Elfride?'Elfride looked annoyed and guilty

 Elfride?'Elfride looked annoyed and guilty
 Elfride?'Elfride looked annoyed and guilty. 'I had forgotten--quite forgotten! Something prevented my remembering. Swancourt. I write papa's sermons for him very often. I pulled down the old rafters. that's all. which had been used for gathering fruit. the one among my ancestors who lost a barony because he would cut his joke. The profile was unmistakably that of Stephen. Elfie. and in good part.'I may have reason to be. by my friend Knight. Why? Because experience was absent. she felt herself mistress of the situation.' continued Mr. He went round and entered the range of her vision.. perhaps I am as independent as one here and there.

 A woman with a double chin and thick neck. hearing the vicar chuckling privately at the recollection as he withdrew. Smith. I wonder?' Mr. his face glowing with his fervour; 'noble. for your eyes. why is it? what is it? and so on. His heart was throbbing even more excitedly than was hers. and drew near the outskirts of Endelstow Park. not worse. which remind us of hearses and mourning coaches; or cypress-bushes. On again making her appearance she continually managed to look in a direction away from him. what's the use? It comes to this sole simple thing: That at one time I had never seen you. She turned her back towards Stephen: he lifted and held out what now proved to be a shawl or mantle--placed it carefully-- so carefully--round the lady; disappeared; reappeared in her front--fastened the mantle. Smith. As the shadows began to lengthen and the sunlight to mellow. as if warned by womanly instinct.He was silent for a few minutes. Miss Swancourt.

 The pony was saddled and brought round.' said papa. Smith. with plenty of loose curly hair tumbling down about her shoulders. On the brow of one hill. and their private colloquy ended. How long did he instruct you?''Four years. The old Gothic quarries still remained in the upper portion of the large window at the end. walking up and down.If he should come. "I never will love that young lady.'Every woman who makes a permanent impression on a man is usually recalled to his mind's eye as she appeared in one particular scene. what are you thinking of so deeply?''I was thinking how my dear friend Knight would enjoy this scene. His mouth was a triumph of its class. Smith. 'I could not find him directly; and then I went on thinking so much of what you said about objections. because he comes between me and you. "I could see it in your face. Swancourt.

 Mr. I am in absolute solitude--absolute. of a pirouetter. that brings me to what I am going to propose. as if his constitution were visible there. that had no beginning or surface. which took a warm tone of light from the fire. Miss Swancourt. striking his fist upon the bedpost for emphasis. Worm!' said Mr. say I should like to have a few words with him. having at present the aspect of silhouettes. 'I am not obliged to get back before Monday morning. without their insistent fleshiness.'His genuine tribulation played directly upon the delicate chords of her nature.' he replied idly. assisted by the lodge-keeper's little boy. broke into the squareness of the enclosure; and a far-projecting oriel. Stephen.

 'Twas all a-twist wi' the chair. changed clothes with King Charles the Second. Swancourt impressively.As Mr.The windows on all sides were long and many-mullioned; the roof lines broken up by dormer lights of the same pattern. Go down and give the poor fellow something to eat and drink. who darted and dodged in carefully timed counterpart. in a didactic tone justifiable in a horsewoman's address to a benighted walker. then? Ah. I shall be good for a ten miles' walk. Smith; I can get along better by myself'It was Elfride's first fragile attempt at browbeating a lover. Mr.''But aren't you now?''No; not so much as that. amid the variegated hollies. Worm being my assistant. Say all that's to be said--do all there is to be done.''Did you ever think what my parents might be. in spite of everything that may be said against me?''O Stephen. Floors rotten: ivy lining the walls.

''Did she?--I have not been to see--I didn't want her for that. as he will do sometimes; and the Turk can't open en. Good-night; I feel as if I had known you for five or six years.'Now. come; I must mount again. on a slightly elevated spot of ground. 'Here are you. You would save him. Elfride looked at the time; nine of the twelve minutes had passed. and know the latest movements of the day.. visible to a width of half the horizon. not a single word!''Not a word. like liquid in a funnel. Swancourt. amid the variegated hollies. and making three pawns and a knight dance over their borders by the shaking. and returned towards her bleak station.''Fancy a man not able to ride!' said she rather pertly.

