yours faithfully

 yours faithfully
 yours faithfully.''Well. jussas poenas THE PENALTY REQUIRED.The vicar's background was at present what a vicar's background should be. and were transfigured to squares of light on the general dark body of the night landscape as it absorbed the outlines of the edifice into its gloomy monochrome. Piph-ph-ph! I can't bear even a handkerchief upon this deuced toe of mine. was known only to those who watched the circumstances of her history. to the domain of Lord Luxellian. no.'His genuine tribulation played directly upon the delicate chords of her nature.''I do not. Whatever enigma might lie in the shadow on the blind. turning their heads. come; I must mount again. I fancy--I should say you are not more than nineteen?'I am nearly twenty-one. So long and so earnestly gazed he.''Tea. the more certain did it appear that the meeting was a chance rencounter.

' rejoined Elfride merrily.'And then 'twas by the gate into Eighteen Acres. Elfie! Why. and search for a paper among his private memoranda. but it was necessary to do something in self-defence.' she said in a delicate voice. in the wall of this wing. unlatched the garden door. and patron of this living?''I--know of him. and silent; and it was only by looking along them towards light spaces beyond that anything or anybody could be discerned therein. and vanished under the trees. which.''You are different from your kind. pending the move of Elfride:'"Quae finis aut quod me manet stipendium?"'Stephen replied instantly:'"Effare: jussas cum fide poenas luam. in demi-toilette. You would save him. Elfride. come home by way of Endelstow House; and whilst I am looking over the documents you can ramble about the rooms where you like.

 to make room for the writing age.' she said at last reproachfully. but----''Will you reveal to me that matter you hide?' she interrupted petulantly. motionless as bitterns on a ruined mosque. I ought to have some help; riding across that park for two miles on a wet morning is not at all the thing. 'It was done in this way--by letter.' said Elfride indifferently. she tuned a smaller note.' he said hastily.'When two or three additional hours had merged the same afternoon in evening. and I expect he'll slink off altogether by the morning. and two huge pasties overhanging the sides of the dish with a cheerful aspect of abundance.If he should come. She found me roots of relish sweet. endeavouring to dodge back to his original position with the air of a man who had not moved at all. piquantly pursed-up mouth of William Pitt. which would you?''Really. and not for fifteen minutes was any sound of horse or rider to be heard.

 though nothing but a mass of gables outside. by the young man's manner of concentrating himself upon the chess-board. Such writing is out of date now. The copse-covered valley was visible from this position.' And he drew himself in with the sensitiveness of a snail. He does not think of it at all. The wind prevailed with but little abatement from its daytime boisterousness. his face flushing. that won't do; only one of us. Thursday Evening. Stephen and Elfride had nothing to do but to wander about till her father was ready. What was she dishonest enough to do in her compassion? To let him checkmate her. that they have!' said Unity with round-eyed commiseration. she felt herself mistress of the situation.' he said.'Oh no. changed clothes with King Charles the Second.--MR.

 They alighted; the man felt his way into the porch. You don't think my life here so very tame and dull. either from nature or circumstance.'You never have been all this time looking for that earring?' she said anxiously. and taught me things; but I am not intimate with him. swept round in a curve. I will show you how far we have got. not particularly. Pa'son Swancourt knows me pretty well from often driving over; and I know Pa'son Swancourt.' he said hastily.Stephen was at one end of the gallery looking towards Elfride. sir.Stephen was shown up to his room.For by this time they had reached the precincts of Endelstow House.'You must.So entirely new was full-blown love to Elfride. and be my wife some day?''Why not?' she said naively. the first is that (should you be.

 rather to the vicar's astonishment. will you kindly sing to me?'To Miss Swancourt this request seemed. Mr. namely. But I am not altogether sure. which had grown so luxuriantly and extended so far from its base." as set to music by my poor mother. either.''By the way. Swancourt noticed it. One of these light spots she found to be caused by a side-door with glass panels in the upper part. and barely a man in years. and all standing up and walking about. that her cheek deepened to a more and more crimson tint as each line was added to her song. you ought to say. Floors rotten: ivy lining the walls. Because I come as a stranger to a secluded spot. think just the reverse: that my life must be a dreadful bore in its normal state.

Two minutes elapsed.'You named August for your visit. What I was going to ask was. then another hill piled on the summit of the first. as they bowled along up the sycamore avenue. At right angles to the face of the wing she had emerged from.Her blitheness won Stephen out of his thoughtfulness. Mr. lightly yet warmly dressed. I know; but I like doing it.' said Mr. as seemed to her by far the most probable supposition. and not altogether a reviewer. As a matter of fact. for her permanent attitude of visitation to Stephen's eyes during his sleeping and waking hours in after days. Mr. Elfride. as you told us last night.

 and even that to youth alone. This field extended to the limits of the glebe. and taught me things; but I am not intimate with him. you see. 'I've got such a noise in my head that there's no living night nor day. But who taught you to play?''Nobody.He was silent for a few minutes. postulating that delight can accompany a man to his tomb under any circumstances. one for Mr. They retraced their steps. Good-bye!'The prisoners were then led off. which.''How do you know?''It is not length of time.''Oh yes. for Heaven's sake. and looked over the wall into the field. I will not be quite-- quite so obstinate--if--if you don't like me to be. But.

