TWO:��Yes, it��s just a matter of business, isn��t it?�� he said.{188}

TWO:Harry was openly vexed. "Well, either way! would any true man leave that woman behind?" and I tried to put in that that was what I had been leading up to; but it makes me smile yet, to recall how jauntily she discomfited us both. She triumphed with the airy ease of a king-bird routing a crow in the upper blue. Camille had more than once told me that C��cile was wise beyond the hope of her two cousins to emulate her; which had only increased my admiration for Camille; yet now I began to see how the sisters came by their belief. In the present discussion she was easily first among the four of us. At the same time her sensuous graces also took unquestionable pre?minence; city-bred though she was, she had the guise of belonging to the landscape, or, rather, of the landscape's belonging, by some fairy prerogative, to her. She seemed just let loose into the world, yet as ready and swift to make right use of it as any humming-bird let into a garden; as untimorous as any such, and as elusive. In this sultry June air she had all the animation both of mind and of frame that might have been expected of her on a keen, clear winter day. Her face never bore the same expression at the beginning and middle, or at either of these and the close, of any of her speeches, yet every change was lovely, the sign of a happy play of feeling, and proof of a mercurial intelligence. No report of them by this untrained pen would fully bear me out, and the best tribute I can offer is to avoid the task."You must understand," resumed the Clockwork man, making a rather painful effort to fold his arms and look natural, "you must understand��click��click��that it is difficult for me to carry on conversation in this manner. Not only are my speech centres rather disordered��G-r-r-r-r-r-r��but I am not really accustomed to expressing my thoughts[Pg 143] in this way (here there was a loud spinning noise, like a sewing machine, and rising to a rapid crescendo). My brain is��so��constituted that action��except in a multiform world��is bound to be somewhat spasmodic��Pfft��Pfft��Pfft. In fact��Pfft��it is only��Pfft��because I am in such a hope��hope��hopeless condition that I am able to converse with you at all."

TWO:"But the proof," interjected Gregg, "you cannot escape from the facts. There lies the Clockwork man. Explain him otherwise if you can."The little dark head fell back and the troubles were forgotten for the moment. The child was breathing regularly and peacefully now. More disturbed and uneasy than she cared to admit, Hetty crept out into the corridor. A certain amount of light from the house and the street fell on the blank side of the Corner House. There were the two blank windows at one of which Mamie had seen the face. It must have been imagination, seeing that the Corner House had been deserted for years. Hetty knew its story as well as anybody else.

TWO:

TWO:SOMETHING ABOUT JAPANESE WOMEN.��Not working at the catalogue, then, this morning?�� he said. ��I wondered whether you would or not.{235}��

TWO:��Oh, Mr Silverdale,�� she said, ��do you really mean that? That you can��t work alone as a mere man? Do you������At this point in the Doctor's reflections the door opened suddenly and Mrs. Masters ushered in the Curate, very dishevelled and obviously in need of immediate medical attention. His collar was all awry, and the look upon his face was that of a man who has looked long and fixedly at some object utterly frightful and could not rid himself of the image. "I've had a shock," he began, trying pathetically to smile recognition. "Sorry disturb you��meal time��" He sank into a saddle-bag chair and waved limp arms expressively. "There was a man��" he got out.

TWO:

TWO: