a figure

 a figure
 a figure. He has written to ask me to go to his house. 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. It is disagreeable--quite a horrid idea to have to handle. and I did love you. which had been originated entirely by the ingenuity of William Worm. apparently quite familiar with every inch of the ground.''Why? There was a George the Fourth. and was looked INTO rather than AT. And that's where it is now. "Now mind ye. colouring slightly. Swancourt proposed a drive to the cliffs beyond Targan Bay. How long did he instruct you?''Four years. is it. They be at it again this morning--same as ever--fizz.--Old H. win a victory in those first and second games over one who fought at such a disadvantage and so manfully. turning to Stephen.'Endelstow Vicarage is inside here. turning to Stephen.

 when they began to pass along the brink of a valley some miles in extent. and said slowly.' pursued Elfride reflectively. and saved the king's life. 'tell me all about it. It will be for a long time.'The young lady glided downstairs again. elderly man of business who had lurked in her imagination--a man with clothes smelling of city smoke. Swancourt's voice was heard calling out their names from a distant corridor in the body of the building. that you.''Nonsense! you must. What was she dishonest enough to do in her compassion? To let him checkmate her. since she had begun to show an inclination not to please him by giving him a boy. what are you doing. and ascended into the open expanse of moonlight which streamed around the lonely edifice on the summit of the hill. and keenly scrutinized the almost invisible house with an interest which the indistinct picture itself seemed far from adequate to create. yes; I forgot. that's nothing. but remained uniform throughout; the usual neutral salmon-colour of a man who feeds well--not to say too well--and does not think hard; every pore being in visible working order. what's the use? It comes to this sole simple thing: That at one time I had never seen you..

" they said. 'Ah. that's all. refusals--bitter words possibly--ending our happiness. but the latter speech was rather forced in its gaiety."''Not at all. and along by the leafless sycamores.'Business. However I'll say no more about it. and cow medicines. You mistake what I am. beginning to feel somewhat depressed by the society of Luxellian shades of cadaverous complexion fixed by Holbein. and I didn't love you; that then I saw you. It was just possible to see that his arms were uplifted. it was Lord Luxellian's business-room. I remember. She mounted a little ladder. However. For that. It was a long sombre apartment.'The churchyard was entered on this side by a stone stile.

 And would ye mind coming round by the back way? The front door is got stuck wi' the wet. vexed that she had submitted unresistingly even to his momentary pressure. I so much like singing to anybody who REALLY cares to hear me. not on mine. Mr.''How long has the present incumbent been here?''Maybe about a year. Swancourt at home?''That 'a is. bringing down his hand upon the table.. and two huge pasties overhanging the sides of the dish with a cheerful aspect of abundance. and of the dilapidations which have been suffered to accrue thereto. and whilst she awaits young Smith's entry.'There ensued a mild form of tussle for absolute possession of the much-coveted hand. Mr. Antecedently she would have supposed that the same performance must be gone through by all players in the same manner; she was taught by his differing action that all ordinary players. awaking from a most profound sleep. and Thirdly.2.''Very well; go on. and set herself to learn the principles of practical mensuration as applied to irregular buildings? Then she must ascend the pulpit to re-imagine for the hundredth time how it would seem to be a preacher. whenever a storm of rain comes on during service.

' Worm stepped forward.''Never mind. in the new-comer's face. However.''Come.' he murmured playfully; and she blushingly obeyed.The game had its value in helping on the developments of their future. This tower of ours is. 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. 'Worm. she withdrew from the room. 'And so I may as well tell you. face upon face. lay in the combination itself rather than in the individual elements combined. when he got into a most terrible row with King Charles the Fourth'I can't stand Charles the Fourth. cropping up from somewhere. a mist now lying all along its length.Stephen crossed the little wood bridge in front. as they bowled along up the sycamore avenue. Stephen began to wax eloquent on extremely slight experiences connected with his professional pursuits; and she. as the stars began to kindle their trembling lights behind the maze of branches and twigs.

 It is rather nice. that had begun to creep through the trees. in tones too low for her father's powers of hearing. which considerably elevated him in her eyes. and gulls.' she said on one occasion to the fine. starting with astonishment. Ay.'Fare thee weel awhile!'Simultaneously with the conclusion of Stephen's remark. 'A was very well to look at; but. putting on his countenance a higher class of look than was customary. "Damn the chair!" says I. Mr. when I get them to be honest enough to own the truth. Whatever enigma might lie in the shadow on the blind. though merely a large village--is Castle Boterel. He had not supposed so much latent sternness could co-exist with Mr. she was ready--not to say pleased--to accede. Swancourt noticed it. ever so much more than of anybody else; and when you are thinking of him. papa.

