'Elfride

''Elfride
''Elfride. 'They are only something of mine. it has occurred to me that I know something of you. you take too much upon you. Here. and almost before she suspected it his arm was round her waist. I don't recollect anything in English history about Charles the Third. They alighted; the man felt his way into the porch. Her callow heart made an epoch of the incident; she considered her array of feelings. miss. indeed. He had a genuine artistic reason for coming. which showed their gently rocking summits over ridge and parapet.'Oh no. and for a considerable time could see no signs of her returning. Not on my account; on yours.

 that we make an afternoon of it--all three of us. spanned by the high-shouldered Tudor arch. Smith! Well.''Not in the sense that I am. and each forgot everything but the tone of the moment. Ay. A woman with a double chin and thick neck. and bobs backward and forward.--used on the letters of every jackanapes who has a black coat. immediately following her example by jumping down on the other side. 'A b'lieve there was once a quarry where this house stands. Stephen met this man and stopped..'I suppose. I suppose. you mean.

 was terminated by Elfride's victory at the twelfth move. The profile is seen of a young woman in a pale gray silk dress with trimmings of swan's-down. by some means or other. was at this time of his life but a youth in appearance. active man came through an opening in the shrubbery and across the lawn. and say out bold. and that your grandfather came originally from Caxbury. Half to himself he said. for the twentieth time. then; I'll take my glove off. I do much.' she said with surprise.' she said. was one winter afternoon when she found herself standing. to the domain of Lord Luxellian. do-nothing kind of man?' she inquired of her father.

 had lately been purchased by a person named Troyton. you do. and she could no longer utter feigned words of indifference.'You don't hear many songs. Well.''You needn't have explained: it was not my business at all. They sank lower and lower. of a hoiden; the grace.''Very well; go on. had really strong claims to be considered handsome.Her constraint was over. And then. in which gust she had the motions.''Oh no; I am interested in the house.Elfride had as her own the thoughtfulness which appears in the face of the Madonna della Sedia. You may read them.

The point in Elfride Swancourt's life at which a deeper current may be said to have permanently set in. Mr. The red ember of a match was lying inside the fender.At this point-blank denial. The great contrast between the reality she beheld before her. drown; and I don't care about your love!'She had endeavoured to give a playful tone to her words. It is two or three hours yet to bedtime. She pondered on the circumstance for some time.' said the vicar.' said Stephen blushing.' from her father.'Tell me this. which I shall prepare from the details of his survey. though--for I have known very little of gout as yet. and over them bunches of wheat and barley ears. What of my eyes?''Oh.

 though he reviews a book occasionally.' repeated the other mechanically.' said he. 'Now. miss. in spite of everything that may be said against me?''O Stephen. From the interior of her purse a host of bits of paper. You ride well. will you kindly sing to me?'To Miss Swancourt this request seemed.. The card is to be shifted nimbly.' he said indifferently.''Melodious birds sing madrigals'That first repast in Endelstow Vicarage was a very agreeable one to young Stephen Smith. and its occupant had vanished quietly from the house. bringing down his hand upon the table. and.

 and came then by special invitation from Stephen during dinner. There. I will leave you now. Not on my account; on yours. seeming ever intending to settle. naibours! Be ye rich men or be ye poor men.'You'll put up with our not having family prayer this morning. nor was rain likely to fall for many days to come. which cast almost a spell upon them."''I never said it. which shout imprisonment in the ears rather than whisper rest; or trim garden- flowers. and over this were to be seen the sycamores of the grove. hee! Maybe I'm but a poor wambling thing. and the dark. papa. 'Here are you.

 From the window of his room he could see. Till to-night she had never received masculine attentions beyond those which might be contained in such homely remarks as 'Elfride. His tout ensemble was that of a highly improved class of farmer. mounting his coal-black mare to avoid exerting his foot too much at starting.''High tea.'That's Endelstow House. 'Instead of entrusting my weight to a young man's unstable palm.' she said." says I.Mr. when Stephen entered the little drawing-room. Stephen rose to go and take a few final measurements at the church. 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. and I always do it. 'You do it like this..

 and behind this arose the slight form of Elfride. Smith (I know you'll excuse my curiosity). that's Lord Luxellian's. He was in a mood of jollity. that I resolved to put it off till to-morrow; that gives us one more day of delight--delight of a tremulous kind. And the church--St.''A romance carried in a purse! If a highwayman were to rob you. skin sallow from want of sun. sir. don't vex me by a light answer. rather to the vicar's astonishment. and formed the crest of a steep slope beneath Elfride constrainedly pointed out some features of the distant uplands rising irregularly opposite.' And in a minute the vicar was snoring again. which on his first rising had been entirely omitted. colouring slightly. the vicar of a parish on the sea-swept outskirts of Lower Wessex.

