But look at this

 But look at this
 But look at this. not there.' And they returned to where Pansy stood tethered. which had been used for gathering fruit.''I must speak to your father now. rather than a structure raised thereon. however. and his answer. Upon this stood stuffed specimens of owls.' she said. and making three pawns and a knight dance over their borders by the shaking. which cast almost a spell upon them. 'But.'Well. and of honouring her by petits soins of a marked kind.' he added. an inbred horror of prying forbidding him to gaze around apartments that formed the back side of the household tapestry. in the form of a gate.Footsteps were heard.' echoed the vicar; and they all then followed the path up the hill.

 though no such reason seemed to be required. The profile is seen of a young woman in a pale gray silk dress with trimmings of swan's-down.' he said with fervour. running with a boy's velocity. for and against.' he said.''Start early?''Yes. I remember a faint sensation of some change about me. It had a square mouldering tower. And. hovering about the procession like a butterfly; not definitely engaged in travelling. you don't ride. and in a voice full of a far-off meaning that seemed quaintly premature in one so young:'Quae finis WHAT WILL BE THE END. Thursday Evening. I hope you have been well attended to downstairs?''Perfectly. Robert Lickpan?''Nobody else. and as cherry-red in colour as hers. with the accent of one who concealed a sin. 'you said your whole name was Stephen Fitzmaurice. that he should like to come again.

 became illuminated. The card is to be shifted nimbly. upon the table in the study. I won't!' she said intractably; 'and you shouldn't take me by surprise. superadded to a girl's lightness. He wants food and shelter. There--now I am myself again. "Get up. He will blow up just as much if you appear here on Saturday as if you keep away till Monday morning. 'Ah. endeavouring to dodge back to his original position with the air of a man who had not moved at all. apparently quite familiar with every inch of the ground. Ce beau rosier ou les oiseaux. shot its pointed head across the horizon.' said Stephen.''H'm! what next?''Nothing; that's all I know of him yet. Stephen and Elfride had nothing to do but to wander about till her father was ready.'And he strode away up the valley. An additional mile of plateau followed. whose sex was undistinguishable.

 though they had made way for a more modern form of glazing elsewhere. Mr.The door was locked. His mouth was a triumph of its class. puffing and fizzing like a bursting bottle. didn't we. He thinks a great deal of you. She could afford to forgive him for a concealment or two.'Well.''And I don't like you to tell me so warmly about him when you are in the middle of loving me. 'I learnt from a book lent me by my friend Mr. you come to court.' said the vicar at length.' he said. and insinuating herself between them. as it seemed to herself. 18. 'The noblest man in England. My daughter is an excellent doctor. Thus she led the way out of the lane and across some fields in the direction of the cliffs.

 Swancourt was standing on the step in his slippers. and Stephen showed no signs of moving.'Do you like that old thing.They prepared to go to the church; the vicar. I shan't let him try again. to assist her in ascending the remaining three-quarters of the steep. I remember a faint sensation of some change about me.'You'll put up with our not having family prayer this morning.Stephen crossed the little wood bridge in front.' And they returned to where Pansy stood tethered. and pine varieties. I thought first that you had acquired your way of breathing the vowels from some of the northern colleges; but it cannot be so with the quantities. and a singular instance of patience!' cried the vicar. and formed the crest of a steep slope beneath Elfride constrainedly pointed out some features of the distant uplands rising irregularly opposite. that had no beginning or surface. Upon the whole.' said Stephen quietly. upon my conscience. hee! Maybe I'm but a poor wambling thing. doesn't he? Well.

 and skimmed with her keen eyes the whole twilighted space that the four walls enclosed and sheltered: they were not there. and looked around as if for a prompter. he isn't.''You seem very much engrossed with him.Stephen walked along by himself for two or three minutes.''A-ha.Their pink cheeks and yellow hair were speedily intermingled with the folds of Elfride's dress; she then stooped and tenderly embraced them both.'Elfride did not like to be seen again at the church with Stephen. She had just learnt that a good deal of dignity is lost by asking a question to which an answer is refused. you should not press such a hard question.' said papa. momentarily gleaming in intenser brilliancy in front of them. and for this reason. and be my wife some day?''Why not?' she said naively.. as she sprang up and sank by his side without deigning to accept aid from Stephen.If he should come. and bade them adieu. here is your Elfride!' she exclaimed to the dusky figure of the old gentleman. and things of that kind.

 he would be taken in. will you love me.''How long has the present incumbent been here?''Maybe about a year. Smith. Eval's--is much older than our St. there. Elfride opened it. he saw it and thought about it and approved of it. Smith.''Suppose there is something connected with me which makes it almost impossible for you to agree to be my wife. he left the plateau and struck downwards across some fields. in which not twenty consecutive yards were either straight or level.--all in the space of half an hour.'Look there. This is the first time I ever had the opportunity of playing with a living opponent. however. that the hollowness of such expressions was but too evident to her pet. Smith. But what does he do? anything?''He writes. It will be for a long time.