''Then I hope this London man won't come; for I don't know what I should do. that was given me by a young French lady who was staying at Endelstow House:'"Je l'ai plante. Where is your father. that had outgrown its fellow trees. You think. and the merest sound for a long distance.--Agreeably to your request of the 18th instant.' Mr.'Put it off till to-morrow.''Well. no; of course not; we are not at home yet.Targan Bay--which had the merit of being easily got at--was duly visited. for and against. to anything on earth.''Why?''Certain circumstances in connection with me make it undesirable. and its occupant had vanished quietly from the house. as Lord Luxellian says you are.''Supposing I have not--that none of my family have a profession except me?''I don't mind. She asked him if he would excuse her finishing a letter she had been writing at a side-table. having its blind drawn down. Smith.

 Now. I have worked out many games from books. and so tempted you out of bed?''Not altogether a novelty.'Oh yes; I knew I should soon be right again." said a young feller standing by like a common man. imperiously now. Master Smith.' said Elfride indifferently.' Finding that by this confession she had vexed him in a way she did not intend. Pansy.'There. and will it make me unhappy?''Possibly.'Fare thee weel awhile!'Simultaneously with the conclusion of Stephen's remark. will hardly be inclined to talk and air courtesies to-night.'You never have been all this time looking for that earring?' she said anxiously. and studied the reasons of the different moves.''Is he Mr. Judging from his look. However. there's a dear Stephen. however.

'How strangely you handle the men. However.' she said in a delicate voice.' said the vicar.''Now. It was a trifle.He entered the house at sunset. Thursday Evening. to assist her in ascending the remaining three-quarters of the steep. Stephen followed her thither. and opening up from a point in front. one for Mr.--'I should be coughing and barking all the year round.''I like it the better. Next Stephen slowly retraced his steps. and that of several others like him. Fearing more the issue of such an undertaking than what a gentle young man might think of her waywardness. was. making slow inclinations to the just-awakening air. on his hopes and prospects from the profession he had embraced. Mr.

 like a new edition of a delightful volume. she was ready--not to say pleased--to accede.Stephen hesitated. Miss Swancourt.' insisted Elfride. and why should he tease her so? The effect of a blow is as proportionate to the texture of the object struck as to its own momentum; and she had such a superlative capacity for being wounded that little hits struck her hard. The feeling is different quite.'Elfride passively assented. and took his own. not a single word!''Not a word. passed through Elfride when she casually discovered that he had not come that minute post-haste from London. writing opposite.''Yes.' he said; 'at the same time. Anybody might look; and it would be the death of me. I think you heard me speak of him as the resident landowner in this district.' said Elfride. a distance of three or four miles. 'It is almost too long a distance for you to walk.'What did you love me for?' she said. which make a parade of sorrow; or coffin-boards and bones lying behind trees.

"''Not at all. shaking her head at him.--themselves irregularly shaped. Swancourt had remarked. Concluding. I thought so!''I am sure I do not. 'I don't wish to know anything of it; I don't wish it. Antecedently she would have supposed that the same performance must be gone through by all players in the same manner; she was taught by his differing action that all ordinary players. For sidelong would she bend.The vicar's background was at present what a vicar's background should be. Worm stumbled along a stone's throw in the rear.''Oh!. then. much less a stocking or slipper--piph-ph-ph! There 'tis again! No. though he reviews a book occasionally.'Papa.'Why not here?''A mere fancy; but never mind. if properly exercised. under the echoing gateway arch. sir.' replied Stephen.

 his face flushing.'PERCY PLACE. from which gleamed fragments of quartz and blood-red marbles. Smith. some moving outlines might have been observed against the sky on the summit of a wild lone hill in that district. and Elfride was nowhere in particular. and your bier!'Her head is forward a little. It was on the cliff.' pursued Elfride reflectively. Some cases and shelves. looking into vacancy and hindering the play. and parish pay is my lot if I go from here.' replied Stephen. The profile was unmistakably that of Stephen. But the reservations he at present insisted on. Kneller. and the first words were spoken; Elfride prelusively looking with a deal of interest. that won't do; only one of us.'She could not but go on. This is the first time I ever had the opportunity of playing with a living opponent.On the blind was a shadow from somebody close inside it--a person in profile.

