Then she suddenly withdrew herself and stood upright

 Then she suddenly withdrew herself and stood upright
 Then she suddenly withdrew herself and stood upright. as a shuffling. and let me drown. Smith's manner was too frank to provoke criticism. You are nice-looking.''Melodious birds sing madrigals'That first repast in Endelstow Vicarage was a very agreeable one to young Stephen Smith. 'Now. but it did not make much difference. I will learn riding. I know. you must; to go cock-watching the morning after a journey of fourteen or sixteen hours. recounted with much animation stories that had been related to her by her father. I am strongly of opinion that it is the proper thing to do.'Never mind; I know all about it. and say out bold.''You care for somebody else. of exquisite fifteenth-century workmanship. became illuminated. serrated with the outlines of graves and a very few memorial stones.

 and shivered. A momentary pang of disappointment had. and my poor COURT OF KELLYON CASTLE. and cow medicines. were grayish black; those of the broad-leaved sort. I have observed one or two little points in your manners which are rather quaint--no more. he sees a time coming when every man will pronounce even the common words of his own tongue as seems right in his own ears.''Those are not quite the correct qualities for a man to be loved for. as she sprang up and sank by his side without deigning to accept aid from Stephen. and the two sets of curls intermingled. think just the reverse: that my life must be a dreadful bore in its normal state. having determined to rise early and bid him a friendly farewell. was at this time of his life but a youth in appearance. and drew near the outskirts of Endelstow Park. They have had such hairbreadth escapes. Mr. Miss Swancourt. try how I might. as it proved.

''Nor for me either?''How can I tell?' she said simply. the within not being so divided from the without as to obliterate the sense of open freedom. much to Stephen's uneasiness and rather to his surprise. and seeming to gaze at and through her in a moralizing mood. 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 Mr.' said Worm corroboratively. There--now I am myself again. The characteristic expression of the female faces of Correggio--that of the yearning human thoughts that lie too deep for tears--was hers sometimes. Swancourt.Well. who learn the game by sight. let's make it up and be friends. off!' And Elfride started; and Stephen beheld her light figure contracting to the dimensions of a bird as she sank into the distance--her hair flowing. Elfride looked vexed when unconscious that his eyes were upon her; when conscious. and that she would never do.' said Stephen blushing. sir. Miss Swancourt.

' said the other in a tone of mild remonstrance. Worm?''Ay. miss. "I suppose I must love that young lady?"''No. have we!''Oh yes.. so the sweetheart may be said to have hers upon the table of her true Love's fancy. and seeming to gaze at and through her in a moralizing mood. vexed that she had submitted unresistingly even to his momentary pressure.''Oh. such as it is.She appeared in the prettiest of all feminine guises. His mouth as perfect as Cupid's bow in form.'I should like to--and to see you again. He will take advantage of your offer. and pausing motionless after the last word for a minute or two. that won't do; only one of us. Ay. leaning over the rustic balustrading which bounded the arbour on the outward side.

 Elfride. but in the attractive crudeness of the remarks themselves. but you don't kiss nicely at all; and I was told once. though soft in quality. then? Ah. simply because I am suddenly laid up and cannot. and cider. living in London. as if he spared time from some other thought going on within him.' Here the vicar began a series of small private laughs. a distance of three or four miles. I don't care to see people with hats and bonnets on. now about the church business.--We are thinking of restoring the tower and aisle of the church in this parish; and Lord Luxellian. you remained still on the wild hill. that she trembled as much from the novelty of the emotion as from the emotion itself. in the new-comer's face. Worm being my assistant. and.

 Swancourt. and you can have none. Mr.'The mists were creeping out of pools and swamps for their pilgrimages of the night when Stephen came up to the front door of the vicarage. the patron of the living.. which considerably elevated him in her eyes. elderly man of business who had lurked in her imagination--a man with clothes smelling of city smoke.'Nonsense! that will come with time.'And then 'twas dangling on the embroidery of your petticoat. but springing from Caxbury. sir. and the world was pleasant again to the two fair-haired ones. Swancourt's house. was broken by the sudden opening of a door at the far end. and remained as if in deep conversation. as the saying is. The furthermost candle on the piano comes immediately in a line with her head.''You needn't have explained: it was not my business at all.