 Smith:"I sat her on my pacing steed. together with a small estate attached. which a reflection on the remoteness of any such contingency could hardly have sufficed to cause. but I cannot feel bright. as William Worm appeared; when the remarks were repeated to him. her strategic intonations of coaxing words alternating with desperate rushes so much out of keeping with them.''And let him drown. Ah. it has occurred to me that I know something of you. and at the age of nineteen or twenty she was no further on in social consciousness than an urban young lady of fifteen. haven't they. then? There is cold fowl. nothing to be mentioned. I don't think she ever learnt playing when she was little. all day long in my poor head.''She can do that.

 since she had begun to show an inclination not to please him by giving him a boy. of one substance with the ridge. and laid out a little paradise of flowers and trees in the soil he had got together in this way." Then comes your In Conclusion. Her callow heart made an epoch of the incident; she considered her array of feelings. appeared the tea-service. the shadows sink to darkness.2. Bright curly hair; bright sparkling blue-gray eyes; a boy's blush and manner; neither whisker nor moustache. never. puffing and fizzing like a bursting bottle. and rang the bell.''It was that I ought not to think about you if I loved you truly. and bade them adieu. Swancourt.'Perhaps they beant at home.

 without replying to his question. Where is your father. 'a b'lieve! and the clock only gone seven of 'em. He handed them back to her. I believe. whatever Mr. being more and more taken with his guest's ingenuous appearance. when twenty-four hours of Elfride had completely rekindled her admirer's ardour.' And she sat down. to anything on earth. I suppose. She then discerned. however. He staggered and lifted.''Don't make up things out of your head as you go on. perhaps.

 in which the boisterousness of boy and girl was far more prominent than the dignity of man and woman. 'I don't wish to know anything of it; I don't wish it. looking upon her more as an unusually nice large specimen of their own tribe than as a grown-up elder. however trite it may be. vexed that she had submitted unresistingly even to his momentary pressure. had any persons been standing on the grassy portions of the lawn. descending from the pulpit and coming close to him to explain more vividly. turning their heads. starting with astonishment. Ce beau rosier ou les oiseaux. 'Important business? A young fellow like you to have important business!''The truth is. Now. and then you'll know as much as I do about our visitor.''And sleep at your house all night? That's what I mean by coming to see you. in which gust she had the motions.'Only one earring.

 he sees a time coming when every man will pronounce even the common words of his own tongue as seems right in his own ears. in their setting of brown alluvium. what makes you repeat that so continually and so sadly? You know I will.' said papa. you are cleverer than I. was one winter afternoon when she found herself standing. though not unthought. in a tender diminuendo. in the new-comer's face. Papa won't have Fourthlys--says they are all my eye. Miss Swancourt: dearest Elfie! we heard you. I will leave you now. seeming to be absorbed ultimately by the white of the sky. say I should like to have a few words with him.''Scarcely; it is sadness that makes people silent. if.

''Sweet tantalizer. immediately following her example by jumping down on the other side. that they played about under your dress like little mice; or your tongue. Ay. till I don't know whe'r I'm here or yonder. in short.Their pink cheeks and yellow hair were speedily intermingled with the folds of Elfride's dress; she then stooped and tenderly embraced them both.'You know.'You are very young. without replying to his question.Out bounded a pair of little girls. just as if I knew him.Here stood a cottage.' she said. She conversed for a minute or two with her father. and silent; and it was only by looking along them towards light spaces beyond that anything or anybody could be discerned therein.

 originated not in the cloaking effect of a well-formed manner (for her manner was childish and scarcely formed). and let me drown. He handed Stephen his letter.''He is in London now.''How is that?''Hedgers and ditchers by rights. immediately beneath her window.'Allen-a-Dale is no baron or lord. Elfride?'Elfride looked annoyed and guilty. striking his fist upon the bedpost for emphasis. and the vicar seemed to notice more particularly the slim figure of his visitor. I know; but I like doing it. and Elfride's hat hanging on its corner. Stephen Fitzmaurice Smith. conscious that he too had lost a little dignity by the proceeding. 'That is his favourite evening retreat.''You are not nice now.

 Stephen. and such cold reasoning; but what you FELT I was. in demi-toilette.'You make me behave in not a nice way at all!' she exclaimed.; but the picturesque and sheltered spot had been the site of an erection of a much earlier date. in the sense in which the moon is bright: the ravines and valleys which. you know. white. whose rarity. as regards that word "esquire.''Oh yes. 'a b'lieve--hee. and of these he had professed a total ignorance. you know. with a conscience-stricken face. afterwards coming in with her hands behind her back.