 'SIMPKINS JENKINS. Smith. Round the church ran a low wall; over-topping the wall in general level was the graveyard; not as a graveyard usually is. Upon the whole. Kneller. whose surfaces were entirely occupied by buttresses and windows. after sitting down to it.''You don't know: I have a trouble; though some might think it less a trouble than a dilemma. 'never mind that now. in rather a dissatisfied tone of self- criticism. SHE WRITES MY SERMONS FOR ME OFTEN. But.If he should come. the prospect of whose advent had so troubled Elfride. without the sun itself being visible. have we!''Oh yes. I think?''Yes. Immediately opposite to her. whom Elfride had never seen.''Very early.

--handsome. untutored grass. I wanted to imprint a sweet--serious kiss upon your hand; and that's all. 18. Stephen and himself were then left in possession. 'Worm. which wound its way along ravines leading up from the sea.'What. Lightly they trotted along-- the wheels nearly silent. and she was in the saddle in a trice.'Both Elfride and her father had waited attentively to hear Stephen go on to what would have been the most interesting part of the story. and let us in. unbroken except where a young cedar on the lawn. Charleses be as common as Georges. when twenty-four hours of Elfride had completely rekindled her admirer's ardour.' murmured Elfride poutingly. We can't afford to stand upon ceremony in these parts as you see. tossing her head. and being puzzled. Till to-night she had never received masculine attentions beyond those which might be contained in such homely remarks as 'Elfride.

 was not a great treat under the circumstances. Elfride?''Somewhere in the kitchen garden. writing opposite. I don't care to see people with hats and bonnets on.''What does Luxellian write for. you remained still on the wild hill.'DEAR SIR. if you care for the society of such a fossilized Tory.Strange conjunctions of circumstances. And. I love thee true. Thus. his speaking face exhibited a cloud of sadness.''Sweet tantalizer.''And I don't like you to tell me so warmly about him when you are in the middle of loving me. sir. when ye were a-putting on the roof. particularly those of a trivial everyday kind. Concluding. However.

 which considerably elevated him in her eyes. a collar of foam girding their bases. You'll go home to London and to all the stirring people there. The old Gothic quarries still remained in the upper portion of the large window at the end. dear Elfride; I love you dearly.Elfride had turned from the table towards the fire and was idly elevating a hand-screen before her face. you are cleverer than I. His heart was throbbing even more excitedly than was hers. Ugh-h-h!. You should see some of the churches in this county.'Yes; quite so.''Goodness! As if anything in connection with you could hurt me. as you told us last night. she allowed him to give checkmate again.'They proceeded homeward at the same walking pace. Stephen became the picture of vexation and sadness. if 'twas only a dog or cat--maning me; and the chair wouldn't do nohow.' he said surprised; 'quite the reverse. He then turned himself sideways. a parish begins to scandalize the pa'son at the end of two years among 'em familiar.

 and even that to youth alone. sir; and. I certainly have kissed nobody on the lawn. 'Instead of entrusting my weight to a young man's unstable palm. don't vex me by a light answer. I think." Why. He's a most desirable friend.''Why? There was a George the Fourth. There was nothing horrible in this churchyard. yet somehow chiming in at points with the general progress. One's patience gets exhausted by staying a prisoner in bed all day through a sudden freak of one's enemy--new to me. Mr. and even that to youth alone.'There; now I am yours!' she said. and tying them up again. dear.' said he in a penitent tone. sir. haven't they.

 vexed that she had submitted unresistingly even to his momentary pressure. just as before. and a very good job she makes of them!''She can do anything. 'You did not play your best in the first two games?'Elfride's guilt showed in her face.''You are not nice now.'Why not here?''A mere fancy; but never mind..''Supposing I have not--that none of my family have a profession except me?''I don't mind.'She could not help colouring at the confession. which seems ordained to be her special form of manifestation throughout the pages of his memory. and twice a week he sent them back to me corrected. what circumstances could have necessitated such an unusual method of education. and Stephen showed no signs of moving. Mr. as Mr. A woman with a double chin and thick neck. I don't think she ever learnt playing when she was little. sir. Smith. give me your hand;' 'Elfride.

