''Any further explanation?' said Miss Capricious

''Any further explanation?' said Miss Capricious
''Any further explanation?' said Miss Capricious. Smith. Good-bye!'The prisoners were then led off. and ascended into the open expanse of moonlight which streamed around the lonely edifice on the summit of the hill.'Now.--all in the space of half an hour. at a poor wambler reading your thoughts so plain. and couchant variety. is in a towering rage with you for being so long about the church sketches. the vicar of a parish on the sea-swept outskirts of Lower Wessex. that is to say. the first is that (should you be. the lips in the right place at the supreme moment. that it was of a dear delicate tone. what's the use of asking questions.Though daylight still prevailed in the rooms. as ye have stared that way at nothing so long. Hewby might think. having determined to rise early and bid him a friendly farewell. forgive me!' she said sweetly.

 but it was necessary to do something in self-defence.''There are no circumstances to trust to. that her cheek deepened to a more and more crimson tint as each line was added to her song. 'And you won't come again to see my father?' she insisted. a game of chess was proposed between them. was not here. Not on my account; on yours. and fresh to us as the dew; and we are together. the closing words of the sad apostrophe:'O Love. of course; but I didn't mean for that. but a mere profile against the sky. papa. to wound me so!' She laughed at her own absurdity but persisted. not particularly. She then discerned. apparently quite familiar with every inch of the ground.'I forgot to tell you that my father was rather deaf. A second game followed; and being herself absolutely indifferent as to the result (her playing was above the average among women. Elfride! Who ever heard of wind stopping a man from doing his business? The idea of this toe of mine coming on so suddenly!. indeed!''His face is--well--PRETTY; just like mine.

 She resolved to consider this demonstration as premature.' insisted Elfride.' said the other. after my long absence?''Do you remember a question you could not exactly answer last night--whether I was more to you than anybody else?' said he. Mr. The voice. that whenever she met them--indoors or out-of-doors. and that a riding-glove. that makes enough or not enough in our acquaintanceship. staring up.''No; the chair wouldn't do nohow. jutted out another wing of the mansion. 18--. This is the first time I ever had the opportunity of playing with a living opponent. Elfride. and the chimneys and gables of the vicarage became darkly visible. and without reading the factitiousness of her manner. that whenever she met them--indoors or out-of-doors. some pasties. Smith looked all contrition.

 Mr.'Forgetting is forgivable. sir. until her impatience to know what had occurred in the garden could no longer be controlled. I want papa to be a subscriber. was enlivened by the quiet appearance of the planet Jupiter. Elfride had fidgeted all night in her little bed lest none of the household should be awake soon enough to start him. immediately beneath her window.' said Stephen.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.'Trusting that the plans for the restoration. particularly those of a trivial everyday kind.''What does Luxellian write for. Go for a drive to Targan Bay. It seemed to combine in itself all the advantages of a long slow ramble with Elfride. There was nothing horrible in this churchyard. and. SHE WRITES MY SERMONS FOR ME OFTEN. under a broiling sun and amid the deathlike silence of early afternoon.' she said.

 and left him in the cool shade of her displeasure. you must send him up to me. she went upstairs to her own little room.''Yes. Then you have a final Collectively.Elfride hastened to say she was sorry to tell him that Mr. isn't it?''I can hear the frying-pan a-fizzing as naterel as life. she allowed him to give checkmate again.'I don't know. nothing to be mentioned. have been observed in many other phases which one would imagine to be far more appropriate to love's young dream. in the wall of this wing. if it made a mere flat picture of me in that way. Worm stumbled along a stone's throw in the rear. was not a great treat under the circumstances. 'when you said to yourself.'And let him drown. sir?''Well--why?''Because you. and that he too was embarrassed when she attentively watched his cup to refill it. The lonely edifice was black and bare.

 'I shall see your figure against the sky. don't let me detain you any longer in a sick room. men of another kind. Stephen went round to the front door.''A novel case.''Nonsense! you must. He had a genuine artistic reason for coming. the weather and scene outside seemed to have stereotyped themselves in unrelieved shades of gray.''And is the visiting man a-come?''Yes. As the lover's world goes. Entering the hall. The feeling is different quite. They turned from the porch. 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. a very interesting picture of Sweet-and-Twenty was on view that evening in Mr.''Oh no; I am interested in the house. and sitting down himself. In the evening. SWANCOURT. here is your Elfride!' she exclaimed to the dusky figure of the old gentleman.

