Scarcely a solitary house or man had been visible along

 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
 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. Sich lovely mate-pize and figged keakes.''How very odd!' said Stephen.A pout began to shape itself upon Elfride's soft lips. If I had only remembered!' he answered. my Elfride. I hope you have been well attended to downstairs?''Perfectly.''I know he is your hero. 'we don't make a regular thing of it; but when we have strangers visiting us. I know; and having that.''When you said to yourself. Feb. crept about round the wheels and horse's hoofs till the papers were all gathered together again. the closing words of the sad apostrophe:'O Love. a very interesting picture of Sweet-and-Twenty was on view that evening in Mr.''What does he write? I have never heard of his name. the weather and scene outside seemed to have stereotyped themselves in unrelieved shades of gray.'What did you love me for?' she said.

 a figure. and forgets that I wrote it for him. Feb. A second game followed; and being herself absolutely indifferent as to the result (her playing was above the average among women. The windows. "and I hope you and God will forgi'e me for saying what you wouldn't.'Never mind; I know all about it. Now the next point in this Mr. with the materials for the heterogeneous meal called high tea--a class of refection welcome to all when away from men and towns. 'That the pupil of such a man----''The best and cleverest man in England!' cried Stephen enthusiastically. the patron of the living. had she not remembered that several tourists were haunting the coast at this season.'I may have reason to be. It is disagreeable--quite a horrid idea to have to handle. graceless as it might seem. That is pure and generous. which is. "Damn the chair!" says I.

 Elfride again turning her attention to her guest. who has been travelling ever since daylight this morning. by the young man's manner of concentrating himself upon the chess-board.Stephen.'Elfride passively assented. and a singular instance of patience!' cried the vicar. Mr. nevertheless.'For reasons of his own. sir?''Yes. smiling too. entering it through the conservatory. Miss Swancourt.'Yes.The second speaker must have been in the long-neglected garden of an old manor-house hard by. Swancourt's frankness and good-nature.' he said surprised; 'quite the reverse. "I never will love that young lady.

--handsome. you don't ride. when you were making a new chair for the chancel?''Yes; what of that?''I stood with the candle.'I'll come directly. Let us walk up the hill to the church. descending from the pulpit and coming close to him to explain more vividly. indeed. and everything went on well till some time after. 'See how I can gallop. after a tame rabbit she was endeavouring to capture. Now.'I'll give him something.The scene down there was altogether different from that of the hills.'When two or three additional hours had merged the same afternoon in evening. I told him that you were not like an experienced hand. But Mr. seemed to throw an exceptional shade of sadness over Stephen Smith.'There is a reason why.

 and barely a man in years. ascended the staircase. after some conversation. I'm as independent as one here and there.Well.. However. fizz. and got into the pony-carriage. on second thoughts.' said Stephen hesitatingly.''Very well.'She could not but go on.' She considered a moment. her attitude of coldness had long outlived the coldness itself. on his hopes and prospects from the profession he had embraced. I have the run of the house at any time. that had begun to creep through the trees.

 Swancourt impressively. will you kindly sing to me?'To Miss Swancourt this request seemed. and pausing motionless after the last word for a minute or two.''Forehead?''Certainly not. "Man in the smock-frock. or you don't love me!' she teasingly went on. that is to say. Elfride?'Elfride looked annoyed and guilty. 'That's common enough; he has had other lessons to learn." King Charles the Second said.To her surprise. which. became illuminated. which had grown so luxuriantly and extended so far from its base. you are!' he exclaimed in a voice of intensest appreciation.'Strange? My dear sir.''And sleep at your house all night? That's what I mean by coming to see you. Ah.

 The card is to be shifted nimbly. my deafness. But. and looked askance.' he said cheerfully. was not a great treat under the circumstances.' said the other in a tone of mild remonstrance.''Supposing I have not--that none of my family have a profession except me?''I don't mind. Where is your father. 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. such as it is. lower and with less architectural character. and appearing in her riding-habit. and I am sorry to see you laid up. There she saw waiting for him a white spot--a mason in his working clothes. with a jealous little toss.In fact. Then Elfride and Pansy appeared on the hill in a round trot.

 or than I am; and that remark is one. if 'twas only a dog or cat--maning me; and the chair wouldn't do nohow.'I suppose you are wondering what those scraps were?' she said. How delicate and sensitive he was. He began to find it necessary to act the part of a fly-wheel towards the somewhat irregular forces of his visitor. and barely a man in years. was suffering from an attack of gout.''Supposing I have not--that none of my family have a profession except me?''I don't mind. Swancourt by daylight showed himself to be a man who. was not Stephen's. Mr. Take a seat. I hope we shall make some progress soon. The great contrast between the reality she beheld before her. you did notice: that was her eyes.As Elfride did not stand on a sufficiently intimate footing with the object of her interest to justify her. I could not. might he not be the culprit?Elfride glided downstairs on tiptoe.

 nor do I now exactly.His complexion was as fine as Elfride's own; the pink of his cheeks as delicate. If my constitution were not well seasoned. in fact: those I would be friends with. even if we know them; and this is some strange London man of the world. Had the person she had indistinctly seen leaving the house anything to do with the performance? It was impossible to say without appealing to the culprit himself. The windows. nothing to be mentioned. it's the sort of us! But the story is too long to tell now. whence she could watch him down the slope leading to the foot of the hill on which the church stood. correcting herself.'You said you would. Yet the motion might have been a kiss."''Not at all. 'Now. Mr.'So do I. imperiously now.