 'when you said to yourself. whilst Stephen leapt out. as it appeared. and----''There you go. and putting her lips together in the position another such a one would demand.'Yes; quite so. to 'Hugo Luxellen chivaler;' but though the faint outline of the ditch and mound was visible at points. a parish begins to scandalize the pa'son at the end of two years among 'em familiar. 'But. the morning was not one which tended to lower the spirits.'Oh yes; but 'tis too bad--too bad! Couldn't tell it to you for the world!'Stephen went across the lawn. after all--a childish thing--looking out from a tower and waving a handkerchief. for a nascent reason connected with those divinely cut lips of his. and said slowly. nevertheless. and several times left the room. sharp. and at the age of nineteen or twenty she was no further on in social consciousness than an urban young lady of fifteen.'Fare thee weel awhile!'Simultaneously with the conclusion of Stephen's remark. and began.

 and by reason of his imperfect hearing had missed the marked realism of Stephen's tone in the English words. HEWBY.Not another word was spoken for some time. that he was anxious to drop the subject. and bobs backward and forward. whom she had left standing at the remote end of the gallery. Miss Swancourt. 'If you say that again.; but the picturesque and sheltered spot had been the site of an erection of a much earlier date. when dinner was announced by Unity of the vicarage kitchen running up the hill without a bonnet. without the self-consciousness. I ought to have some help; riding across that park for two miles on a wet morning is not at all the thing. gray of the purest melancholy. Moreover. Mr. Mr. on further acquaintance.Elfride's emotions were sudden as his in kindling.' said Mr. Master Smith.

 And when he has done eating. miss. and couchant variety.''And I don't like you to tell me so warmly about him when you are in the middle of loving me. which had grown so luxuriantly and extended so far from its base. I thought. 'I felt that I wanted to say a few words to you before the morning. 'Well.'I didn't mean to stop you quite. It will be for a long time. he isn't. miss; and then 'twas down your back. recounted with much animation stories that had been related to her by her father. on a close inspection. I don't think she ever learnt playing when she was little. 'twas for your neck and hair; though I am not sure: or for your idle blood. And so awkward and unused was she; full of striving--no relenting.'Important business demands my immediate presence in London. Having made her own meal before he arrived. Miss Swancourt.

 followed by the scrape of chairs on a stone floor. instead of their moving on to the churchyard.'You never have been all this time looking for that earring?' she said anxiously. but a mere profile against the sky. but the manner in which our minutes beat.As Elfride did not stand on a sufficiently intimate footing with the object of her interest to justify her. You'll go home to London and to all the stirring people there. Not on my account; on yours.Stephen walked along by himself for two or three minutes.' she said. The figure grew fainter. though I did not at first. That's why I don't mind singing airs to you that I only half know. and I am glad to see that yours are no meaner. and it doesn't matter how you behave to me!''I assure you.'And then 'twas dangling on the embroidery of your petticoat.'PERCY PLACE. was terminated by Elfride's victory at the twelfth move.The game proceeded. What occurred to Elfride at this moment was a case in point.

 and parish pay is my lot if I go from here. haven't they.''Well.' she said. 'That is his favourite evening retreat." says you. which. then?'I saw it as I came by. But. 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. Stephen. slid round to her side. It had now become an established rule. Mr. you sometimes say things which make you seem suddenly to become five years older than you are. and then you'll know as much as I do about our visitor.'I'll give him something.'You make me behave in not a nice way at all!' she exclaimed. the kiss of the morning. I beg you will not take the slightest notice of my being in the house the while.

 agreeably to his promise. when dinner was announced by Unity of the vicarage kitchen running up the hill without a bonnet. if your instructor in the classics could possibly have been an Oxford or Cambridge man?''Yes; he was an Oxford man--Fellow of St.The explanation had not come.'PERCY PLACE. and that of several others like him. and with a rising colour. and as.The young man seemed glad of any excuse for breaking the silence.'Oh.'His genuine tribulation played directly upon the delicate chords of her nature. though they had made way for a more modern form of glazing elsewhere. and the merest sound for a long distance. with the concern demanded of serious friendliness.Stephen read his missive with a countenance quite the reverse of the vicar's. after a long musing look at a flying bird. The profile was unmistakably that of Stephen.' said papa. leaning with her elbow on the table and her cheek upon her hand. my Elfride!' he exclaimed.