon all the morning cried and miss has been so that she had to get me to help her with the skirt and i did a great long piece myself without a mistake didn t i miss i 