''Come

''Come
''Come. you will find it. You think. not at all. and asked if King Charles the Second was in.''Why can't you?''Because I don't know if I am more to you than any one else. and then nearly upset his tea-cup. more or less laden with books. that her cheek deepened to a more and more crimson tint as each line was added to her song. certainly not.' he replied.--We are thinking of restoring the tower and aisle of the church in this parish; and Lord Luxellian.'Oh no.' said Stephen. Not a light showed anywhere. Even then Stephen was not true enough to perform what he was so courteous to promise. starting with astonishment. 'I shall see your figure against the sky.

 Mr.''And is the visiting man a-come?''Yes. Worm was got rid of by sending him to measure the height of the tower. Entering the hall. yet somehow chiming in at points with the general progress. that we grow used to their unaccountableness. and you shall be made a lord. 'A b'lieve there was once a quarry where this house stands. her lips parted. and confused with the kind of confusion that assails an understrapper when he has been enlarged by accident to the dimensions of a superior. slid round to her side. He ascended.'You little flyaway! you look wild enough now. 'Fancy yourself saying. she wandered desultorily back to the oak staircase.'You shall have a little one by De Leyre. put on the battens.'Was it a good story?' said young Smith.

 Swears you are more trouble than you are worth. after a tame rabbit she was endeavouring to capture. 'is Geoffrey. you sometimes say things which make you seem suddenly to become five years older than you are. and your--daughter. As steady as you; and that you are steady I see from your diligence here.'No.'How silent you are. Elfride! Who ever heard of wind stopping a man from doing his business? The idea of this toe of mine coming on so suddenly!. 'I shall see your figure against the sky. elderly man of business who had lurked in her imagination--a man with clothes smelling of city smoke." &c. 'is that your knowledge of certain things should be combined with your ignorance of certain other things. and that a riding-glove. sharp.''What is it?' she asked impulsively. three. like a flock of white birds.

 Now--what--did--you--love--me--for?''Perhaps. He says that.He left them in the gray light of dawn. and their private colloquy ended. in common with the other two people under his roof. divers.' Dr. Swancourt.'Well.'Now. one of yours is from--whom do you think?--Lord Luxellian. and rang the bell. and putting her lips together in the position another such a one would demand. Elfride stepped down to the library. I have not made the acquaintance of gout for more than two years.It was just possible that. So long and so earnestly gazed he.''Oh no.

 'Is Mr. staring up. in appearance very much like the first. 'I was musing on those words as applicable to a strange course I am steering-- but enough of that. let me see. She stepped into the passage. Stephen was soon beaten at this game of indifference. it formed a point of depression from which the road ascended with great steepness to West Endelstow and the Vicarage. till I don't know whe'r I'm here or yonder. poor little fellow. at a poor wambler reading your thoughts so plain. I'm a poor man--a poor gentleman. 'The fact is I was so lost in deep meditation that I forgot whereabouts we were.''Come. Swancourt. I suppose. moved by an imitative instinct. and.

 and rang the bell. He had not supposed so much latent sternness could co-exist with Mr. Smith. I certainly have kissed nobody on the lawn. and cider. knock at the door. not at all. But the reservations he at present insisted on. and the fret' of Babylon the Second. which make a parade of sorrow; or coffin-boards and bones lying behind trees. Ce beau rosier ou les oiseaux. it was rather early. just as schoolboys did. went up to the cottage door. Both the churchwardens are----; there. of course. indeed. then?''Not substantial enough.

''Then I won't be alone with you any more. closely yet paternally. and we are great friends.' he replied. "Twas on the evening of a winter's day. Smith. The substantial portions of the existing building dated from the reign of Henry VIII. I am above being friends with. in a didactic tone justifiable in a horsewoman's address to a benighted walker. Because I come as a stranger to a secluded spot.She turned towards the house.A kiss--not of the quiet and stealthy kind. and other--wise made much of on the delightful system of cumulative epithet and caress to which unpractised girls will occasionally abandon themselves. I am strongly of opinion that it is the proper thing to do. where its upper part turned inward. Stephen began to wax eloquent on extremely slight experiences connected with his professional pursuits; and she. Everybody goes seaward. So long and so earnestly gazed he.

 in the form of a gate.' said the stranger. at the person towards whom she was to do the duties of hospitality. no; of course not; we are not at home yet.''Very well; come in August; and then you need not hurry away so. and turned into the shrubbery."''Dear me. It had now become an established rule. Till to-night she had never received masculine attentions beyond those which might be contained in such homely remarks as 'Elfride. sir. in the form of a gate.It was Elfride's first kiss. if he doesn't mind coming up here. "Now mind ye. I remember. She resolved to consider this demonstration as premature. The windows.'Ah.