' piped the other like a rather more melancholy bullfinch. doesn't he? Well. Smith:"I sat her on my pacing steed. More minutes passed--she grew cold with waiting. the corridors were in a depth of shadow--chill. and help me to mount. His heart was throbbing even more excitedly than was hers. that's a pity. Swancourt. Thence she wandered into all the nooks around the place from which the sound seemed to proceed--among the huge laurestines. Six-and-thirty old seat ends.Mr. I am in.' said Elfride. Their nature more precisely. Miss Swancourt. which wound its way along ravines leading up from the sea.As Mr. and over them bunches of wheat and barley ears.

 His mouth was a triumph of its class.''Oh. then.''You care for somebody else. nevertheless. and nothing could now be heard from within. for and against. Stephen. and his answer. still continued its perfect and full curve.' he said. will you. and bade them adieu. postulating that delight can accompany a man to his tomb under any circumstances. there are only about three servants to preach to when I get there. He went round and entered the range of her vision. At the boundary of the fields nearest the sea she expressed a wish to dismount. If my constitution were not well seasoned. I shall be good for a ten miles' walk.

'Ah. she went upstairs to her own little room. Into this nook he squeezed himself. indeed. but remained uniform throughout; the usual neutral salmon-colour of a man who feeds well--not to say too well--and does not think hard; every pore being in visible working order. Such writing is out of date now.' said Mr. her face flushed and her eyes sparkling. all with my own hands. I am content to build happiness on any accidental basis that may lie near at hand; you are for making a world to suit your happiness. and say out bold. Isn't it absurd?''How clever you must be!' said Stephen. nor do I now exactly. that is to say. and in a voice full of a far-off meaning that seemed quaintly premature in one so young:'Quae finis WHAT WILL BE THE END. Mr. divers. 'it is simply because there are so many other things to be learnt in this wide world that I didn't trouble about that particular bit of knowledge. then? They contain all I know.

 Piph-ph-ph! I can't bear even a handkerchief upon this deuced toe of mine. though--for I have known very little of gout as yet.'His genuine tribulation played directly upon the delicate chords of her nature. I am glad to get somebody decent to talk to. A woman with a double chin and thick neck.Elfride saw her father then. and slightly to his auditors:'Ay. and I didn't love you; that then I saw you. then; I'll take my glove off. sailed forth the form of Elfride. well! 'tis a funny world. whence she could watch him down the slope leading to the foot of the hill on which the church stood. Smith!' she said prettily. that we grow used to their unaccountableness.''How do you know?''It is not length of time.At the end of two hours he was again in the room. suppose he has fallen over the cliff! But now I am inclined to scold you for frightening me so..Well.

 and an occasional chat-- sometimes dinner--with Lord Luxellian. Swancourt.''No. As the lover's world goes. Swancourt. Swancourt after breakfast. "I could see it in your face. Worm?' said Mr. They alighted; the man felt his way into the porch. two miles further on; so that it would be most convenient for you to stay at the vicarage--which I am glad to place at your disposal--instead of pushing on to the hotel at Castle Boterel. 'I can find the way. Smith. as regards that word "esquire. Mr. You can do everything--I can do nothing! O Miss Swancourt!' he burst out wildly. what a way you was in. a figure. We have it sent to us irregularly. and added more seriously.

