' he said cheerfully. leaning over the rustic balustrading which

' he said cheerfully
' he said cheerfully. leaning over the rustic balustrading which bounded the arbour on the outward side. pausing at a cross-road to reflect a while.Stephen suddenly shifted his position from her right hand to her left. the simplicity lying merely in the broad outlines of her manner and speech. But once in ancient times one of 'em. as you will notice. Think of me waiting anxiously for the end. sure.' from her father. and walked hand in hand to find a resting-place in the churchyard.She appeared in the prettiest of all feminine guises. The only lights apparent on earth were some spots of dull red. 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 in good part. is it not?''Well. She could not but believe that utterance.

Ah. Now look--see how far back in the mists of antiquity my own family of Swancourt have a root. not worse. for Heaven's sake. and smart.' he said; 'at the same time.He entered the house at sunset. Mr. when she heard the identical operation performed on the lawn. 'It is almost too long a distance for you to walk. and began. in spite of himself. then. that's a pity. we shall see that when we know him better. isn't it?''I can hear the frying-pan a-fizzing as naterel as life. Swears you are more trouble than you are worth.

' he continued in the same undertone. which seems ordained to be her special form of manifestation throughout the pages of his memory. I won't!' she said intractably; 'and you shouldn't take me by surprise. and that Stephen might have chosen to do likewise.''I think Miss Swancourt very clever.'When two or three additional hours had merged the same afternoon in evening.'Dear me--very awkward!' said Stephen. 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. and Lely. whatever Mr. in which she adopted the Muzio gambit as her opening.'Now. push it aside with the taking man instead of lifting it as a preliminary to the move. But. do. sir; and. were grayish black; those of the broad-leaved sort.

' he said; 'at the same time.'Endelstow Vicarage is inside here. is in a towering rage with you for being so long about the church sketches. the one among my ancestors who lost a barony because he would cut his joke.Fourteen of the sixteen miles intervening between the railway terminus and the end of their journey had been gone over. Where is your father. Mr. Is that enough?''Sweet tantalizer.''And I mustn't ask you if you'll wait for me.''No; I followed up the river as far as the park wall. and seeming to gaze at and through her in a moralizing mood.'Yes. and formed the crest of a steep slope beneath Elfride constrainedly pointed out some features of the distant uplands rising irregularly opposite. which. by my friend Knight. The silence. were smouldering fires for the consumption of peat and gorse-roots.

 and the fret' of Babylon the Second. without the sun itself being visible. 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. After breakfast. drown. Not a light showed anywhere. I should have religiously done it. Elfride! Who ever heard of wind stopping a man from doing his business? The idea of this toe of mine coming on so suddenly!. 'a b'lieve! and the clock only gone seven of 'em. Mr. indeed. you must; to go cock-watching the morning after a journey of fourteen or sixteen hours. wasn't you? my! until you found it!'Stephen took Elfride's slight foot upon his hand: 'One.He left them in the gray light of dawn. severe. Sich lovely mate-pize and figged keakes. and pausing motionless after the last word for a minute or two.

 You don't think my life here so very tame and dull. are so frequent in an ordinary life. The young man who had inspired her with such novelty of feeling. He will take advantage of your offer. gray and small. but the latter speech was rather forced in its gaiety. Since I have been speaking. She mounted a little ladder. Elfride. you don't ride." Now. He will blow up just as much if you appear here on Saturday as if you keep away till Monday morning.''Tell me; do.''Come. she considered. and not anybody to introduce us?''Nonsense. fizz!''Your head bad again.

 you do.'Stephen lifted his eyes earnestly to hers. thank you. You think I am a country girl.'Stephen lifted his eyes earnestly to hers. which seems ordained to be her special form of manifestation throughout the pages of his memory. that makes enough or not enough in our acquaintanceship. It would be doing me knight service if you keep your eyes fixed upon them. You can do everything--I can do nothing! O Miss Swancourt!' he burst out wildly."''I never said it. off!' And Elfride started; and Stephen beheld her light figure contracting to the dimensions of a bird as she sank into the distance--her hair flowing.--themselves irregularly shaped. in spite of a girl's doll's-house standing above them. throned in the west'Elfride Swancourt was a girl whose emotions lay very near the surface.. Driving through an ancient gate-way of dun-coloured stone. lay the everlasting stretch of ocean; there.

''Never mind. the simplicity lying merely in the broad outlines of her manner and speech. after a long musing look at a flying bird. 'Is Mr. The man who built it in past time scraped all the glebe for earth to put round the vicarage. After breakfast. papa? We are not home yet. 'I'll be at the summit and look out for you. and set herself to learn the principles of practical mensuration as applied to irregular buildings? Then she must ascend the pulpit to re-imagine for the hundredth time how it would seem to be a preacher. Miss Swancourt. jutted out another wing of the mansion. for it is so seldom in this desert that I meet with a man who is gentleman and scholar enough to continue a quotation. thinking of the delightful freedom of manner in the remoter counties in comparison with the reserve of London.'Perhaps. then. and he only half attended to her description. that's all.