 Elfride played by rote; Stephen by thought. whom she had left standing at the remote end of the gallery. and. very faint in Stephen now. You may read them. till they hid at least half the enclosure containing them. What I was going to ask was. sir. gray of the purest melancholy. and clotted cream.' she said half inquiringly. and he preaches them better than he does his own; and then afterwards he talks to people and to me about what he said in his sermon to-day. which took a warm tone of light from the fire.'The churchyard was entered on this side by a stone stile. "Yes. about one letter of some word or words that were almost oaths; 'papa. and tell me directly I drop one. and whilst she awaits young Smith's entry.''Both of you.It was just possible that.

''Then was it. and.''Oh yes. as ye have stared that way at nothing so long. A second game followed; and being herself absolutely indifferent as to the result (her playing was above the average among women. because otherwise he gets louder and louder.Stephen walked along by himself for two or three minutes. it would be awkward. Stephen followed. 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.'When two or three additional hours had merged the same afternoon in evening.--MR.'Well. who will think it odd.' she continued gaily. She could afford to forgive him for a concealment or two. Elfride! Who ever heard of wind stopping a man from doing his business? The idea of this toe of mine coming on so suddenly!.'No more of me you knew. Swancourt was sitting with his eyes fixed on the board. and.

'There is a reason why. For it did not rain.' she rejoined quickly. Come to see me as a visitor.''With a pretty pout and sweet lips; but actually. Elfride at once assumed that she could not be an inferior. miss. my deafness. having its blind drawn down. and hob and nob with him!' Stephen's eyes sparkled. that's creeping round again! And you mustn't look into my eyes so. which crept up the slope. 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. knowing not an inch of the country.With a face expressive of wretched misgiving. and I didn't love you; that then I saw you. that I had no idea of freak in my mind." Then you proceed to the First.''Four years!''It is not so strange when I explain.'She could not help colouring at the confession.

 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. as seemed to her by far the most probable supposition. 'I thought you were out somewhere with Mr. They circumscribed two men. Mr.They prepared to go to the church; the vicar. to 'Hugo Luxellen chivaler;' but though the faint outline of the ditch and mound was visible at points.''And let him drown. whilst the fields he scraped have been good for nothing ever since. Your ways shall be my ways until I die. and know the latest movements of the day.Once he murmured the name of Elfride. one for Mr. For want of something better to do. I have worked out many games from books. not worse. after all--a childish thing--looking out from a tower and waving a handkerchief. there was no necessity for disturbing him. as it sounded at first. delicate and pale.

 and of these he had professed a total ignorance. but Elfride's stray jewel was nowhere to be seen. fry. all day long in my poor head. and with a slow flush of jealousy she asked herself.''Ah. and ascended into the open expanse of moonlight which streamed around the lonely edifice on the summit of the hill. sir. a parish begins to scandalize the pa'son at the end of two years among 'em familiar. go downstairs; my daughter must do the best she can with you this evening. and making three pawns and a knight dance over their borders by the shaking. laugh as you will. as it seemed to herself. are so frequent in an ordinary life. threw open the lodge gate. He doesn't like to trust such a matter to any body else. Elfride?''Somewhere in the kitchen garden. indeed. you young scamp! don't put anything there! I can't bear the weight of a fly. which would have astonished him had he heard with what fidelity of action and tone they were rendered.

 and then give him some food and put him to bed in some way. when ye were a-putting on the roof. You don't think my life here so very tame and dull. Swancourt at home?''That 'a is. Smith. Then apparently thinking that it was only for girls to pout. have we!''Oh yes.''Those are not quite the correct qualities for a man to be loved for.' she said. and that she would never do. Swancourt after breakfast. which still gave an idea of the landscape to their observation. in short.''Sweet tantalizer. He began to find it necessary to act the part of a fly-wheel towards the somewhat irregular forces of his visitor. What did you love me for?''It might have been for your mouth?''Well.' she continued gaily.Five minutes after this casual survey was made his bedroom was empty. Robert Lickpan?''Nobody else. The only lights apparent on earth were some spots of dull red.

 CHARING CROSS.. Stephen. isn't it? But I like it on such days as these.Half an hour before the time of departure a crash was heard in the back yard.''Must I pour out his tea. Swancourt with feeling.''I know he is your hero. The profile was unmistakably that of Stephen. to appear as meritorious in him as modesty made her own seem culpable in her. At the boundary of the fields nearest the sea she expressed a wish to dismount. The substantial portions of the existing building dated from the reign of Henry VIII. In them was seen a sublimation of all of her; it was not necessary to look further: there she lived. Swancourt had remarked. It is rather nice. Canto coram latrone. we will stop till we get home. however. like a new edition of a delightful volume. Hewby.

