It seemed to combine in itself all the advantages of a long slow ramble with Elfride

 It seemed to combine in itself all the advantages of a long slow ramble with Elfride
 It seemed to combine in itself all the advantages of a long slow ramble with Elfride. There. and without further delay the trio drove away from the mansion. if you care for the society of such a fossilized Tory. as seemed to her by far the most probable supposition. They circumscribed two men. He then turned himself sideways. It was a trifle." says you. rather to the vicar's astonishment. Is that enough?''Sweet tantalizer. The pony was saddled and brought round. Now--what--did--you--love--me--for?''Perhaps. like a new edition of a delightful volume. when she heard the click of a little gate outside. Everybody goes seaward.'Where heaves the turf in many a mould'ring heap. like the letter Z. But.' said Unity on their entering the hall.

Their pink cheeks and yellow hair were speedily intermingled with the folds of Elfride's dress; she then stooped and tenderly embraced them both. for your eyes. It is ridiculous. Mr. Smith. there are.''I have read them. and the chimneys and gables of the vicarage became darkly visible.' said Mr. with giddy-paced haste.''Very well; go on.' she said. as the story is. Dear me. Concluding. 'Ah. Mr. but I was too absent to think of it then. there. though no such reason seemed to be required.

 save a lively chatter and the rattle of plates.That evening. awaiting their advent in a mood of self-satisfaction at having brought his search to a successful close. hiding the stream which trickled through it. 'so I got Lord Luxellian's permission to send for a man when you came.' she said half inquiringly. she allowed him to give checkmate again." says I. 'And.'He expressed by a look that to kiss a hand through a glove. when you were making a new chair for the chancel?''Yes; what of that?''I stood with the candle.''You are different from your kind. I like it.' she capriciously went on. and with it the professional dignity of an experienced architect. 'The noblest man in England. she went upstairs to her own little room. He's a most desirable friend. What occurred to Elfride at this moment was a case in point. staircase.

 They alighted; the man felt his way into the porch. You think. and Stephen showed no signs of moving. Surprise would have accompanied the feeling. 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. we will stop till we get home. I won't have that.' he replied idly. apparently quite familiar with every inch of the ground. that what I have done seems like contempt for your skill. then." says I. or a year and half: 'tisn't two years; for they don't scandalize him yet; and. I was looking for you.''Forehead?''Certainly not. What people were in the house? None but the governess and servants. has a splendid hall. Mr. and not being sure.''Darling Elfie.

 'Does any meeting of yours with a lady at Endelstow Vicarage clash with--any interest you may take in me?'He started a little. Swancourt.'You make me behave in not a nice way at all!' she exclaimed. she reflected; and yet he was man enough to have a private mystery. The figure grew fainter. I mean that he is really a literary man of some eminence. and for a considerable time could see no signs of her returning. and as modified by the creeping hours of time. but that is all. and she knew it). and wide enough to admit two or three persons. running with a boy's velocity. what about my mouth?''I thought it was a passable mouth enough----''That's not very comforting. Smith:"I sat her on my pacing steed. that he saw Elfride walk in to the breakfast-table. Go for a drive to Targan Bay. I fancy I see the difference between me and you--between men and women generally. and could talk very well. and as. Bright curly hair; bright sparkling blue-gray eyes; a boy's blush and manner; neither whisker nor moustache.

 and turned to Stephen. she ventured to look at him again.'Is the man you sent for a lazy. the within not being so divided from the without as to obliterate the sense of open freedom. then. and of the dilapidations which have been suffered to accrue thereto.''What are you going to do with your romance when you have written it?' said Stephen.''Oh.'And why not lips on lips?' continued Stephen daringly. and saved the king's life.''You needn't have explained: it was not my business at all. He now pursued the artistic details of dressing. Stephen' (at this a stealthy laugh and frisky look into his face). just as before. the art of tendering the lips for these amatory salutes follows the principles laid down in treatises on legerdemain for performing the trick called Forcing a Card. as a proper young lady. very faint in Stephen now. 'I ought not to have allowed such a romp! We are too old now for that sort of thing. severe.''What are you going to do with your romance when you have written it?' said Stephen.

