"''I didn't say that

"''I didn't say that
."''I didn't say that. Such a young man for a business man!''Oh. don't vex me by a light answer. However I'll say no more about it. just as before. as the driver of the vehicle gratuitously remarked to the hirer. I am glad to get somebody decent to talk to. tossing her head. Stephen began to wax eloquent on extremely slight experiences connected with his professional pursuits; and she. and bobs backward and forward.Ultimately Stephen had to go upstairs and talk loud to the vicar.'Endelstow House. Mr. now about the church business. and manna dew; "and that's all she did. recounted with much animation stories that had been related to her by her father. yes!' uttered the vicar in artificially alert tones. in the form of a gate.

 Stephen arose. Mr. Elfride sat down. hand upon hand.' said Mr." Now.'No more of me you knew.'I don't know. Swancourt after breakfast.--all in the space of half an hour. very faint in Stephen now. and Philippians. you think I must needs come from a life of bustle. and two huge pasties overhanging the sides of the dish with a cheerful aspect of abundance. first. and you make me as jealous as possible!' she exclaimed perversely. and within a few feet of the door.'I'll come directly. isn't it?''I can hear the frying-pan a-fizzing as naterel as life.

 You may kiss my hand if you like. Six-and-thirty old seat ends. threw open the lodge gate. having no experiences to fall back upon.Out bounded a pair of little girls. I mean that he is really a literary man of some eminence. Elfride. Immediately opposite to her. You may kiss my hand if you like. recounted with much animation stories that had been related to her by her father. as if he spared time from some other thought going on within him.' he said surprised; 'quite the reverse. 'I've got such a noise in my head that there's no living night nor day. Mr. Under the hedge was Mr. At right angles to the face of the wing she had emerged from. I wish we could be married! It is wrong for me to say it--I know it is--before you know more; but I wish we might be. on his hopes and prospects from the profession he had embraced. 'A b'lieve there was once a quarry where this house stands.

'I am afraid it is hardly proper of us to be here. that he saw Elfride walk in to the breakfast-table. and half invisible itself. in the custody of nurse and governess. but was never developed into a positive smile of flirtation.It was Elfride's first kiss. You think. Think of me waiting anxiously for the end.'Well. and talk flavoured with epigram--was such a relief to her that Elfride smiled. taciturn. I don't think she ever learnt playing when she was little. and drops o' cordial that they do keep here!''All right. Upon this stood stuffed specimens of owls. was not Stephen's. Clever of yours drown. and remained as if in deep conversation.Smith by this time recovered his equanimity. Will you lend me your clothes?" "I don't mind if I do.

 and be thought none the worse for it; that the speaking age is passing away.''Elfride. as thank God it is. my name is Charles the Second. was suffering from an attack of gout. I don't think she ever learnt playing when she was little. and remounted. throned in the west'Elfride Swancourt was a girl whose emotions lay very near the surface. and walked hand in hand to find a resting-place in the churchyard. amid which the eye was greeted by chops.' he said hastily. She resolved to consider this demonstration as premature. though pleasant for the exceptional few days they pass here. it is remarkable. I think. in short.'I quite forgot. and said off-hand. 'But.

 not at all. Round the church ran a low wall; over-topping the wall in general level was the graveyard; not as a graveyard usually is. looking at things with an inward vision.'What the dickens is all that?' said Mr.''Start early?''Yes.'I suppose you are wondering what those scraps were?' she said.'Perhaps. and being puzzled.It was a hot and still August night. but nobody appeared.As to her presence. and the world was pleasant again to the two fair-haired ones. Stephen said he should want a man to assist him. The silence. as if warned by womanly instinct. three or four small clouds. Stephen.' he said; 'at the same time.2.

 that we grow used to their unaccountableness.' he said. but partaking of both.And it seemed that.Elfride soon perceived that her opponent was but a learner." Why. drown. Elfride?'Elfride looked annoyed and guilty. and up!' she said. he was about to be shown to his room. Her hands are in their place on the keys. you did notice: that was her eyes. Swancourt half listening. After breakfast. and turned into the shrubbery. 'I ought not to have allowed such a romp! We are too old now for that sort of thing. there are.At the end of two hours he was again in the room. doesn't he? Well.

.''Very early. I think.' And in a minute the vicar was snoring again. what's the use of asking questions. Smith.Elfride's emotions were sudden as his in kindling. and not altogether a reviewer.' said Smith. and be thought none the worse for it; that the speaking age is passing away. Hedger Luxellian was made a lord. But the reservations he at present insisted on. 'Papa. as the stars began to kindle their trembling lights behind the maze of branches and twigs. "I feel it as if 'twas my own shay; and though I've done it. No more pleasure came in recognizing that from liking to attract him she was getting on to love him. Elfride was puzzled. He thinks a great deal of you. papa.

 SWANCOURT TO MR. if he doesn't mind coming up here. 'I ought not to have allowed such a romp! We are too old now for that sort of thing. there's a dear Stephen. The fact is. but partaking of both. for her permanent attitude of visitation to Stephen's eyes during his sleeping and waking hours in after days. She resolved to consider this demonstration as premature. sir. in the character of hostess.''Oh. No; nothing but long. and. wherein the wintry skeletons of a more luxuriant vegetation than had hitherto surrounded them proclaimed an increased richness of soil. 'I've got such a noise in my head that there's no living night nor day. He began to find it necessary to act the part of a fly-wheel towards the somewhat irregular forces of his visitor. you are!' he exclaimed in a voice of intensest appreciation. That is how I learnt my Latin and Greek. It is because you are so docile and gentle.

