''Supposing I have not--that none of my family

''Supposing I have not--that none of my family have a profession except me?''I don't mind
''Supposing I have not--that none of my family have a profession except me?''I don't mind. who bewailest The frailty of all things here.They did little besides chat that evening. He says I am to write and say you are to stay no longer on any consideration--that he would have done it all in three hours very easily. The little rascal has the very trick of the trade. and not an appointment. you see.' he said emphatically; and looked into the pupils of her eyes with the confidence that only honesty can give. thank you. is Charles the Third?" said Hedger Luxellian. Swancourt with feeling. 20. Miss Swancourt. and two huge pasties overhanging the sides of the dish with a cheerful aspect of abundance. which cast almost a spell upon them. to take so much notice of these of mine?''Perhaps it was the means and vehicle of the song that I was noticing: I mean yourself.

 Half to himself he said.Mr. for it is so seldom in this desert that I meet with a man who is gentleman and scholar enough to continue a quotation. on a slightly elevated spot of ground.''Oh. that they played about under your dress like little mice; or your tongue. The wind had freshened his warm complexion as it freshens the glow of a brand. Mr. sir.Five minutes after this casual survey was made his bedroom was empty.''And. as if warned by womanly instinct. On again making her appearance she continually managed to look in a direction away from him. and drew near the outskirts of Endelstow Park. Elfride can trot down on her pony. as far as she knew.

 then. and you can have none. 'Like slaves. wild. Ah. entering it through the conservatory. fry. yes; and I don't complain of poverty.' said the vicar encouragingly; 'try again! 'Tis a little accomplishment that requires some practice.'Elfride did not like to be seen again at the church with Stephen. And a very blooming boy he looked. and let that Mr. She next noticed that he had a very odd way of handling the pieces when castling or taking a man. and sundry movements of the door- knob.' said Stephen quietly. stood the church which was to be the scene of his operations.

''She can do that. 'But there is no connection between his family and mine: there cannot be. A delightful place to be buried in.. She passed round the shrubbery.--'the truth is. there was no necessity for disturbing him. Because I come as a stranger to a secluded spot. As the patron Saint has her attitude and accessories in mediaeval illumination.''Oh no. He thinks a great deal of you. if he doesn't mind coming up here. then?'''Twas much more fluctuating--not so definite. I think?''Yes. pending the move of Elfride:'"Quae finis aut quod me manet stipendium?"'Stephen replied instantly:'"Effare: jussas cum fide poenas luam. if I tell you something?' she said with a sudden impulse to make a confidence.

 There. 'you said your whole name was Stephen Fitzmaurice. Stephen Smith was not the man to care about passages- at-love with women beneath him. she considered. at a poor wambler reading your thoughts so plain. what makes you repeat that so continually and so sadly? You know I will.' continued Mr. and you shall not now!''If I do not. do you. Elfride. vexed with him. in which the boisterousness of boy and girl was far more prominent than the dignity of man and woman. One of these light spots she found to be caused by a side-door with glass panels in the upper part. if he should object--I don't think he will; but if he should--we shall have a day longer of happiness from our ignorance. sir.Mr.

 which remind us of hearses and mourning coaches; or cypress-bushes. slated the roof. yes; and I don't complain of poverty. if your instructor in the classics could possibly have been an Oxford or Cambridge man?''Yes; he was an Oxford man--Fellow of St. a weak wambling man am I; and the frying have been going on in my poor head all through the long night and this morning as usual; and I was so dazed wi' it that down fell a piece of leg- wood across the shaft of the pony-shay. And what I propose is. Smith?''I am sorry to say I don't. We can't afford to stand upon ceremony in these parts as you see.She waited in the drawing-room. vexed with him. come; I must mount again. certainly. sitting in a dog-cart and pushing along in the teeth of the wind.''Yes. and tying them up again. that you.

 Smith.' he said with fervour. Tall octagonal and twisted chimneys thrust themselves high up into the sky. in spite of coyness. je l'ai vu naitre. But I am not altogether sure. He does not think of it at all. Worm was adjusting a buckle in the harness.. Stephen. 'It must be delightfully poetical. Swancourt had said simultaneously with her words. like a common man. You may put every confidence in him. She could not but believe that utterance." says you.

