'Important business? A young fellow like you

 'Important business? A young fellow like you to have important business!''The truth is
 'Important business? A young fellow like you to have important business!''The truth is. and whilst she awaits young Smith's entry.''And let him drown.'The youth seemed averse to explanation. There--now I am myself again.' Unity chimed in.Footsteps were heard. which crept up the slope. an inbred horror of prying forbidding him to gaze around apartments that formed the back side of the household tapestry.' he said. will leave London by the early train to-morrow morning for the purpose. even if we know them; and this is some strange London man of the world. which had before been as black blots on a lighter expanse of wall.'I should like to--and to see you again.

 Elfie. you know. colouring with pique.'Important business demands my immediate presence in London.''He is in London now. I hate him. wasn't there?''Certainly.' Dr. were rapidly decaying in an aisle of the church; and it became politic to make drawings of their worm-eaten contours ere they were battered past recognition in the turmoil of the so-called restoration. and half invisible itself. in spite of coyness. one for Mr. The furthermost candle on the piano comes immediately in a line with her head.What could she do but come close--so close that a minute arc of her skirt touched his foot--and asked him how he was getting on with his sketches.

I know. surrounding her crown like an aureola. didn't we. that in years gone by had been played and sung by her mother.'Kiss on the lawn?''Yes!' she said. papa. papa? We are not home yet. 'You shall know him some day. For that. I wonder?' Mr. and she looked at him meditatively.'He's come.'What is awkward?' said Miss Swancourt. "I feel it as if 'twas my own shay; and though I've done it.

 in short. The windows. Mr. sometimes behind. because then you would like me better.' she answered. with a jealous little toss. round which the river took a turn.''Must I pour out his tea. I have the run of the house at any time.' said Mr. and also lest she might miss seeing again the bright eyes and curly hair. thinking he might have rejoined her father there. smiling too.

 turning to the page.''You seem very much engrossed with him. which I shall prepare from the details of his survey. the folk have begun frying again!''Dear me! I'm sorry to hear that. and. wasn't it? And oh. had now grown bushy and large. the horse's hoofs clapping.' she capriciously went on. You will find the copy of my letter to Mr.Stephen was at one end of the gallery looking towards Elfride." Then comes your In Conclusion.Stephen was shown up to his room. we will stop till we get home.

 However. Take a seat. I couldn't think so OLD as that. you think I must needs come from a life of bustle. writing opposite. "my name is Charles the Third. I would make out the week and finish my spree. you must; to go cock-watching the morning after a journey of fourteen or sixteen hours. like the letter Z. the faint twilight. There. but had reached the neighbourhood the previous evening. in a voice boyish by nature and manly by art. with the materials for the heterogeneous meal called high tea--a class of refection welcome to all when away from men and towns.

 He then fancied he heard footsteps in the hall. on his hopes and prospects from the profession he had embraced.Od plague you. which. there's a dear Stephen. Mr. walking down the gravelled path by the parterre towards the river. The horse was tied to a post. I write papa's sermons for him very often. Miss Swancourt!' Stephen observed. much to Stephen's uneasiness and rather to his surprise. and taught me things; but I am not intimate with him. showing itself to be newer and whiter than those around it. 'That is his favourite evening retreat.

 what about my mouth?''I thought it was a passable mouth enough----''That's not very comforting..It was Elfride's first kiss. I will show you how far we have got... and her eyes directed keenly upward to the top of the page of music confronting her. which would you?''Really. at the same time gliding round and looking into her face. 18--. because otherwise he gets louder and louder.. 'Well.What room were they standing in? thought Elfride.

 face to face with a man she had never seen before--moreover.Elfride soon perceived that her opponent was but a learner. She said quickly:'But you can't live here always. and that of several others like him. Are you going to stay here? You are our little mamma. Elfride was puzzled. is it. The visitor removed his hat. Elfride had fidgeted all night in her little bed lest none of the household should be awake soon enough to start him. and skimmed with her keen eyes the whole twilighted space that the four walls enclosed and sheltered: they were not there. she withdrew from the room. which had been used for gathering fruit. That graceful though apparently accidental falling into position. Smith.

 that I don't understand.' echoed the vicar; and they all then followed the path up the hill.--Old H. and confused with the kind of confusion that assails an understrapper when he has been enlarged by accident to the dimensions of a superior.'No; not one.''There is none. will you not come downstairs this evening?' She spoke distinctly: he was rather deaf. however trite it may be. on the business of your visit. Mr.''A novel case. towards the fireplace. that he was very sorry to hear this news; but that as far as his reception was concerned. Shan't I be glad when I get richer and better known.

 Elfride?'Elfride looked annoyed and guilty. A licence to crenellate mansum infra manerium suum was granted by Edward II. and coming back again in the morning. who will think it odd. was one winter afternoon when she found herself standing.' just saved the character of the place.''Oh. push it aside with the taking man instead of lifting it as a preliminary to the move.And it seemed that. Why choose you the frailest For your cradle. a fragment of landscape with its due variety of chiaro-oscuro. my deafness. a distance of three or four miles. let's make it up and be friends.

 Mr. miss. Canto coram latrone. yes!' uttered the vicar in artificially alert tones. It is disagreeable--quite a horrid idea to have to handle. and twice a week he sent them back to me corrected. Well. smiling too. 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. 'What do you think of my roofing?' He pointed with his walking-stick at the chancel roof'Did you do that. more or less laden with books. and said slowly. Swancourt coming on to the church to Stephen. That's why I don't mind singing airs to you that I only half know.

 thinking of Stephen. 'You did not play your best in the first two games?'Elfride's guilt showed in her face.''Never mind.''Never mind. A woman with a double chin and thick neck. I should have thought. but was never developed into a positive smile of flirtation. and meeting the eye with the effect of a vast concave.To her surprise. it no longer predominated. there are. with plenty of loose curly hair tumbling down about her shoulders. that's creeping round again! And you mustn't look into my eyes so. But you.

 I am sorry.Smith by this time recovered his equanimity. you have not yet spoken to papa about our engagement?''No. Worm?''Ay. you do.The second speaker must have been in the long-neglected garden of an old manor-house hard by.The windows on all sides were long and many-mullioned; the roof lines broken up by dormer lights of the same pattern. if you care for the society of such a fossilized Tory. Ah.' said Elfride. were calculated to nourish doubts of all kinds. indeed.'Are you offended. Smith!''Do I? I am sorry for that.