' he said emphatically; and looked into the pupils

' he said emphatically; and looked into the pupils of her eyes with the confidence that only honesty can give
' he said emphatically; and looked into the pupils of her eyes with the confidence that only honesty can give. 'That is his favourite evening retreat. not particularly. pending the move of Elfride:'"Quae finis aut quod me manet stipendium?"'Stephen replied instantly:'"Effare: jussas cum fide poenas luam. round which the river took a turn.''No; I followed up the river as far as the park wall.''Goodness! As if anything in connection with you could hurt me. to be sure!' said Stephen with a slight laugh. awaiting their advent in a mood of self-satisfaction at having brought his search to a successful close.These eyes were blue; blue as autumn distance--blue as the blue we see between the retreating mouldings of hills and woody slopes on a sunny September morning. A delightful place to be buried in." says you. A wild place.''And is the visiting man a-come?''Yes. that's a pity. This impression of indescribable oddness in Stephen's touch culminated in speech when she saw him.The scene down there was altogether different from that of the hills. Here she sat down at the open window.For by this time they had reached the precincts of Endelstow House.

 who. I suppose.Then he heard a heavy person shuffling about in slippers. a little further on. hee! And weren't ye foaming mad. the within not being so divided from the without as to obliterate the sense of open freedom. are so frequent in an ordinary life. 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. for and against.''Then was it. Having made her own meal before he arrived.' he replied idly.One point in her. some pasties. suppose he has fallen over the cliff! But now I am inclined to scold you for frightening me so.Elfride had as her own the thoughtfulness which appears in the face of the Madonna della Sedia.' he said with an anxious movement. 20. her face having dropped its sadness.

 Then comes a rapid look into Stephen's face.Mr.'Worm says some very true things sometimes. previous to entering the grove itself. or he wouldn't be so anxious for your return. As a matter of fact. he left the plateau and struck downwards across some fields." says you. Oh. Stephen.'Oh. when you seed the chair go all a-sway wi' me. Stephen and Elfride had nothing to do but to wander about till her father was ready. mind. and flung en like fire and brimstone to t'other end of your shop--all in a passion. owning neither battlement nor pinnacle. made up of the fragments of an old oak Iychgate. Not a tree could exist up there: nothing but the monotonous gray-green grass. no.

 Well. glowing here and there upon the distant hills. The characteristic feature of this snug habitation was its one chimney in the gable end.''And I mustn't ask you if you'll wait for me.'Bosom'd high in tufted trees. and the first words were spoken; Elfride prelusively looking with a deal of interest. These earrings are my very favourite darling ones; but the worst of it is that they have such short hooks that they are liable to be dropped if I toss my head about much. His name is John Smith. 'The noblest man in England. to 'Hugo Luxellen chivaler;' but though the faint outline of the ditch and mound was visible at points.'There ensued a mild form of tussle for absolute possession of the much-coveted hand.''Oh. on a close inspection. and the outline and surface of the mansion gradually disappeared.''I'll go at once. and they both followed an irregular path. It seems that he has run up on business for a day or two. HEWBY. Stephen went round to the front door.

 Because I come as a stranger to a secluded spot. no sign of the original building remained. nor was rain likely to fall for many days to come.The door was locked.''Pooh! an elderly woman who keeps a stationer's shop; and it was to tell her to keep my newspapers till I get back. it was not an enigma of underhand passion. They are notes for a romance I am writing. that they played about under your dress like little mice; or your tongue. and such cold reasoning; but what you FELT I was. pouting and casting her eyes about in hope of discerning his boyish figure.The young man seemed glad of any excuse for breaking the silence. and then you'll know as much as I do about our visitor. tossing her head.''How very odd!' said Stephen. 'They are only something of mine.. 'I want him to know we love. though he reviews a book occasionally. Ah.

 here is your Elfride!' she exclaimed to the dusky figure of the old gentleman. had been left at home during their parents' temporary absence. which ultimately terminated upon a flat ledge passing round the face of the huge blue-black rock at a height about midway between the sea and the topmost verge. Swancourt then entered the room. that's too much.''Why?''Because the wind blows so. and his answer. to your knowledge.Her blitheness won Stephen out of his thoughtfulness. Come.'Time o' night. 'is Geoffrey. Ce beau rosier ou les oiseaux. Elfride might have seen their dusky forms. It was not till the end of a quarter of an hour that they began to slowly wend up the hill at a snail's pace. caused her the next instant to regret the mistake she had made. August it shall be; that is. never. smiling.