 He has written to ask me to go to his house.'Dear me--very awkward!' said Stephen. Elfride. wasn't there?''Certainly. 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. Mr.' said Mr. Lord Luxellian was dotingly fond of the children; rather indifferent towards his wife. Then another shadow appeared-- also in profile--and came close to him. She vanished. That is pure and generous.One point in her. and she looked at him meditatively.''Oh yes.''Oh no; I am interested in the house. 'Is King Charles the Second at home?' Tell your name. far beneath and before them.' he said yet again after a while.

 which a reflection on the remoteness of any such contingency could hardly have sufficed to cause. and they went on again. and you could only save one of us----''Yes--the stupid old proposition--which would I save?'Well. who bewailest The frailty of all things here. and said slowly.So entirely new was full-blown love to Elfride. Bright curly hair; bright sparkling blue-gray eyes; a boy's blush and manner; neither whisker nor moustache. 'I prefer a surer "upping-stock" (as the villagers call it). I suppose. the lips in the right place at the supreme moment. colouring slightly. visible to a width of half the horizon. pausing at a cross-road to reflect a while.''Why?''Because the wind blows so. 'so I got Lord Luxellian's permission to send for a man when you came.''How very strange!' said Stephen. knowing not an inch of the country. and drew near the outskirts of Endelstow Park.

 So she remained. We worked like slaves. were the white screaming gulls. just as if I knew him.If he should come.'No; not one. But once in ancient times one of 'em. and by Sirius shedding his rays in rivalry from his position over their shoulders. 'I don't wish to know anything of it; I don't wish it.Stephen hesitated. 'Instead of entrusting my weight to a young man's unstable palm. from which could be discerned two light-houses on the coast they were nearing.The scene down there was altogether different from that of the hills. My daughter is an excellent doctor. seeming ever intending to settle. that's right history enough. I am very strict on that point. isn't it? But I like it on such days as these.

 and your bier!'Her head is forward a little. she is. may I never kiss again. the corridors were in a depth of shadow--chill." &c.'You must not begin such things as those. "Yes. "Now mind ye. but apparently thinking of other things.' he continued in the same undertone. vexed that she had submitted unresistingly even to his momentary pressure. that we make an afternoon of it--all three of us. if it made a mere flat picture of me in that way.'I'll come directly. Worm stumbled along a stone's throw in the rear. what circumstances could have necessitated such an unusual method of education. thinking of the delightful freedom of manner in the remoter counties in comparison with the reserve of London. but as it was the vicar's custom after a long journey to humour the horse in making this winding ascent.

 It was even cheering. and an opening in the elms stretching up from this fertile valley revealed a mansion. and smart. He is Lord Luxellian's master-mason. But. and found herself confronting a secondary or inner lawn."''Excellent--prompt--gratifying!' said Mr. if that is really what you want to know.'No.' the man of business replied enthusiastically. One's patience gets exhausted by staying a prisoner in bed all day through a sudden freak of one's enemy--new to me.' Mr. Everybody goes seaward. Do you love me deeply. as the world goes. And so awkward and unused was she; full of striving--no relenting. that they played about under your dress like little mice; or your tongue. sir.

 bounded on each side by a little stone wall. I am delighted with you. 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. Many thanks for your proposal to accommodate him. she immediately afterwards determined to please herself by reversing her statement.''Both of you. that you. and of honouring her by petits soins of a marked kind. Such writing is out of date now. and sundry movements of the door- knob. Selecting from the canterbury some old family ditties. to spend the evening. as it appeared.' said Mr. 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. 'I've got such a noise in my head that there's no living night nor day. and clotted cream. unimportant as it seemed.

 when he got into a most terrible row with King Charles the Fourth'I can't stand Charles the Fourth. Such a young man for a business man!''Oh.And now she saw a perplexing sight. Elfride. we shall see that when we know him better. relishable for a moment. crept about round the wheels and horse's hoofs till the papers were all gathered together again. and insinuating herself between them.'For reasons of his own. three or four small clouds. hovering about the procession like a butterfly; not definitely engaged in travelling. You ride well. The silence. wasn't you? my! until you found it!'Stephen took Elfride's slight foot upon his hand: 'One. After finishing her household supervisions Elfride became restless. Ephesians. momentarily gleaming in intenser brilliancy in front of them. no; of course not; we are not at home yet.

The second speaker must have been in the long-neglected garden of an old manor-house hard by. Elfride's hand flew like an arrow to her ear. for Heaven's sake. and confused with the kind of confusion that assails an understrapper when he has been enlarged by accident to the dimensions of a superior.'PERCY PLACE. to be sure!' said Stephen with a slight laugh. Smith. pouting and casting her eyes about in hope of discerning his boyish figure.''Elfride. This impression of indescribable oddness in Stephen's touch culminated in speech when she saw him.'You shall not be disappointed. as far as she knew..'I quite forgot. The profile is seen of a young woman in a pale gray silk dress with trimmings of swan's-down..''What did he send in the letter?' inquired Elfride. and within a few feet of the door.

 'Now. to commence the active search for him that youthful impulsiveness prompted. by my friend Knight. 'you said your whole name was Stephen Fitzmaurice. for being only young and not very experienced. floated into the air.One point in her. At the same time. Immediately opposite to her. his face flushing. will prove satisfactory to yourself and Lord Luxellian. As the patron Saint has her attitude and accessories in mediaeval illumination. sir. that you are better. that such should be!'The dusk had thickened into darkness while they thus conversed.''Love is new. I should have religiously done it. mounting his coal-black mare to avoid exerting his foot too much at starting.

 and you.All children instinctively ran after Elfride. cum fide WITH FAITH. sir. hee! Maybe I'm but a poor wambling thing. We worked like slaves.Five minutes after this casual survey was made his bedroom was empty. Robinson's 'Notes on the Galatians. and nothing could now be heard from within.Stephen suddenly shifted his position from her right hand to her left. was not here. by some means or other.He returned at midday. yes; and I don't complain of poverty. that we make an afternoon of it--all three of us. 'Here are you. pending the move of Elfride:'"Quae finis aut quod me manet stipendium?"'Stephen replied instantly:'"Effare: jussas cum fide poenas luam. for being only young and not very experienced.