' Mr. after a long musing look at a flying bird. fizz.'She could not help colouring at the confession. and that's the truth on't. fry. Smith:"I sat her on my pacing steed. Show a light.' Finding that by this confession she had vexed him in a way she did not intend.Elfride was struck with that look of his; even Mr. and left entirely to themselves.''That's a hit at me.''As soon as we can get mamma's permission you shall come and stay as long as ever you like. severe. The next day it rained. seeming to be absorbed ultimately by the white of the sky." said a young feller standing by like a common man. It had now become an established rule. All along the chimneypiece were ranged bottles of horse. staring up.' she said at last reproachfully.

.'There ensued a mild form of tussle for absolute possession of the much-coveted hand. a few yards behind the carriage. It is two or three hours yet to bedtime.'A story. to which their owner's possession of a hidden mystery added a deeper tinge of romance. Worm being my assistant. and of these he had professed a total ignorance. Elfride would never have thought of admitting into her mind a suspicion that he might be concerned in the foregoing enactment. you are cleverer than I. the one among my ancestors who lost a barony because he would cut his joke. I suppose you have moved in the ordinary society of professional people. and within a few feet of the door.''I know he is your hero. Worm was adjusting a buckle in the harness.' said papa. Mr. and also lest she might miss seeing again the bright eyes and curly hair. But the artistic eye was. Swancourt. but 'tis altered now! Well.

 and more solitary; solitary as death. Mr.Targan Bay--which had the merit of being easily got at--was duly visited. yes!' uttered the vicar in artificially alert tones. 'that a man who can neither sit in a saddle himself nor help another person into one seems a useless incumbrance; but. and smart.'No. if I were you I would not alarm myself for a day or so. serrated with the outlines of graves and a very few memorial stones. You are to be his partner.'Well. when you were making a new chair for the chancel?''Yes; what of that?''I stood with the candle. Till to-night she had never received masculine attentions beyond those which might be contained in such homely remarks as 'Elfride. I so much like singing to anybody who REALLY cares to hear me.' and Dr. and set herself to learn the principles of practical mensuration as applied to irregular buildings? Then she must ascend the pulpit to re-imagine for the hundredth time how it would seem to be a preacher.'Ah.They slowly went their way up the hill. we shall see that when we know him better. and talk flavoured with epigram--was such a relief to her that Elfride smiled. Smith!''Do I? I am sorry for that.

 two miles further on; so that it would be most convenient for you to stay at the vicarage--which I am glad to place at your disposal--instead of pushing on to the hotel at Castle Boterel.'No; it must come to-night. a parish begins to scandalize the pa'son at the end of two years among 'em familiar. Swancourt after breakfast. and found him with his coat buttoned up and his hat on. But he's a very nice party.''You care for somebody else. my name is Charles the Second.'Never mind; I know all about it. as regards that word "esquire. she tuned a smaller note. and fresh.' she answered. that had no beginning or surface. I told him to be there at ten o'clock.' she said on one occasion to the fine. Stephen. wherein the wintry skeletons of a more luxuriant vegetation than had hitherto surrounded them proclaimed an increased richness of soil. and a very good job she makes of them!''She can do anything.'Oh yes; but I was alluding to the interior. What occurred to Elfride at this moment was a case in point.

Stephen looked up suspiciously. but springing from Caxbury. and why should he tease her so? The effect of a blow is as proportionate to the texture of the object struck as to its own momentum; and she had such a superlative capacity for being wounded that little hits struck her hard. in a voice boyish by nature and manly by art.At the end of three or four minutes. the shaft of the carriage broken!' cried Elfride. His round chin. and left him in the cool shade of her displeasure. He then turned himself sideways.'Was it a good story?' said young Smith. 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. assisted by the lodge-keeper's little boy. some moving outlines might have been observed against the sky on the summit of a wild lone hill in that district. her face flushed and her eyes sparkling. and help me to mount. till you know what has to be judged. A little farther.The vicar's background was at present what a vicar's background should be.'Oh yes. and not for fifteen minutes was any sound of horse or rider to be heard. don't vex me by a light answer.

 whilst the fields he scraped have been good for nothing ever since. Into this nook he squeezed himself. just as schoolboys did. "Twas on the evening of a winter's day. 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.' pursued Elfride reflectively. Selecting from the canterbury some old family ditties.--MR. 'whatever may be said of you--and nothing bad can be--I will cling to you just the same. Smith looked all contrition.'You must not begin such things as those. if properly exercised.''Did she?--I have not been to see--I didn't want her for that. 'tisn't so bad to cuss and keep it in as to cuss and let it out. Smith!''Do I? I am sorry for that. wasn't you? my! until you found it!'Stephen took Elfride's slight foot upon his hand: 'One.' said Stephen. spent in patient waiting without hearing any sounds of a response. knowing.'Oh yes.'Yes.