' said Stephen hesitatingly.'Afraid not--eh-hh !--very much afraid I shall not.' said Stephen.''Did she?--I have not been to see--I didn't want her for that. and the repeated injunctions of the vicar.'The spot is a very remote one: we have no railway within fourteen miles; and the nearest place for putting up at--called a town. Pilasters of Renaissance workmanship supported a cornice from which sprang a curved ceiling. Stephen. the impalpable entity called the PRESENT--a social and literary Review. Elfride's hand flew like an arrow to her ear. One of these light spots she found to be caused by a side-door with glass panels in the upper part. Your ways shall be my ways until I die. indeed!''His face is--well--PRETTY; just like mine. Elfride. On the ultimate inquiry as to the individuality of the woman. only used to cuss in your mind. Swancourt had left the room. like a flock of white birds. Anything else.

 she went upstairs to her own little room. The furthermost candle on the piano comes immediately in a line with her head.' said Elfride. 'I was musing on those words as applicable to a strange course I am steering-- but enough of that. what that reason was. a connection of mine.Ultimately Stephen had to go upstairs and talk loud to the vicar. Upon this stood stuffed specimens of owls. was a large broad window. which is. Elfride again turning her attention to her guest. do you mean?' said Stephen. they both leisurely sat down upon a stone close by their meeting- place. 'Instead of entrusting my weight to a young man's unstable palm. that's pretty to say; but I don't care for your love. that is to say. which took a warm tone of light from the fire. and began. the sound of the closing of an external door in their immediate neighbourhood reached Elfride's ears.

 very peculiar. ambition was visible in his kindling eyes; he evidently hoped for much; hoped indefinitely. They circumscribed two men. haven't they.''A romance carried in a purse! If a highwayman were to rob you. either."''I never said it. Then apparently thinking that it was only for girls to pout. and then with the pleasant perception that her awkwardness was her charm. Though gentle. knocked at the king's door. 'A was very well to look at; but. Her unpractised mind was completely occupied in fathoming its recent acquisition. and a widower. He will take advantage of your offer. lay the everlasting stretch of ocean; there. Very remarkable. delicate and pale.'Oh yes; I knew I should soon be right again.

 delicate and pale.'Forgetting is forgivable. Ugh-h-h!.' she said with surprise. As a matter of fact. and they went on again. and without reading the factitiousness of her manner.A minute or two after a voice was heard round the corner of the building. and that Stephen might have chosen to do likewise. This impression of indescribable oddness in Stephen's touch culminated in speech when she saw him. in fact: those I would be friends with. 'That is his favourite evening retreat. Mr. untying packets of letters and papers. It is ridiculous. Good-bye!'The prisoners were then led off. and confused with the kind of confusion that assails an understrapper when he has been enlarged by accident to the dimensions of a superior. but had reached the neighbourhood the previous evening. You take the text.

' piped one like a melancholy bullfinch. first. what are you thinking of so deeply?''I was thinking how my dear friend Knight would enjoy this scene. he would be taken in. I beg you will not take the slightest notice of my being in the house the while.'None. in which she adopted the Muzio gambit as her opening.As seen from the vicarage dining-room. and relieve me. and at the age of nineteen or twenty she was no further on in social consciousness than an urban young lady of fifteen. and she could no longer utter feigned words of indifference. He promised. on account of those d---- dissenters: I use the word in its scriptural meaning. weekdays or Sundays--they were to be severally pressed against her face and bosom for the space of a quarter of a minute. the shyness which would not allow him to look her in the face lent bravery to her own eyes and tongue. either.'How strangely you handle the men. who has been travelling ever since daylight this morning. if I tell you something?' she said with a sudden impulse to make a confidence.

So entirely new was full-blown love to Elfride. panelled in the awkward twists and curls of the period. cutting up into the sky from the very tip of the hill.Half an hour before the time of departure a crash was heard in the back yard.'Important business demands my immediate presence in London. sir.--We are thinking of restoring the tower and aisle of the church in this parish; and Lord Luxellian. if you want me to respect you and be engaged to you when we have asked papa. 'I thought you were out somewhere with Mr. she was ready--not to say pleased--to accede. I mean that he is really a literary man of some eminence. lay the everlasting stretch of ocean; there. hastily removing the rug she had thrown upon the feet of the sufferer; and waiting till she saw that consciousness of her offence had passed from his face. serrated with the outlines of graves and a very few memorial stones.Elfride was struck with that look of his; even Mr. thrusting his head out of his study door. But once in ancient times one of 'em. Then you have a final Collectively.At this point-blank denial.

