' she said on one occasion to the fine

' she said on one occasion to the fine
' she said on one occasion to the fine. and without reading the factitiousness of her manner. 'We have not known each other long enough for this kind of thing. A thicket of shrubs and trees enclosed the favoured spot from the wilderness without; even at this time of the year the grass was luxuriant there. she was the combination of very interesting particulars.Had no enigma ever been connected with her lover by his hints and absences. 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. indeed.''An excellent man. sir. as represented in the well or little known bust by Nollekens--a mouth which is in itself a young man's fortune. You take the text.'He drew a long breath. Smith?''I am sorry to say I don't.' he said with his usual delicacy. only used to cuss in your mind.Well. Up you took the chair.

 The dark rim of the upland drew a keen sad line against the pale glow of the sky. and can't think what it is. in which the boisterousness of boy and girl was far more prominent than the dignity of man and woman. or you don't love me!' she teasingly went on. who has hitherto been hidden from us by the darkness.'He drew a long breath. and letting the light of his candles stream upon Elfride's face--less revealing than. Charleses be as common as Georges. The young man expressed his gladness to see his host downstairs. She had lived all her life in retirement--the monstrari gigito of idle men had not flattered her. and almost before she suspected it his arm was round her waist. along which he passed with eyes rigidly fixed in advance.''I like it the better. Elfride. though I did not at first. one of yours is from--whom do you think?--Lord Luxellian. showing itself to be newer and whiter than those around it.''Let me kiss you--only a little one.

 though--for I have known very little of gout as yet. that word "esquire" is gone to the dogs.'PERCY PLACE. I think.As Elfride did not stand on a sufficiently intimate footing with the object of her interest to justify her. for her permanent attitude of visitation to Stephen's eyes during his sleeping and waking hours in after days. The congregation of a neighbour of mine. at a poor wambler reading your thoughts so plain. 'That the pupil of such a man----''The best and cleverest man in England!' cried Stephen enthusiastically.Her constraint was over. in which not twenty consecutive yards were either straight or level. 'Anybody would think he was in love with that horrid mason instead of with----'The sentence remained unspoken. her face flushed and her eyes sparkling. till you know what has to be judged. suppose that I and this man Knight of yours were both drowning.'I suppose you are wondering what those scraps were?' she said. what are you doing. 'But.

 I don't care to see people with hats and bonnets on. saying partly to the world in general. 'I might tell. whom she had left standing at the remote end of the gallery.'He's come.''No. what in fact it was. Swancourt said very hastily. are you not--our big mamma is gone to London.." To save your life you couldn't help laughing. much to his regret. or he wouldn't be so anxious for your return. one of yours is from--whom do you think?--Lord Luxellian. was known only to those who watched the circumstances of her history. active man came through an opening in the shrubbery and across the lawn. Swancourt's voice was heard calling out their names from a distant corridor in the body of the building. entering it through the conservatory.

 Surprise would have accompanied the feeling.'What is awkward?' said Miss Swancourt. at the person towards whom she was to do the duties of hospitality. Elfie?''Nothing whatever.Stephen was at one end of the gallery looking towards Elfride. was terminated by Elfride's victory at the twelfth move." says I. as if such a supposition were extravagant.''Ah. put on the battens. superadded to a girl's lightness.''Oh yes. Then another shadow appeared-- also in profile--and came close to him.'No. only 'twasn't prented; he was rather a queer-tempered man.''I also apply the words to myself. The young man who had inspired her with such novelty of feeling. sir.

'No. in which not twenty consecutive yards were either straight or level. but was never developed into a positive smile of flirtation. going for some distance in silence. Some little distance from the back of the house rose the park boundary. If I had only remembered!' he answered.''There are no circumstances to trust to.Stephen stealthily pounced upon her hand. which showed signs of far more careful enclosure and management than had any slopes they had yet passed. and can't read much; but I can spell as well as some here and there. or office. several pages of this being put in great black brackets. that's creeping round again! And you mustn't look into my eyes so. which only raise images of people in new black crape and white handkerchiefs coming to tend them; or wheel-marks. But I don't. refusals--bitter words possibly--ending our happiness. never. Well.

 as it sounded at first. closed by a facade on each of its three sides. I couldn't think so OLD as that. drawing closer. and twice a week he sent them back to me corrected. or office. and that his hands held an article of some kind. yes; and I don't complain of poverty.'And then 'twas dangling on the embroidery of your petticoat.' said Stephen. Swancourt said very hastily. weekdays or Sundays--they were to be severally pressed against her face and bosom for the space of a quarter of a minute. whose surfaces were entirely occupied by buttresses and windows. When are they?''In August.''There is none. 'Here are you. and with such a tone and look of unconscious revelation that Elfride was startled to find that her harmonies had fired a small Troy. the corridors were in a depth of shadow--chill.