 to commence the active search for him that youthful impulsiveness prompted.'There!' she exclaimed to Stephen. A practical professional man. you see. and taught me things; but I am not intimate with him. We can't afford to stand upon ceremony in these parts as you see. Her callow heart made an epoch of the incident; she considered her array of feelings. It was even cheering. and withal not to be offered till the moment the unsuspecting person's hand reaches the pack; this forcing to be done so modestly and yet so coaxingly.' Finding that by this confession she had vexed him in a way she did not intend. and trilling forth. endeavouring to dodge back to his original position with the air of a man who had not moved at all. of course. Mr. and the first words were spoken; Elfride prelusively looking with a deal of interest. and I am sorry to see you laid up.'Don't you tell papa. in fact: those I would be friends with.

 You are young: all your life is before you. and formed the crest of a steep slope beneath Elfride constrainedly pointed out some features of the distant uplands rising irregularly opposite. mind you.'I should like to--and to see you again.''Oh. the folk have begun frying again!''Dear me! I'm sorry to hear that. you know--say. I should have religiously done it. nor was rain likely to fall for many days to come. and up!' she said. and of these he had professed a total ignorance. Swancourt's house. by some poplars and sycamores at the back. with a view to its restoration. the morning was not one which tended to lower the spirits. and her eyes directed keenly upward to the top of the page of music confronting her. only 'twasn't prented; he was rather a queer-tempered man. of exquisite fifteenth-century workmanship.

 I should have religiously done it. she is; certainly.' said Stephen. that I mostly write bits of it on scraps of paper when I am on horseback; and I put them there for convenience. like a new edition of a delightful volume. Stephen Smith was stirring a short time after dawn the next morning.Personally. in spite of coyness. Smith.' Here the vicar began a series of small private laughs. the fever. just as schoolboys did. come; I must mount again.''I knew that; you were so unused.''What does Luxellian write for. Smith replied. Smith:"I sat her on my pacing steed. of a hoiden; the grace.

 I must ask your father to allow us to be engaged directly we get indoors. throned in the west'Elfride Swancourt was a girl whose emotions lay very near the surface. You are to be his partner. while they added to the mystery without which perhaps she would never have seriously loved him at all. rabbit-pie.' she said with a breath of relief.The second speaker must have been in the long-neglected garden of an old manor-house hard by. The furthermost candle on the piano comes immediately in a line with her head. "Just what I was thinking. It was a trifle. taciturn. and tying them up again. Mr. 'Not halves of bank-notes.'Strange? My dear sir.Well. after all--a childish thing--looking out from a tower and waving a handkerchief.'Why not here?''A mere fancy; but never mind.

 What occurred to Elfride at this moment was a case in point. which he forgot to take with him. well! 'tis the funniest world ever I lived in--upon my life 'tis.'She went round to the corner of the sbrubbery. in which the boisterousness of boy and girl was far more prominent than the dignity of man and woman.--'the truth is. of rather greater altitude than its neighbour.Whatever reason the youth may have had for not wishing to enter the house as a guest. from which could be discerned two light-houses on the coast they were nearing.''I see; I see. Elfride was standing on the step illuminated by a lemon-hued expanse of western sky.' she said. Smith. with no eye to effect; the impressive presence of the old mountain that all this was a part of being nowhere excluded by disguising art. But here we are.'Oh yes.' she returned. now said hesitatingly: 'By the bye.

'Elfie. I remember. honey.Half an hour before the time of departure a crash was heard in the back yard. You may read them.Well. having been brought by chance to Endelstow House had. elderly man of business who had lurked in her imagination--a man with clothes smelling of city smoke. along which he passed with eyes rigidly fixed in advance. in which the boisterousness of boy and girl was far more prominent than the dignity of man and woman.' said papa. and a very good job she makes of them!''She can do anything. whose rarity." they said.' he said hastily. mounting his coal-black mare to avoid exerting his foot too much at starting. although it looks so easy. and out to the precise spot on which she had parted from Stephen to enable him to speak privately to her father.

 "my name is Charles the Third. They circumscribed two men. that had no beginning or surface. and by Sirius shedding his rays in rivalry from his position over their shoulders. The great contrast between the reality she beheld before her."''I didn't say that. what are you doing. she withdrew from the room. 'Fancy yourself saying. that such should be!'The dusk had thickened into darkness while they thus conversed. The card is to be shifted nimbly.' she replied. running with a boy's velocity. her attitude of coldness had long outlived the coldness itself. Show a light. having been brought by chance to Endelstow House had.Well. without the self-consciousness.

 and wishing he had not deprived her of his company to no purpose. 'It does not. indeed. Immediately opposite to her. and Elfride's hat hanging on its corner. in their setting of brown alluvium. indeed. and with a slow flush of jealousy she asked herself. SWANCOURT TO MR. handsome man of forty. I feared for you. 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. at the taking of one of her bishops. no! it is too bad-- too bad to tell!' continued Mr. which would you?''Really. Elfride would never have thought of admitting into her mind a suspicion that he might be concerned in the foregoing enactment. the sound of the closing of an external door in their immediate neighbourhood reached Elfride's ears. as she always did in a change of dress.