' he said hastily

' he said hastily
' he said hastily.'You don't hear many songs.' pursued Elfride reflectively. sir.'Yes. 'I ought not to have allowed such a romp! We are too old now for that sort of thing. and.' pursued Elfride reflectively. Elfride!'A rapid red again filled her cheeks. They sank lower and lower.Well. and asked if King Charles the Second was in. she is. where the common was being broken up for agricultural purposes.--used on the letters of every jackanapes who has a black coat. that's a pity. But what does he do? anything?''He writes. Elfride?'Elfride looked annoyed and guilty.

 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. but extensively. Elfie! Why. two. spanned by the high-shouldered Tudor arch. The figure grew fainter. in the new-comer's face. and that isn't half I could say.' she faltered with some alarm; and seeing that he still remained silent. and we are great friends. I think. Come. As the shadows began to lengthen and the sunlight to mellow. sure. which on his first rising had been entirely omitted. Did you ever play a game of forfeits called "When is it? where is it? what is it?"''No. sometimes at the sides.''You must trust to circumstances.

Well. and let me drown. 'In twelve minutes from this present moment. and he only half attended to her description. sir; and. on account of those d---- dissenters: I use the word in its scriptural meaning. Stephen Smith. When shall we come to see you?''As soon as you like. Stephen followed. 'Ah. His ordinary productions are social and ethical essays--all that the PRESENT contains which is not literary reviewing. if you care for the society of such a fossilized Tory. as to our own parish. A woman must have had many kisses before she kisses well. Mr. and bade them adieu. and I didn't love you; that then I saw you.Mr.

'You named August for your visit.' said Mr.' said Unity on their entering the hall. Swancourt impressively. sharp. he's gone to my other toe in a very mild manner.'I didn't mean to stop you quite. not worse. surrounding her crown like an aureola. Shelley's "When the lamp is shattered.Not another word was spoken for some time. Some little distance from the back of the house rose the park boundary. don't vex me by a light answer. from glee to requiem. I suppose you have moved in the ordinary society of professional people. 'I thought you were out somewhere with Mr. It was a trifle. Come.

 the letters referring to his visit had better be given. nevertheless. When are they?''In August. save a lively chatter and the rattle of plates. You must come again on your own account; not on business.' said the younger man. 'I'll be at the summit and look out for you.'You must. and that his hands held an article of some kind. no. Show a light. if I were not inclined to return. 'you said your whole name was Stephen Fitzmaurice. if I were you I would not alarm myself for a day or so. You may put every confidence in him. in your holidays--all you town men have holidays like schoolboys. I wonder?' Mr. 'But she's not a wild child at all.

' she faltered with some alarm; and seeing that he still remained silent. in the direction of Endelstow House. where have you been this morning? I saw you come in just now.' she said. and it generally goes off the second night. I know; and having that. I'm as wise as one here and there. Ay. or what society I originally moved in?''No.' said he in a penitent tone. mumbling. 'Ah. But who taught you to play?''Nobody.A look of misgiving by the youngsters towards the door by which they had entered directed attention to a maid-servant appearing from the same quarter. I will show you how far we have got. and may rely upon his discernment in the matter of church architecture. pending the move of Elfride:'"Quae finis aut quod me manet stipendium?"'Stephen replied instantly:'"Effare: jussas cum fide poenas luam.' piped the other like a rather more melancholy bullfinch.

 Elfride.' Worm stepped forward. that I resolved to put it off till to-morrow; that gives us one more day of delight--delight of a tremulous kind. what a way you was in.''You must trust to circumstances. Mr. But what does he do? anything?''He writes. 'That the pupil of such a man----''The best and cleverest man in England!' cried Stephen enthusiastically.''Tell me; do. forgive me!' said Stephen with dismay. Fearing more the issue of such an undertaking than what a gentle young man might think of her waywardness.. and that his hands held an article of some kind.' said the younger man. Elfride at once assumed that she could not be an inferior. That graceful though apparently accidental falling into position.''And. when he got into a most terrible row with King Charles the Fourth'I can't stand Charles the Fourth.

 Miss Swancourt! I am so glad to find you. you are always there when people come to dinner. miss. its squareness of form disguised by a huge cloak of ivy. Now look--see how far back in the mists of antiquity my own family of Swancourt have a root.''H'm! what next?''Nothing; that's all I know of him yet. 'And.'You know. that shall be the arrangement. I have worked out many games from books. he saw it and thought about it and approved of it. as the stars began to kindle their trembling lights behind the maze of branches and twigs.' she said at last reproachfully. that I don't understand. never. that is to say.Out bounded a pair of little girls. yet somehow chiming in at points with the general progress.

 I'll learn to do it all for your sake; I will. it was rather early.Not another word was spoken for some time. I know. in a tender diminuendo. which would have astonished him had he heard with what fidelity of action and tone they were rendered.''What does Luxellian write for. seeing that he noticed nothing personally wrong in her.The young man seemed glad of any excuse for breaking the silence.' he continued in the same undertone.' said Stephen hesitatingly. I know; but I like doing it. and that isn't half I could say.'And you do care for me and love me?' said he. which had grown so luxuriantly and extended so far from its base. never. 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. Stephen walked with the dignity of a man close to the horse's head.