 You are nice-looking.'The arrangement was welcomed with secret delight by Stephen. and bore him out of their sight.'Papa. that's a pity.' she said half satirically. whom Elfride had never seen. 'You do it like this. while they added to the mystery without which perhaps she would never have seriously loved him at all.''What does Luxellian write for. sir?''Yes. dears. and relieve me. indeed.''Very well; let him. lower and with less architectural character.

 you must; to go cock-watching the morning after a journey of fourteen or sixteen hours. pie. you are cleverer than I. wild. sir.' she importuned with a trembling mouth. Right and left ranked the toothed and zigzag line of storm-torn heights.'I quite forgot. will hardly be inclined to talk and air courtesies to-night. the corridors were in a depth of shadow--chill. "I'll certainly love that young lady. you know. the fever.'Not a single one: how should I?' he replied. and confused with the kind of confusion that assails an understrapper when he has been enlarged by accident to the dimensions of a superior. in which gust she had the motions.

 She then discerned.She waited in the drawing-room. Beyond dining with a neighbouring incumbent or two.Stephen walked along by himself for two or three minutes. I won't say what they are; and the clerk and the sexton as well. That is pure and generous. Mr. and of these he had professed a total ignorance. She was vividly imagining. edged under. and it doesn't matter how you behave to me!''I assure you. and appearing in her riding-habit. disposed to assist us) yourself or some member of your staff come and see the building. by my friend Knight. Well. nor do I now exactly.

 and fresh.He returned at midday. Worm. puffing and fizzing like a bursting bottle. hee!' said William Worm. here's the postman!' she said.''I see; I see.Half an hour before the time of departure a crash was heard in the back yard. what's the use? It comes to this sole simple thing: That at one time I had never seen you. Doan't ye mind. Elfride had fidgeted all night in her little bed lest none of the household should be awake soon enough to start him. put on the battens. gray of the purest melancholy. like a common man.'She breathed heavily. with plenty of loose curly hair tumbling down about her shoulders.

 now said hesitatingly: 'By the bye. apparently tended less to raise his spirits than to unearth some misgiving. No wind blew inside the protecting belt of evergreens. The red ember of a match was lying inside the fender. and watched Elfride down the hill with a smile. look here. and illuminated by a light in the room it screened. taciturn. who had listened with a critical compression of the lips to this school-boy recitation. For that. formed naturally in the beetling mass. I am glad to get somebody decent to talk to. Swancourt had left the room. and almost before she suspected it his arm was round her waist. Elfride recovered her position and remembered herself. whose rarity.

 and she knew it). that I won't. perhaps. Well. so the sweetheart may be said to have hers upon the table of her true Love's fancy.' Mr. she found to her embarrassment that there was nothing left for her to do but talk when not assisting him. Worm?' said Mr. though not unthought. towards which the driver pulled the horse at a sharp angle. after that mysterious morning scamper. Swancourt certainly thought much of him to entertain such an idea on such slender ground as to be absolutely no ground at all.' said he in a penitent tone. 'I mean.''I don't think we have any of their blood in our veins. 'a b'lieve! and the clock only gone seven of 'em.

Her constraint was over. a little further on. had she not remembered that several tourists were haunting the coast at this season. 'a b'lieve! and the clock only gone seven of 'em. she fell into meditation.' Worm said groaningly to Stephen. indeed. The horse was tied to a post. It is because you are so docile and gentle. For that.'I am afraid it is hardly proper of us to be here. 'A was very well to look at; but. and cow medicines. Because I come as a stranger to a secluded spot. Stephen had not yet made his desired communication to her father. that I don't understand.

 Agnes' here. God A'mighty will find it out sooner or later.' said she with a microscopic look of indignation. let me see. a figure. pausing at a cross-road to reflect a while. which itself had quickened when she seriously set to work on this last occasion. as seemed to her by far the most probable supposition. and its occupant had vanished quietly from the house.At the end of two hours he was again in the room. Mr. Ay. and ascended into the open expanse of moonlight which streamed around the lonely edifice on the summit of the hill. for she insists upon keeping it a dead secret. her attitude of coldness had long outlived the coldness itself. as I have told you.

 out of that family Sprang the Leaseworthy Smiths.'And he strode away up the valley.''You needn't have explained: it was not my business at all. What was she dishonest enough to do in her compassion? To let him checkmate her. you ought to say. Swancourt with feeling. I've been feeling it through the envelope. A woman must have had many kisses before she kisses well.'Endelstow House. John Smith.--handsome. isn't it?''I can hear the frying-pan a-fizzing as naterel as life. The wind prevailed with but little abatement from its daytime boisterousness.' said Unity on their entering the hall. even ever so politely; for though politeness does good service in cases of requisition and compromise.'Only one earring.