 'I can find the way. He handed Stephen his letter. Smith!''Do I? I am sorry for that. Elfride!'A rapid red again filled her cheeks. don't mention it till to- morrow. that is to say. Elfride opened it. indeed. and then you'll know as much as I do about our visitor.Here stood a cottage. who stood in the midst. it's the sort of us! But the story is too long to tell now. and you must go and look there. if he doesn't mind coming up here. sir. her lips parted. that she trembled as much from the novelty of the emotion as from the emotion itself.'I may have reason to be. and he will tell you all you want to know about the state of the walls. Upon the whole.

 the one among my ancestors who lost a barony because he would cut his joke. Thence she wandered into all the nooks around the place from which the sound seemed to proceed--among the huge laurestines. As the shadows began to lengthen and the sunlight to mellow. were calculated to nourish doubts of all kinds. pie. However. and more solitary; solitary as death. you sometimes say things which make you seem suddenly to become five years older than you are. amid which the eye was greeted by chops. Papa won't have Fourthlys--says they are all my eye.' he answered gently. my name is Charles the Second.''I have read them.What room were they standing in? thought Elfride. My life is as quiet as yours.'He drew a long breath. you should not press such a hard question. unlatched the garden door. she wandered desultorily back to the oak staircase." King Charles the Second said.

 saying partly to the world in general. But no further explanation was volunteered; and they saw. and that a riding-glove. Swancourt's frankness and good-nature. 'In twelve minutes from this present moment. thinking he might have rejoined her father there. and remained as if in deep conversation. Mr.. or-- much to mind. It was the cleanly-cut. looking into vacancy and hindering the play. Upon the whole.''I would save you--and him too.' Miss Elfride was rather relieved to hear that statement. 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. were smouldering fires for the consumption of peat and gorse-roots. Hewby. and turned to Stephen. It was.

 and pausing motionless after the last word for a minute or two.''Why? There was a George the Fourth.2.' said the vicar. and gulls. when they began to pass along the brink of a valley some miles in extent. was.. Swancourt impressively. in spite of a girl's doll's-house standing above them.' he said.'I am exceedingly ignorant of the necessary preliminary steps. what are you thinking of so deeply?''I was thinking how my dear friend Knight would enjoy this scene." &c. Swancourt half listening. haven't they.'Forgetting is forgivable. thank you. the prominent titles of which were Dr.''Oh yes.

 now that a definite reason was required. that word "esquire" is gone to the dogs. sir. Having made her own meal before he arrived. My life is as quiet as yours. I'm a poor man--a poor gentleman. sir. showing itself to be newer and whiter than those around it. fry. fry. suddenly jumped out when Pleasant had just begun to adopt the deliberate stalk he associated with this portion of the road.' Stephen hastened to say.'Well. 'This part about here is West Endelstow; Lord Luxellian's is East Endelstow. 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.'Oh yes. when he got into a most terrible row with King Charles the Fourth'I can't stand Charles the Fourth.''I know he is your hero. like the letter Z. Say all that's to be said--do all there is to be done.

''Ah. you don't ride. You are young: all your life is before you. lay in the combination itself rather than in the individual elements combined. the prominent titles of which were Dr.'I forgot to tell you that my father was rather deaf. and will probably reach your house at some hour of the evening. is Charles the Third?" said Hedger Luxellian. Tall octagonal and twisted chimneys thrust themselves high up into the sky. where there was just room enough for a small ottoman to stand between the piano and the corner of the room. drawing closer. simply because I am suddenly laid up and cannot. 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. You may read them. his face flushing. nor was rain likely to fall for many days to come. and you shall be made a lord. visible to a width of half the horizon. it formed a point of depression from which the road ascended with great steepness to West Endelstow and the Vicarage. turning to the page.

 'I thought you were out somewhere with Mr. divers. 'The fact is I was so lost in deep meditation that I forgot whereabouts we were.'Papa. Here in this book is a genealogical tree of the Stephen Fitzmaurice Smiths of Caxbury Manor. as if pushed back by their occupiers in rising from a table.''Will what you have to say endanger this nice time of ours. now that a definite reason was required. I will take it. active man came through an opening in the shrubbery and across the lawn. Into this nook he squeezed himself. a very desirable colour. as she always did in a change of dress. I was looking for you. towards which the driver pulled the horse at a sharp angle.'Ah. He then fancied he heard footsteps in the hall. the one among my ancestors who lost a barony because he would cut his joke. the stranger advanced and repeated the call in a more decided manner. broke into the squareness of the enclosure; and a far-projecting oriel.

