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Transcriber's Note:

  Inconsistent hyphenation and spelling in the original document have
  been preserved. Obvious typographical errors have been corrected.

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_By the Same Author:_

     WYMPS: Fairy Tales. With eight  illustrations by Mrs.
     Percy Dearmer.

     AT THE RELTON ARMS: A Novel.

     THE MAKING OF A SCHOOL-GIRL.




     THE
     MAKING OF A PRIG

     BY
     EVELYN SHARP

     JOHN LANE: THE BODLEY HEAD
     NEW YORK AND LONDON
     1897




     _Copyright, 1897_,
     BY JOHN LANE.

     _All rights reserved._

     University Press:
     JOHN WILSON AND SON, CAMBRIDGE, U.S.A.




The Making of a Prig




CHAPTER I


It was supper time at the Rectory, and the Rector had not come in.
There were two conflicting elements at the Rectory, the Rector's
disregard of details and his sister's sense of their importance. There
was only one will, however, and that was his sister's. So the meals
were always punctual, and the Rector was always late; a fact that by
its very recurrence would have long ceased to be important, had not
Miss Esther loved to accentuate it by a certain formula of complaint
that varied as little as the offence itself. This evening, however, he
was later than usual; and Miss Esther did not attempt to conceal her
impatience as she glanced from the old clock in the corner down to the
fire-place, where another familiar grievance awaited her.

"Katharine, how often have I told you not to lie on the rug like a
great boy?" she said querulously, in the tone of one who has not the
courage or the character to be really angry. She added immediately, "I
want you to ring the bell for the soup."

The girl on the floor rolled over lazily, and shut her book with a
bang.

"Daddy hasn't come in yet," she said, sitting up on her heels and
shaking the hair out of her eyes. A latent spirit of revolt was in her
tone, although she spoke half absently, as if her thoughts were still
with her book. Miss Esther tapped