H.E. Bates Companion

A music teacher is unable to focus on her students, having just received a rejection letter from her betrothed. Letting go of her dreams and resigned to a lifetime of teaching, she returns to the classroom, instructing "Higher! Open your mouths. You must have freedom! More freedom! Freedom!" In its theme, the story bears some similarity to another early story, The Flame. In the Manchester Guardian (June 1, 1926), Day's End and Other Stories (1928).