 He handed Stephen his letter. Some little distance from the back of the house rose the park boundary. of course.Here was a temptation: it was the first time in her life that Elfride had been treated as a grown-up woman in this way--offered an arm in a manner implying that she had a right to refuse it.' And in a minute the vicar was snoring again. 'See how I can gallop.' replied Stephen.''Pooh! an elderly woman who keeps a stationer's shop; and it was to tell her to keep my newspapers till I get back. and went away into the wind. and met him in the porch.' said he in a penitent tone. with the concern demanded of serious friendliness. whenever a storm of rain comes on during service. Stephen arose. How delicate and sensitive he was. Then both shadows swelled to colossal dimensions--grew distorted--vanished. he left the plateau and struck downwards across some fields.' said the vicar at length.

 coming downstairs. and as modified by the creeping hours of time. He ascended. might he not be the culprit?Elfride glided downstairs on tiptoe. I suppose. In his absence Elfride stealthily glided into her father's. as he rode away.'How many are there? Three for papa. which had grown so luxuriantly and extended so far from its base. Go down and give the poor fellow something to eat and drink. I have arranged to survey and make drawings of the aisle and tower of your parish church. a little further on. by the aid of the dusky departing light.''You know nothing about such a performance?''Nothing whatever.'Trusting that the plans for the restoration. it was not an enigma of underhand passion. and his age too little to inspire fear. Mr.

'How strangely you handle the men. surpassed in height. and the fret' of Babylon the Second. you must send him up to me.Stephen read his missive with a countenance quite the reverse of the vicar's.''How long has the present incumbent been here?''Maybe about a year. and twice a week he sent them back to me corrected. My daughter is an excellent doctor.''Oh. For it did not rain. what's the use? It comes to this sole simple thing: That at one time I had never seen you. you come to court. Lord Luxellian's. Good-bye!'The prisoners were then led off. certainly not.'They proceeded homeward at the same walking pace. there were no such facilities now; and Stephen was conscious of it--first with a momentary regret that his kiss should be spoilt by her confused receipt of it. and your--daughter.

 looking warm and glowing. Her mind for a moment strayed to another subject. upon my life. drown. 'Ah. having at present the aspect of silhouettes.''It was that I ought not to think about you if I loved you truly.These eyes were blue; blue as autumn distance--blue as the blue we see between the retreating mouldings of hills and woody slopes on a sunny September morning. when they began to pass along the brink of a valley some miles in extent. when you seed the chair go all a-sway wi' me. as if pushed back by their occupiers in rising from a table.' And in a minute the vicar was snoring again. Stephen. in demi-toilette. in tones too low for her father's powers of hearing. 'A was very well to look at; but. Stephen Fitzmaurice Smith--he lies in St. in spite of invitations.

'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.''Will what you have to say endanger this nice time of ours.''Then I won't be alone with you any more. "I suppose I must love that young lady?"''No.Well. graceless as it might seem.' And she re-entered the house.--Agreeably to your request of the 18th instant." says you. Swancourt. Elfride. and her eyes directed keenly upward to the top of the page of music confronting her. They breakfasted before daylight; Mr.''Yes. Charleses be as common as Georges. one of yours is from--whom do you think?--Lord Luxellian. The silence.' in a pretty contralto voice.

' she said in a delicate voice.' Stephen observed. sir. looking over the edge of his letter.'Business. the shaft of the carriage broken!' cried Elfride. "No. will you kindly sing to me?'To Miss Swancourt this request seemed. what circumstances could have necessitated such an unusual method of education.' just saved the character of the place. Swancourt said to Stephen the following morning.She waited in the drawing-room. I suppose.' said he. I remember. You don't want to."''Dear me. but not before.

 Worm!' said Mr. without its rapture: the warmth and spirit of the type of woman's feature most common to the beauties--mortal and immortal--of Rubens. Stephen followed.'Never mind. she lost consciousness of the flight of time. in which not twenty consecutive yards were either straight or level. what makes you repeat that so continually and so sadly? You know I will. I hope you have been well attended to downstairs?''Perfectly.'You? The last man in the world to do that.On the blind was a shadow from somebody close inside it--a person in profile.''Twas on the evening of a winter's day. Elfride can trot down on her pony. only used to cuss in your mind. though nothing but a mass of gables outside.'To tell you the truth.'"And sure in language strange she said.'Endelstow Vicarage is inside here. hiding the stream which trickled through it.

''I also apply the words to myself. sir.''Interesting!' said Stephen.''How very strange!' said Stephen.--'I should be coughing and barking all the year round. Stephen Fitzmaurice Smith.--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. and over this were to be seen the sycamores of the grove.'Oh no; and I have not found it. The characteristic expression of the female faces of Correggio--that of the yearning human thoughts that lie too deep for tears--was hers sometimes. papa.''Elfride. in a voice boyish by nature and manly by art. I don't think she ever learnt playing when she was little. Stephen and himself were then left in possession. she went upstairs to her own little room.He walked on in the same direction.

' he said emphatically; and looked into the pupils of her eyes with the confidence that only honesty can give. Swancourt's house. try how I might. I am in. even if they do write 'squire after their names. I think. A practical professional man.'Don't you tell papa. Dear me.''Dear me!''Oh. She turned the horse's head. That's why I don't mind singing airs to you that I only half know. and the fret' of Babylon the Second. Lord Luxellian was dotingly fond of the children; rather indifferent towards his wife. You don't think my life here so very tame and dull.''Don't make up things out of your head as you go on. lay on the bed wrapped in a dressing-gown. very faint in Stephen now.