Produced by David Edwards, Martin Pettit and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.) A LONDON LIFE AND OTHER TALES [Illustration: Publisher's logo] A LONDON LIFE THE PATAGONIA THE LIAR MRS. TEMPERLY BY HENRY JAMES London MACMILLAN AND CO. AND NEW YORK 1889 COPYRIGHT 1889 _BY_ HENRY JAMES CONTENTS PAGE A LONDON LIFE 1 THE PATAGONIA 159 THE LIAR 241 MRS. TEMPERLY 317 NOTE The last of the following four Tales originally appeared under a different name. A LONDON LIFE I It was raining, apparently, but she didn't mind--she would put on stout shoes and walk over to Plash. She was restless and so fidgety that it was a pain; there were strange voices that frightened her--they threw out the ugliest intimations--in the empty rooms at home. She would see old Mrs. Berrington, whom she liked because she was so simple, and old Lady Davenant, who was staying with her and who was interesting for reasons with which simplicity had nothing to do. Then she would come back to the children's tea--she liked even better the last half-hour in the schoolroom, with the bread and butter, the candles and the red fire, the little spasms of confidence of Miss Steet the nursery-governess, and the society of Scratch and Parson (their nicknames would have made you think they were dogs) her small, magnificent nephews, whose flesh was so firm yet so soft and their eyes so charming when they listened to stories. Plash was the dower-house and about a mile and a half, through the park, from Mellows. It was not raining after all, though it had been; there was only a grayness in the air, covering all the strong, rich green, and a pleasant damp, earthy smell, and the walks were smooth and hard, so that the expedition was not arduous.