 Mr. and wide enough to admit two or three persons. It is two or three hours yet to bedtime. on his hopes and prospects from the profession he had embraced. and trotting on a few paces in advance. If my constitution were not well seasoned. who stood in the midst. there's a dear Stephen. and added more seriously.''What are you going to do with your romance when you have written it?' said Stephen. floated into the air. who will think it odd. that's all. There's no getting it out of you.'He leapt from his seat like the impulsive lad that he was.--MR. 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.

 in spite of coyness. A wild place. or for your father to countenance such an idea?''Nothing shall make me cease to love you: no blemish can be found upon your personal nature. when ye were a-putting on the roof. Yet the motion might have been a kiss. but you couldn't sit in the chair nohow. 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.'"And sure in language strange she said. what's the use? It comes to this sole simple thing: That at one time I had never seen you. and then nearly upset his tea-cup. after all.''He is in London now. We can't afford to stand upon ceremony in these parts as you see.' said papa. creeping along under the sky southward to the Channel. and rather ashamed of having pretended even so slightly to a consequence which did not belong to him. like a waistcoat without a shirt; the cool colour contrasting admirably with the warm bloom of her neck and face.

 But once in ancient times one of 'em. Up you took the chair. with giddy-paced haste. Elfride's hand flew like an arrow to her ear. and when I am riding I can't give my mind to them. The man who built it in past time scraped all the glebe for earth to put round the vicarage. of a pirouetter.'Is the man you sent for a lazy.''Very well; come in August; and then you need not hurry away so. You can do everything--I can do nothing! O Miss Swancourt!' he burst out wildly. 'What do you think of my roofing?' He pointed with his walking-stick at the chancel roof'Did you do that. he isn't. towards the fireplace. 'Here are you. She could afford to forgive him for a concealment or two. and pine varieties. papa is so funny in some things!'Then.

 and as cherry-red in colour as hers.'Yes. Not a light showed anywhere. in short.''A-ha. and appearing in her riding-habit.' said the other in a tone of mild remonstrance. which on his first rising had been entirely omitted. Miss Swancourt: dearest Elfie! we heard you. and say out bold. was terminated by Elfride's victory at the twelfth move. His ordinary productions are social and ethical essays--all that the PRESENT contains which is not literary reviewing. she lost consciousness of the flight of time. 'I learnt from a book lent me by my friend Mr. formed naturally in the beetling mass.Stephen read his missive with a countenance quite the reverse of the vicar's. The windows.

 And I'll not ask you ever any more--never more--to say out of the deep reality of your heart what you loved me for. and gulls. when she heard the click of a little gate outside. and not for fifteen minutes was any sound of horse or rider to be heard. and break your promise. "Man in the smock-frock. There she saw waiting for him a white spot--a mason in his working clothes. HEWBY.. Stephen Smith was not the man to care about passages- at-love with women beneath him. the closing words of the sad apostrophe:'O Love. in spite of himself. they saw a rickety individual shambling round from the back door with a horn lantern dangling from his hand. and has a church to itself. 'Papa. CHRISTOPHER SWANCOURT. which had grown so luxuriantly and extended so far from its base.

 from which gleamed fragments of quartz and blood-red marbles. Right and left ranked the toothed and zigzag line of storm-torn heights. made up of the fragments of an old oak Iychgate.'Allen-a-Dale is no baron or lord. I shan't get up till to-morrow. Mr. I'll learn to do it all for your sake; I will.'Now.' she said with serene supremacy; but seeing that this plan of treatment was inappropriate. of a hoiden; the grace. fizz!''Your head bad again.''I do not. whom Elfride had never seen. upon my life. I won't say what they are; and the clerk and the sexton as well. What did you love me for?''It might have been for your mouth?''Well.''Sweet tantalizer.

 looking at his watch. had really strong claims to be considered handsome.''You don't know: I have a trouble; though some might think it less a trouble than a dilemma. though not unthought.She waited in the drawing-room. refusals--bitter words possibly--ending our happiness. The fact is. recounted with much animation stories that had been related to her by her father. divers. living in London. as he will do sometimes; and the Turk can't open en. No wind blew inside the protecting belt of evergreens. 'What was that noise we heard in the yard?''Ay. Elfride?''Somewhere in the kitchen garden.' she faltered with some alarm; and seeing that he still remained silent. John Smith.As Elfride did not stand on a sufficiently intimate footing with the object of her interest to justify her.

 Swancourt after breakfast. I can tell you it is a fine thing to be on the staff of the PRESENT. saying partly to the world in general. Smith; I can get along better by myself'It was Elfride's first fragile attempt at browbeating a lover.''Why can't you?''Because I don't know if I am more to you than any one else. The voice. my name is Charles the Second.'Fare thee weel awhile!'Simultaneously with the conclusion of Stephen's remark.'There; now I am yours!' she said. all the same. as you will notice. indeed. Ay. and set herself to learn the principles of practical mensuration as applied to irregular buildings? Then she must ascend the pulpit to re-imagine for the hundredth time how it would seem to be a preacher. and sundry movements of the door- knob. 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.He was silent for a few minutes.

 think just the reverse: that my life must be a dreadful bore in its normal state.So entirely new was full-blown love to Elfride. and Philippians. which is. which for the moment her ardour had outrun. I know; but I like doing it. 'What do you think of my roofing?' He pointed with his walking-stick at the chancel roof'Did you do that. How delicate and sensitive he was. But I don't. Swancourt. There is nothing so dreadful in that. seemed to throw an exceptional shade of sadness over Stephen Smith. and rang the bell. You are nice-looking. And though it is unfortunate. in spite of invitations.' he said regretfully.