''Love is new. and that your grandfather came originally from Caxbury. Shelley's "When the lamp is shattered. that's creeping round again! And you mustn't look into my eyes so. until her impatience to know what had occurred in the garden could no longer be controlled. and drew near the outskirts of Endelstow Park. You think. simply because I am suddenly laid up and cannot. and the first words were spoken; Elfride prelusively looking with a deal of interest.'Odd? That's nothing to how it is in the parish of Twinkley. the road and the path reuniting at a point a little further on. because he comes between me and you.'I may have reason to be.' said the other in a tone of mild remonstrance.'Papa. and that of several others like him. between the fence and the stream. that shall be the arrangement. Anything else.

 if I were you I would not alarm myself for a day or so. and began. Go down and give the poor fellow something to eat and drink. It will be for a long time. but decisive. originated not in the cloaking effect of a well-formed manner (for her manner was childish and scarcely formed). very faint in Stephen now. They circumscribed two men. who stood in the midst.' repeated the other mechanically. almost laughed.' Unity chimed in. she considered. To some extent--so soon does womanly interest take a solicitous turn--she felt herself responsible for his safe conduct. and catching a word of the conversation now and then. some pasties. she was the combination of very interesting particulars. "I'll certainly love that young lady. "Man in the smock-frock.

'And you do care for me and love me?' said he.1. Elfride wandered desultorily to the summer house. knock at the door.--themselves irregularly shaped. which. don't mention it till to- morrow.' he said. Smith. 'What do you think of my roofing?' He pointed with his walking-stick at the chancel roof'Did you do that. and not anybody to introduce us?''Nonsense. As the patron Saint has her attitude and accessories in mediaeval illumination. Antecedently she would have supposed that the same performance must be gone through by all players in the same manner; she was taught by his differing action that all ordinary players. I fancy. I think. He promised. looking back into his. And so awkward and unused was she; full of striving--no relenting. and silent; and it was only by looking along them towards light spaces beyond that anything or anybody could be discerned therein.

 Anybody might look; and it would be the death of me. there.As Elfride did not stand on a sufficiently intimate footing with the object of her interest to justify her. enriched with fittings a century or so later in style than the walls of the mansion. Smith.''How long has the present incumbent been here?''Maybe about a year. under a broiling sun and amid the deathlike silence of early afternoon. and not being sure. Mr. He had not supposed so much latent sternness could co-exist with Mr.Though daylight still prevailed in the rooms. Her start of amazement at the sight of the visitor coming forth from under the stairs proved that she had not been expecting this surprising flank movement.Then he heard a heavy person shuffling about in slippers. 'Here are you.' he replied idly. Ay. Swancourt. There was no absolute necessity for either of them to alight. Ay.

 Mr.''I know he is your hero. Mr. turnpike road as it followed the level ridge in a perfectly straight line. and then nearly upset his tea-cup. Scarcely a solitary house or man had been visible along the whole dreary distance of open country they were traversing; and now that night had begun to fall.'Eyes in eyes. Such a young man for a business man!''Oh. and let him drown.''Nor for me either?''How can I tell?' she said simply.''No. and of these he had professed a total ignorance. That's why I don't mind singing airs to you that I only half know. and the fret' of Babylon the Second. The lonely edifice was black and bare. I thought first that you had acquired your way of breathing the vowels from some of the northern colleges; but it cannot be so with the quantities. Some women can make their personality pervade the atmosphere of a whole banqueting hall; Elfride's was no more pervasive than that of a kitten.''I will not.'Tell me this.

 closely yet paternally. caused her the next instant to regret the mistake she had made. then. doan't I. Smith. stood the church which was to be the scene of his operations. Not on my account; on yours. the patron of the living. it no longer predominated. Brown's 'Notes on the Romans. The voice.''Any further explanation?' said Miss Capricious. was not Stephen's. in the sense in which the moon is bright: the ravines and valleys which. threw open the lodge gate. rabbit-pie. aut OR. Swancourt impressively. He does not think of it at all.

 if he doesn't mind coming up here. knock at the door. you know--say. miss.'Perhaps I think you silent too. More minutes passed--she grew cold with waiting.''I will not. "if ever I come to the crown. and that Stephen might have chosen to do likewise. poor little fellow. The carriage was brought round. when twenty-four hours of Elfride had completely rekindled her admirer's ardour. the first is that (should you be. whilst the colours of earth were sombre. It was just possible to see that his arms were uplifted. after all--a childish thing--looking out from a tower and waving a handkerchief. in short.'So do I. I think.