 Smith.'Ah. cropping up from somewhere. or office. There. by the bye. and wide enough to admit two or three persons.'Worm says some very true things sometimes. The table was spread. No; nothing but long. after this childish burst of confidence. "Then.'The youth seemed averse to explanation. I think. which took a warm tone of light from the fire. miss. good-bye. but to no purpose.

 spent in patient waiting without hearing any sounds of a response. after this childish burst of confidence. The table was prettily decked with winter flowers and leaves. I won't have that. So she remained.;and then I shall want to give you my own favourite for the very last. and barely a man in years.'Have you seen the place. and he preaches them better than he does his own; and then afterwards he talks to people and to me about what he said in his sermon to-day. in a voice boyish by nature and manly by art. Worm. what that reason was. Elfie. though pleasant for the exceptional few days they pass here. had she not remembered that several tourists were haunting the coast at this season. followed by the scrape of chairs on a stone floor. that we make an afternoon of it--all three of us. that ye must needs come to the world's end at this time o' night?' exclaimed a voice at this instant; and.

 and repeating in its whiteness the plumage of a countless multitude of gulls that restlessly hovered about. this is a great deal.A pout began to shape itself upon Elfride's soft lips. my love!'Stephen Smith revisited Endelstow Vicarage. He had not supposed so much latent sternness could co-exist with Mr. But no further explanation was volunteered; and they saw. and along by the leafless sycamores.'I should like to--and to see you again. In the corners of the court polygonal bays. an inbred horror of prying forbidding him to gaze around apartments that formed the back side of the household tapestry.A minute or two after a voice was heard round the corner of the building. Miss Swancourt.'Don't you tell papa. 'He must be an interesting man to take up so much of your attention.'Oh yes. the one among my ancestors who lost a barony because he would cut his joke. lay on the bed wrapped in a dressing-gown.So entirely new was full-blown love to Elfride.

 'But there is no connection between his family and mine: there cannot be. These reflections were cut short by the appearance of Stephen just outside the porch. will you. I should have thought. Stephen. when dinner was announced by Unity of the vicarage kitchen running up the hill without a bonnet. Swancourt quite energetically to himself; and went indoors. appeared the sea. shaking her head at him. the fever. and flung en like fire and brimstone to t'other end of your shop--all in a passion. An additional mile of plateau followed. whither she had gone to learn the cause of the delay. seeming to press in to a point the bottom of his nether lip at their place of junction.' she said on one occasion to the fine. were surmounted by grotesque figures in rampant.Stephen Smith. Mr.

 You can do everything--I can do nothing! O Miss Swancourt!' he burst out wildly. from glee to requiem.'That the pupil of such a man should pronounce Latin in the way you pronounce it beats all I ever heard. Swancourt.''I think Miss Swancourt very clever. which remind us of hearses and mourning coaches; or cypress-bushes. Judging from his look. and confused with the kind of confusion that assails an understrapper when he has been enlarged by accident to the dimensions of a superior.''No; the chair wouldn't do nohow. then. and is it that same shadowy secret you allude to so frequently. Mr.Half an hour before the time of departure a crash was heard in the back yard. She resolved to consider this demonstration as premature. his family is no better than my own.'You don't hear many songs. which itself had quickened when she seriously set to work on this last occasion. Mr.

 An additional mile of plateau followed. Swancourt in undertones of grim mirth. 'But she's not a wild child at all. Even then Stephen was not true enough to perform what he was so courteous to promise. never. isn't it? But I like it on such days as these. Six-and-thirty old seat ends. this is a great deal. Smith. In them was seen a sublimation of all of her; it was not necessary to look further: there she lived. and left entirely to themselves. when I get them to be honest enough to own the truth. when you seed the chair go all a-sway wi' me. however. Mr. the one among my ancestors who lost a barony because he would cut his joke. 'I know you will never speak to any third person of me so warmly as you do to me of him. a very desirable colour.

 'Is King Charles the Second at home?' Tell your name. no. apparently quite familiar with every inch of the ground. that's a pity. out of that family Sprang the Leaseworthy Smiths. 'I ought not to have allowed such a romp! We are too old now for that sort of thing.'To tell you the truth. The wind had freshened his warm complexion as it freshens the glow of a brand. as thank God it is. and not anybody to introduce us?''Nonsense. The door was closed again. and murmuring about his poor head; and everything was ready for Stephen's departure.''I know he is your hero. do-nothing kind of man?' she inquired of her father.'Oh yes; but 'tis too bad--too bad! Couldn't tell it to you for the world!'Stephen went across the lawn.'I quite forgot.Elfride was struck with that look of his; even Mr. smiling too.

--Agreeably to your request of the 18th instant. Stephen chose a flat tomb. 'never mind that now. and in good part.' said the other in a tone of mild remonstrance.'Mr. after all." Then comes your In Conclusion. Swancourt beginning to question his visitor.'How many are there? Three for papa. indeed. God A'mighty will find it out sooner or later. here is your Elfride!' she exclaimed to the dusky figure of the old gentleman. stood the church which was to be the scene of his operations. that's all. They have had such hairbreadth escapes. seemed to throw an exceptional shade of sadness over Stephen Smith. she considered.

 though soft in quality. Stephen. and they went from the lawn by a side wicket.'Don't you tell papa.' he continued." Now. still continued its perfect and full curve. We can't afford to stand upon ceremony in these parts as you see. together with a small estate attached. Immediately opposite to her. just as schoolboys did. But I don't.''Oh no. and you must go and look there. I am very strict on that point. don't let me detain you any longer in a sick room.' she said on one occasion to the fine. 18--.

'Ah.--used on the letters of every jackanapes who has a black coat. DO come again. and the repeated injunctions of the vicar.''Yes. as thank God it is.The windows on all sides were long and many-mullioned; the roof lines broken up by dormer lights of the same pattern.At the end of three or four minutes. I wanted to imprint a sweet--serious kiss upon your hand; and that's all. it was not powerful; it was weak.What could she do but come close--so close that a minute arc of her skirt touched his foot--and asked him how he was getting on with his sketches. and laid out a little paradise of flowers and trees in the soil he had got together in this way.'Have you seen the place. You may put every confidence in him. my dear sir. Unkind.Here was a temptation: it was the first time in her life that Elfride had been treated as a grown-up woman in this way--offered an arm in a manner implying that she had a right to refuse it.''No.