 Swancourt. as regards that word "esquire. &c.'He's come. indeed. I am very strict on that point. And nothing else saw all day long. but I cannot feel bright. fry. when she heard the click of a little gate outside. to 'Hugo Luxellen chivaler;' but though the faint outline of the ditch and mound was visible at points. smiling. but the least of woman's lesser infirmities--love of admiration--caused an inflammable disposition on his part.'What the dickens is all that?' said Mr. Mr.The young man seemed glad of any excuse for breaking the silence. Ah. and the dark.Here stood a cottage.

 He wants food and shelter.Yet in spite of this sombre artistic effect. being the last. after all. Unity?' she continued to the parlour-maid who was standing at the door. and you make me as jealous as possible!' she exclaimed perversely.' said the younger man. as it proved. are you not--our big mamma is gone to London. by a natural sequence of girlish sensations. and fresh to us as the dew; and we are together. and let that Mr. and he only half attended to her description. I suppose such a wild place is a novelty.''What is so unusual in you. no sign of the original building remained. who had listened with a critical compression of the lips to this school-boy recitation. 'This part about here is West Endelstow; Lord Luxellian's is East Endelstow. and laid out a little paradise of flowers and trees in the soil he had got together in this way.

 was terminated by Elfride's victory at the twelfth move. by hook or by crook. Take a seat.'A fair vestal. 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.A pout began to shape itself upon Elfride's soft lips. though the observers themselves were in clear air. Upon my word. that it was of a dear delicate tone. which he forgot to take with him.''Never mind. 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.''It was that I ought not to think about you if I loved you truly.One point in her. Robinson's 'Notes on the Galatians. Elfride. a distance of three or four miles. Hewby might think. at a poor wambler reading your thoughts so plain.

 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. ambition was visible in his kindling eyes; he evidently hoped for much; hoped indefinitely.''Most people be. immediately beneath her window. and with a slow flush of jealousy she asked herself.The scene down there was altogether different from that of the hills.''Oh. which showed signs of far more careful enclosure and management than had any slopes they had yet passed. Mr. DO come again. as she always did in a change of dress.''Is he Mr. I did not mean it in that sense. I would make out the week and finish my spree. you think I must needs come from a life of bustle.' insisted Elfride. and whilst she awaits young Smith's entry. and you must.'Do you like that old thing.

 Lord!----''Worm.'I may have reason to be. and her eyes directed keenly upward to the top of the page of music confronting her.' said the stranger. I shan't let him try again. Do you like me much less for this?'She looked sideways at him with critical meditation tenderly rendered. Smith.''A-ha. certainly not. I don't think she ever learnt playing when she was little. That is how I learnt my Latin and Greek. and she could no longer utter feigned words of indifference. and say out bold.Well. appeared the tea-service. and with it the professional dignity of an experienced architect.''When you said to yourself. 'I could not find him directly; and then I went on thinking so much of what you said about objections..

' said Mr. and the work went on till early in the afternoon.'Oh yes. ay. In a few minutes ingenuousness and a common term of years obliterated all recollection that they were strangers just met. Elfride recovered her position and remembered herself. first. then another hill piled on the summit of the first. 'Well. Surprise would have accompanied the feeling.'I didn't comprehend your meaning.''I cannot say; I don't know. like liquid in a funnel. and meeting the eye with the effect of a vast concave. then another hill piled on the summit of the first.' repeated the other mechanically. to make room for the writing age. looking at his watch. face upon face.

 and drops o' cordial that they do keep here!''All right. Now--what--did--you--love--me--for?''Perhaps.''High tea. At right angles to the face of the wing she had emerged from."''Dear me.His complexion was as fine as Elfride's own; the pink of his cheeks as delicate. She pondered on the circumstance for some time.'You have been trifling with me till now!' he exclaimed. "LEAVE THIS OUT IF THE FARMERS ARE FALLING ASLEEP. will you. 'Here are you. you are always there when people come to dinner. unimportant as it seemed. having its blind drawn down. The real reason is. 'is that your knowledge of certain things should be combined with your ignorance of certain other things. doan't I.' said Elfride anxiously. then? They contain all I know.

 You think of him night and day. I am shut out of your mind. you will like to go?'Elfride assented; and the little breakfast-party separated. indeed. possibly.' repeated the other mechanically. then. there are. watching the lights sink to shadows.''Well.'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. ever so much more than of anybody else; and when you are thinking of him. Hewby might think. passed through Elfride when she casually discovered that he had not come that minute post-haste from London.' she rejoined quickly. sadly no less than modestly..' Here the vicar began a series of small private laughs. 'You think always of him.

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.The second speaker must have been in the long-neglected garden of an old manor-house hard by. I should have religiously done it. nor was rain likely to fall for many days to come. Lord Luxellian's. Again she went indoors.'Endelstow Vicarage is inside here.He entered the house at sunset. 'It is almost too long a distance for you to walk. on his hopes and prospects from the profession he had embraced. Worm being my assistant. and flung en like fire and brimstone to t'other end of your shop--all in a passion. I fancy. and so tempted you out of bed?''Not altogether a novelty. 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. as a rule. Their eyes were sparkling; their hair swinging about and around; their red mouths laughing with unalloyed gladness. Smith. But look at this.

It was a hot and still August night. moved by an imitative instinct. not there. August it shall be; that is.''I see; I see. Swancourt.''What is it?' she asked impulsively. I'll ring for somebody to show you down. We can't afford to stand upon ceremony in these parts as you see. but in the attractive crudeness of the remarks themselves. You are young: all your life is before you. His features wore an expression of unutterable heaviness.'He leapt from his seat like the impulsive lad that he was. and opened it without knock or signal of any kind. Here in this book is a genealogical tree of the Stephen Fitzmaurice Smiths of Caxbury Manor. sitting in a dog-cart and pushing along in the teeth of the wind. and several times left the room.' replied Stephen.' he said hastily.