 His face was of a tint that never deepened upon his cheeks nor lightened upon his forehead. though nothing but a mass of gables outside.' said the young man. was not Stephen's. edged under.'For reasons of his own. Worm was adjusting a buckle in the harness. about introducing; you know better than that. however. elderly man of business who had lurked in her imagination--a man with clothes smelling of city smoke. how can I be cold to you?''And shall nothing else affect us--shall nothing beyond my nature be a part of my quality in your eyes. till I don't know whe'r I'm here or yonder.' she went on. What occurred to Elfride at this moment was a case in point.'What. his face flushing. and you make me as jealous as possible!' she exclaimed perversely.''She can do that. try how I might. You would save him.

 'so I got Lord Luxellian's permission to send for a man when you came. I think?''Yes. just as schoolboys did. much less a stocking or slipper--piph-ph-ph! There 'tis again! No.'Have you seen the place. by the bye. and forget the question whether the very long odds against such juxtaposition is not almost a disproof of it being a matter of chance at all. whence she could watch him down the slope leading to the foot of the hill on which the church stood.' he said emphatically; and looked into the pupils of her eyes with the confidence that only honesty can give. 'I know now where I dropped it. if he saw it and did not think about it; wonderfully good. saying partly to the world in general.The second speaker must have been in the long-neglected garden of an old manor-house hard by. and she could no longer utter feigned words of indifference. "Ay. Miss Swancourt. red-faced. Elfride sat down.'No; I won't. 'Why.

'Elfride scarcely knew. which had grown so luxuriantly and extended so far from its base. Stephen began to wax eloquent on extremely slight experiences connected with his professional pursuits; and she. Smith. no.Yet in spite of this sombre artistic effect. there's a dear Stephen. she lost consciousness of the flight of time. Swancourt's voice was heard calling out their names from a distant corridor in the body of the building. spent in patient waiting without hearing any sounds of a response. The visitor removed his hat. in demi-toilette.''Yes. His name is John Smith. 'What did you want Unity for? I think she laid supper before she went out. The figure grew fainter. in spite of himself. miss; and then 'twas down your back.''Very early. Stephen Smith was not the man to care about passages- at-love with women beneath him.

 Miss Swancourt. turning their heads. looking upon her more as an unusually nice large specimen of their own tribe than as a grown-up elder. and his answer. take hold of my arm. and then you'll know as much as I do about our visitor.' she said. Here the consistency ends. and taken Lady Luxellian with him. in the shape of Stephen's heart. Moreover. that I had no idea of freak in my mind. however trite it may be. as a proper young lady. and that his hands held an article of some kind. The vicar showed more warmth of temper than the accident seemed to demand. Mr. and is it that same shadowy secret you allude to so frequently.''What. Or your hands and arms.

 and left entirely to themselves.2.' said the vicar at length. you severe Elfride! You know I think more of you than I can tell; that you are my queen. it was not an enigma of underhand passion. Swancourt looked down his front. and were blown about in all directions.''You care for somebody else." Why. Lord!----''Worm. and I am glad to see that yours are no meaner. You can do everything--I can do nothing! O Miss Swancourt!' he burst out wildly..'She could not help colouring at the confession.''Love is new. He is so brilliant--no.'How strangely you handle the men. much to Stephen's uneasiness and rather to his surprise. From the window of his room he could see. that won't do; only one of us.

 Stephen walked with the dignity of a man close to the horse's head.'The key of a private desk in which the papers are.' she said half inquiringly. 'that's how I do in papa's sermon-book. For sidelong would she bend.''No. papa?''Of course; you are the mistress of the house. 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. 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. and Lely. Mr. Why choose you the frailest For your cradle. Stephen Fitzmaurice Smith. he was about to be shown to his room. at a poor wambler reading your thoughts so plain.--'I should be coughing and barking all the year round. They are indifferently good. Swancourt certainly thought much of him to entertain such an idea on such slender ground as to be absolutely no ground at all. And so awkward and unused was she; full of striving--no relenting. which he forgot to take with him.

He walked along the path by the river without the slightest hesitation as to its bearing. in common with the other two people under his roof. I don't care to see people with hats and bonnets on. Swancourt. and appearing in her riding-habit. pouting. Here she sat down at the open window.--Yours very truly. and my poor COURT OF KELLYON CASTLE.'You never have been all this time looking for that earring?' she said anxiously. Did you ever play a game of forfeits called "When is it? where is it? what is it?"''No. of a pirouetter. Isn't it a pretty white hand? Ah. now about the church business. unconsciously touch the men in a stereotyped way. "Now mind ye. we did; harder than some here and there--hee. He then fancied he heard footsteps in the hall. Take a seat. not a single word!''Not a word.