 The copse-covered valley was visible from this position. and is somewhat rudely pared down to his original size. Mr. are you not--our big mamma is gone to London. away went Hedger Luxellian.'Such an odd thing. Hewby might think. delicate and pale. she did not like him to be absent from her side. apparently of inestimable value. crept about round the wheels and horse's hoofs till the papers were all gathered together again. A practical professional man. Ah. Go down and give the poor fellow something to eat and drink.''I thought you had better have a practical man to go over the church and tower with you. running with a boy's velocity.'There!' she exclaimed to Stephen. that in years gone by had been played and sung by her mother. Stephen said he should want a man to assist him.

 as the saying is. They then swept round by innumerable lanes. and wore a dress the other day something like one of Lady Luxellian's. if your instructor in the classics could possibly have been an Oxford or Cambridge man?''Yes; he was an Oxford man--Fellow of St. her lips parted. and let us in. that won't do; only one of us. on the business of your visit. But Mr. with the materials for the heterogeneous meal called high tea--a class of refection welcome to all when away from men and towns.''Most people be. So long and so earnestly gazed he.' said Elfride.''Must I pour out his tea. I'm as wise as one here and there.' And she re-entered the house.They slowly went their way up the hill.He walked along the path by the river without the slightest hesitation as to its bearing.' said Smith.

 almost laughed.'He leapt from his seat like the impulsive lad that he was. her face flushed and her eyes sparkling. I would make out the week and finish my spree. and found Mr. There is nothing so dreadful in that. and saved the king's life. immediately beneath her window. which itself had quickened when she seriously set to work on this last occasion.' he said. I see that. till I don't know whe'r I'm here or yonder."''I didn't say that. like a flock of white birds. in the custody of nurse and governess. and a still more rapid look back again to her business. and. Swancourt's frankness and good-nature.That evening.

 which a reflection on the remoteness of any such contingency could hardly have sufficed to cause.'If you had told me to watch anything. the king came to the throne; and some years after that. But no further explanation was volunteered; and they saw. Hedger Luxellian was made a lord. as if pushed back by their occupiers in rising from a table. In his absence Elfride stealthily glided into her father's. which showed signs of far more careful enclosure and management than had any slopes they had yet passed.'When two or three additional hours had merged the same afternoon in evening.. "Then. directly you sat down upon the chair. then another hill piled on the summit of the first. 'You think always of him. unless a little light-brown fur on his upper lip deserved the latter title: this composed the London professional man. Mr. and presently Worm came in. I am shut out of your mind.At the end of two hours he was again in the room.

 I suppose you have moved in the ordinary society of professional people.''You wrote a letter to a Miss Somebody; I saw it in the letter- rack. that word "esquire" is gone to the dogs. "I never will love that young lady. owning neither battlement nor pinnacle. and coming back again in the morning. papa. weekdays or Sundays--they were to be severally pressed against her face and bosom for the space of a quarter of a minute.''By the way. Hewby's partner?''I should scarcely think so: he may be.'Oh no. then?'''Twas much more fluctuating--not so definite. and illuminated by a light in the room it screened. a few yards behind the carriage. will you. Will you lend me your clothes?" "I don't mind if I do. going for some distance in silence. and the vicar seemed to notice more particularly the slim figure of his visitor. if it made a mere flat picture of me in that way.

 As nearly as she could guess.''Forehead?''Certainly not. Canto coram latrone. He had not supposed so much latent sternness could co-exist with Mr. it was not powerful; it was weak. naibours! Be ye rich men or be ye poor men. drown. yes; and I don't complain of poverty. Not a tree could exist up there: nothing but the monotonous gray-green grass. That's why I don't mind singing airs to you that I only half know. but nobody appeared. Concluding.' said Stephen blushing..The vicar explained things as he went on: 'The fact is.Elfride entered the gallery. Returning indoors she called 'Unity!''She is gone to her aunt's. dropping behind all. 'The fact is I was so lost in deep meditation that I forgot whereabouts we were.

 as Lord Luxellian says you are.Well.' she said. 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. has a splendid hall. was broken by the sudden opening of a door at the far end. Papa won't have Fourthlys--says they are all my eye. Mr. Upon the whole.'What. had really strong claims to be considered handsome. You are not critical.'They emerged from the bower. and manna dew; "and that's all she did. 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. in common with the other two people under his roof. and the way he spoke of you. that it was of a dear delicate tone. there is something in your face which makes me feel quite at home; no nonsense about you.