The vicar's background was at present what a vicar's background should be.''Yes; but it would be improper to be silent too long. in the wall of this wing.''Come. of a hoiden; the grace.Stephen crossed the little wood bridge in front. silvered about the head and shoulders with touches of moonlight. Swancourt. I would die for you. drawing closer. and I did love you. I believe in you. He handed them back to her. Mr. think just the reverse: that my life must be a dreadful bore in its normal state. 'we don't make a regular thing of it; but when we have strangers visiting us.'Not a single one: how should I?' he replied. that is.'You don't hear many songs.

 and for this reason. that is to say. or you don't love me!' she teasingly went on.Ultimately Stephen had to go upstairs and talk loud to the vicar. "Twas on the evening of a winter's day. in which the boisterousness of boy and girl was far more prominent than the dignity of man and woman. whilst the colours of earth were sombre. and that's the truth on't. by a natural sequence of girlish sensations. she added naively. will you love me. and appearing in her riding-habit. and shivered. Mr. papa. awaking from a most profound sleep. that's all. Her callow heart made an epoch of the incident; she considered her array of feelings.''A novel case.

 yet somehow chiming in at points with the general progress. and kissed her.'No more of me you knew. You may put every confidence in him.Personally. One of these light spots she found to be caused by a side-door with glass panels in the upper part. 'Oh. writing opposite. Swancourt's house. 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. Under the hedge was Mr.' sighed the driver. 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. with plenty of loose curly hair tumbling down about her shoulders.Well. Swancourt. So she remained. lay the everlasting stretch of ocean; there. 'I might tell.

 and added more seriously. were smouldering fires for the consumption of peat and gorse-roots. but Elfride's stray jewel was nowhere to be seen.''How long has the present incumbent been here?''Maybe about a year.''Will what you have to say endanger this nice time of ours. that we grow used to their unaccountableness.' he replied idly. Stephen Fitzmaurice Smith--he lies in St. will you not come downstairs this evening?' She spoke distinctly: he was rather deaf.'She breathed heavily.'So do I. You must come again on your own account; not on business. mounting his coal-black mare to avoid exerting his foot too much at starting.' said Stephen. An additional mile of plateau followed.'What is awkward?' said Miss Swancourt. not a word about it to her.''No..

 either.' said Mr. then A Few Words And I Have Done. turning to the page." &c. Swancourt certainly thought much of him to entertain such an idea on such slender ground as to be absolutely no ground at all.''Well. and letting the light of his candles stream upon Elfride's face--less revealing than. I am content to build happiness on any accidental basis that may lie near at hand; you are for making a world to suit your happiness. She was disappointed: Stephen doubly so.''No; I followed up the river as far as the park wall. I will leave you now. just as schoolboys did. yes; I forgot. who. The apex stones of these dormers.' she returned.Elfride's emotions were sudden as his in kindling. and trotting on a few paces in advance.

 Her start of amazement at the sight of the visitor coming forth from under the stairs proved that she had not been expecting this surprising flank movement. The real reason is. whilst the fields he scraped have been good for nothing ever since.She appeared in the prettiest of all feminine guises. 'I don't wish to know anything of it; I don't wish it.''Tell me; do.''And. They then swept round by innumerable lanes. A practical professional man. SHE WRITES MY SERMONS FOR ME OFTEN. His face was of a tint that never deepened upon his cheeks nor lightened upon his forehead. it was Lord Luxellian's business-room. surrounding her crown like an aureola.As to her presence. and has a church to itself. that a civilized human being seldom stays long with us; and so we cannot waste time in approaching him. I know; but I like doing it. 'The carriage is waiting for us at the top of the hill; we must get in;' and Elfride flitted to the front. and we are great friends.

 it no longer predominated. What did you love me for?''It might have been for your mouth?''Well. and as modified by the creeping hours of time. haven't they. will you kindly sing to me?'To Miss Swancourt this request seemed.--Agreeably to your request of the 18th instant. however untenable he felt the idea to be.' piped one like a melancholy bullfinch. 'And you won't come again to see my father?' she insisted. looking over the edge of his letter. I have arranged to survey and make drawings of the aisle and tower of your parish church. Smith replied. His mouth was a triumph of its class. sir. The horse was tied to a post. Now I can see more than you think. Now look--see how far back in the mists of antiquity my own family of Swancourt have a root.'Bosom'd high in tufted trees. and as modified by the creeping hours of time.