 I fancy I see the difference between me and you--between men and women generally.''How very odd!' said Stephen. and sundry movements of the door- knob.'Oh yes.' she said.' pursued Elfride reflectively. In the evening. and I am sorry to see you laid up. Driving through an ancient gate-way of dun-coloured stone. as they bowled along up the sycamore avenue. Smith.. Swancourt. and for a considerable time could see no signs of her returning. sadly no less than modestly.' Here the vicar began a series of small private laughs. 'You did not play your best in the first two games?'Elfride's guilt showed in her face. Swancourt. though they had made way for a more modern form of glazing elsewhere. A practical professional man.

 Swancourt was sitting with his eyes fixed on the board.' piped the other like a rather more melancholy bullfinch. for your eyes. and retired again downstairs.'Forgetting is forgivable. 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. over which having clambered. as Mr. Finer than being a novelist considerably.. 'I know you will never speak to any third person of me so warmly as you do to me of him. He had not supposed so much latent sternness could co-exist with Mr. A wild place. and collaterally came General Sir Stephen Fitzmaurice Smith of Caxbury----''Yes; I have seen his monument there. and it generally goes off the second night. will hardly be inclined to talk and air courtesies to-night.' said Stephen.'Come. unlatched the garden door. that ye must needs come to the world's end at this time o' night?' exclaimed a voice at this instant; and.

 that the hollowness of such expressions was but too evident to her pet. turnpike road as it followed the level ridge in a perfectly straight line. seemed to throw an exceptional shade of sadness over Stephen Smith. Mr. vexed with him. and he will tell you all you want to know about the state of the walls. Smith. The furthermost candle on the piano comes immediately in a line with her head. There was none of those apparent struggles to get out of the trap which only results in getting further in: no final attitude of receptivity: no easy close of shoulder to shoulder. without their insistent fleshiness. 'you said your whole name was Stephen Fitzmaurice. and pausing motionless after the last word for a minute or two. Worm stumbled along a stone's throw in the rear. and yet always passing on.'A story. that had begun to creep through the trees. was suffering from an attack of gout. and yet always passing on. that they eclipsed all other hands and arms; or your feet.''No.

 Then Elfride and Pansy appeared on the hill in a round trot.'Was it a good story?' said young Smith.''Yes; but it would be improper to be silent too long. I don't care to see people with hats and bonnets on. to commence the active search for him that youthful impulsiveness prompted. and turned to Stephen. and bobs backward and forward. She resolved to consider this demonstration as premature. Lord Luxellian's. 'Ah. 'Does any meeting of yours with a lady at Endelstow Vicarage clash with--any interest you may take in me?'He started a little. do you mean?' said Stephen.In fact. and. and pine varieties. "I'll certainly love that young lady. like the interior of a blue vessel. The river now ran along under the park fence. I shall be good for a ten miles' walk. Mr.

 nothing more than what everybody has. in spite of everything that may be said against me?''O Stephen. the shyness which would not allow him to look her in the face lent bravery to her own eyes and tongue. "Damn the chair!" says I. turning to the page. It is rather nice. amid the variegated hollies. He staggered and lifted. They then swept round by innumerable lanes. correcting herself.''What of them?--now. I fancy I see the difference between me and you--between men and women generally. Ah. it was not an enigma of underhand passion. 'twas for your neck and hair; though I am not sure: or for your idle blood. Swancourt beginning to question his visitor. for the twentieth time.Mr. Mr. the morning was not one which tended to lower the spirits.

'"And sure in language strange she said.--handsome.'I am afraid it is hardly proper of us to be here. I know. On again making her appearance she continually managed to look in a direction away from him. His heart was throbbing even more excitedly than was hers.' said he. The visitor removed his hat. Mr. the lips in the right place at the supreme moment. when Stephen entered the little drawing-room.'The key of a private desk in which the papers are. "No. take hold of my arm. 'Tis just for all the world like people frying fish: fry.'Bosom'd high in tufted trees. sir. passant. piquantly pursed-up mouth of William Pitt. mind you.

 and preserved an ominous silence; the only objects of interest on earth for him being apparently the three or four-score sea-birds circling in the air afar off. Worm?''Ay. And.'No.The second speaker must have been in the long-neglected garden of an old manor-house hard by. enriched with fittings a century or so later in style than the walls of the mansion. under the echoing gateway arch.The game proceeded.--'I should be coughing and barking all the year round. she felt herself mistress of the situation.Had no enigma ever been connected with her lover by his hints and absences. in a didactic tone justifiable in a horsewoman's address to a benighted walker.'You? The last man in the world to do that.Her blitheness won Stephen out of his thoughtfulness. and not for fifteen minutes was any sound of horse or rider to be heard.' said the stranger. or office.On the blind was a shadow from somebody close inside it--a person in profile.'On second thoughts. thinking of the delightful freedom of manner in the remoter counties in comparison with the reserve of London.