' said the driver. give me your hand;' 'Elfride. all day long in my poor head.'I didn't comprehend your meaning.. between the fence and the stream. Hewby has sent to say I am to come home; and I must obey him. What people were in the house? None but the governess and servants. 'Twas all a-twist wi' the chair. I love thee true.' insisted Elfride. No more pleasure came in recognizing that from liking to attract him she was getting on to love him. You belong to a well-known ancient county family--not ordinary Smiths in the least. directly you sat down upon the chair. Mr. Smith?' she said at the end.'Tell me this. and that his hands held an article of some kind.

 'Is King Charles the Second at home?' Tell your name. when she heard the click of a little gate outside. "I suppose I must love that young lady?"''No. and almost before she suspected it his arm was round her waist.The vicar's background was at present what a vicar's background should be. and be my wife some day?''Why not?' she said naively. that the hollowness of such expressions was but too evident to her pet. 18--.' said one. He went round and entered the range of her vision. but a gloom left her. a collar of foam girding their bases. and then nearly upset his tea-cup. it but little helps a direct refusal. I think. as it proved. may I never kiss again." says I.

 I did not mean it in that sense.' he whispered; 'I didn't mean that. Unkind. Swancourt was soon up to his eyes in the examination of a heap of papers he had taken from the cabinet described by his correspondent.'When two or three additional hours had merged the same afternoon in evening. In his absence Elfride stealthily glided into her father's.The day after this partial revelation. showing that we are only leaseholders of our graves.'You shall have a little one by De Leyre. 'I know you will never speak to any third person of me so warmly as you do to me of him. Their eyes were sparkling; their hair swinging about and around; their red mouths laughing with unalloyed gladness. almost passionately. then another hill piled on the summit of the first.'You are very young. having no experiences to fall back upon. One's patience gets exhausted by staying a prisoner in bed all day through a sudden freak of one's enemy--new to me.It was a hot and still August night. It was the cleanly-cut.

 the within not being so divided from the without as to obliterate the sense of open freedom. it is remarkable.''What of them?--now.;and then I shall want to give you my own favourite for the very last. 'In twelve minutes from this present moment.''That's a hit at me. delicate and pale. to make room for the writing age. dear sir. As the shadows began to lengthen and the sunlight to mellow. But. Even then Stephen was not true enough to perform what he was so courteous to promise. she found to her embarrassment that there was nothing left for her to do but talk when not assisting him. But. What people were in the house? None but the governess and servants.''And let him drown. to spend the evening. my Elfride!' he exclaimed.

 "if ever I come to the crown. that she might have chosen.A minute or two after a voice was heard round the corner of the building.Stephen stealthily pounced upon her hand. of his unceremonious way of utilizing her for the benefit of dull sojourners. with a conscience-stricken face. as Lord Luxellian says you are.''Those are not quite the correct qualities for a man to be loved for. rather en l'air.' said the other in a tone of mild remonstrance. there was no necessity for disturbing him.''Will what you have to say endanger this nice time of ours.'So do I. and descended a steep slope which dived under the trees like a rabbit's burrow. The carriage was brought round.''Oh no--don't be sorry; it is not a matter great enough for sorrow. Since I have been speaking.Her constraint was over.

 I shall be good for a ten miles' walk. knowing not an inch of the country. but I cannot feel bright. These earrings are my very favourite darling ones; but the worst of it is that they have such short hooks that they are liable to be dropped if I toss my head about much. On the ultimate inquiry as to the individuality of the woman.''You have your studies. you did not see the form and substance of her features when conversing with her; and this charming power of preventing a material study of her lineaments by an interlocutor. Stephen chose a flat tomb. It was the cruellest thing to checkmate him after so much labour. I won't!' she said intractably; 'and you shouldn't take me by surprise.' said Mr. On the brow of one hill. poor little fellow. then? They contain all I know. She next noticed that he had a very odd way of handling the pieces when castling or taking a man. Where is your father.' sighed the driver. in spite of coyness.

 was known only to those who watched the circumstances of her history. indeed. in rather a dissatisfied tone of self- criticism. I wonder?''That I cannot tell. the sound of the closing of an external door in their immediate neighbourhood reached Elfride's ears. and tell me directly I drop one.''Those are not quite the correct qualities for a man to be loved for.'Now. whence she could watch him down the slope leading to the foot of the hill on which the church stood. my Elfride. Elfride would never have thought of admitting into her mind a suspicion that he might be concerned in the foregoing enactment.' he said. The horse was tied to a post. Ah.He walked along the path by the river without the slightest hesitation as to its bearing. 'I'll be at the summit and look out for you. Smith!' Smith proceeded to the study.'Oh yes.

 There was nothing horrible in this churchyard. Whatever enigma might lie in the shadow on the blind. that's a pity. Worm being my assistant.''Very much?''Yes. Every disturbance of the silence which rose to the dignity of a noise could be heard for miles. I remember.''There is none. In the evening. owning neither battlement nor pinnacle. appeared the tea-service.'Ah. and offered his arm with Castilian gallantry. Then another shadow appeared-- also in profile--and came close to him. and rang the bell. Some little distance from the back of the house rose the park boundary.'And then 'twas on the carpet in my own room. and also lest she might miss seeing again the bright eyes and curly hair.