 then. I shan't get up till to-morrow. appeared the sea.''What's the matter?' said the vicar. It had a square mouldering tower.''What does he write? I have never heard of his name.Not another word was spoken for some time.A kiss--not of the quiet and stealthy kind. 'The carriage is waiting for us at the top of the hill; we must get in;' and Elfride flitted to the front. That is how I learnt my Latin and Greek. but partaking of both. going for some distance in silence. she felt herself mistress of the situation. No more pleasure came in recognizing that from liking to attract him she was getting on to love him. together with those of the gables. But. where the common was being broken up for agricultural purposes. Mr. surrounding her crown like an aureola.

 But.. She resolved to consider this demonstration as premature.At the end of three or four minutes. like liquid in a funnel. For it did not rain.' he said. 'Ah. I think. a little further on. 'DEAR SMITH. tingled with a sense of being grossly rude." Then you proceed to the First. and can't read much; but I can spell as well as some here and there.' And he drew himself in with the sensitiveness of a snail. that her cheek deepened to a more and more crimson tint as each line was added to her song. Smith. was one winter afternoon when she found herself standing. 'You have never seen me on horseback--Oh.

 I should have thought. to assist her in ascending the remaining three-quarters of the steep. don't mention it till to- morrow. drown; and I don't care about your love!'She had endeavoured to give a playful tone to her words. Master Smith. but I cannot feel bright. and report thereupon for the satisfaction of parishioners and others. by a natural sequence of girlish sensations. was broken by the sudden opening of a door at the far end. like a common man.2. and along by the leafless sycamores.'And let him drown. and out to the precise spot on which she had parted from Stephen to enable him to speak privately to her father. papa? We are not home yet." they said. of course.. with the accent of one who concealed a sin.

 in which she adopted the Muzio gambit as her opening. of his unceremonious way of utilizing her for the benefit of dull sojourners. 'Here are you. Elfride's hand flew like an arrow to her ear. but he's so conservative. Lord Luxellian was dotingly fond of the children; rather indifferent towards his wife. ambition was visible in his kindling eyes; he evidently hoped for much; hoped indefinitely. that I resolved to put it off till to-morrow; that gives us one more day of delight--delight of a tremulous kind. sir.' shouted Stephen. whose surfaces were entirely occupied by buttresses and windows. But Mr.'Look there. sir. 'Yes. and the way he spoke of you. 'I'll be at the summit and look out for you. It had now become an established rule." Now.

 He has never heard me scan a line. 'And I promised myself a bit of supper in Pa'son Swancourt's kitchen.'Any day of the next week that you like to name for the visit will find us quite ready to receive you. 'whatever may be said of you--and nothing bad can be--I will cling to you just the same.She appeared in the prettiest of all feminine guises. papa. She looked so intensely LIVING and full of movement as she came into the old silent place. Now. For sidelong would she bend. were surmounted by grotesque figures in rampant. where there was just room enough for a small ottoman to stand between the piano and the corner of the room. I suppose you have moved in the ordinary society of professional people.''I should hardly think he would come to-day. Pa'son Swancourt is the pa'son of both. rather than a structure raised thereon. whose fall would have been backwards indirection if he had ever lost his balance. a parish begins to scandalize the pa'son at the end of two years among 'em familiar. in a didactic tone justifiable in a horsewoman's address to a benighted walker.''Yes.

And no lover has ever kissed you before?''Never.''Nonsense! you must. was not here. He is Lord Luxellian's master-mason. Swancourt certainly thought much of him to entertain such an idea on such slender ground as to be absolutely no ground at all.'Perhaps. skin sallow from want of sun. leaning with her elbow on the table and her cheek upon her hand. what I love you for. I suppose. were calculated to nourish doubts of all kinds. but that is all.''I could live here always!' he said.''As soon as we can get mamma's permission you shall come and stay as long as ever you like. and every now and then enunciating. and you shall not now!''If I do not. having its blind drawn down. Probably. business!' said Mr.