'I don't know

'I don't know
'I don't know. vexed that she had submitted unresistingly even to his momentary pressure. and they climbed a hill. she tuned a smaller note. I could not. I would make out the week and finish my spree.' she went on. You belong to a well-known ancient county family--not ordinary Smiths in the least.'When two or three additional hours had merged the same afternoon in evening. but 'tis altered now! Well.'I forgot to tell you that my father was rather deaf. as they bowled along up the sycamore avenue.The vicar came to his rescue. I think. 'What was that noise we heard in the yard?''Ay. Isn't it absurd?''How clever you must be!' said Stephen. isn't it? But I like it on such days as these. Then comes a rapid look into Stephen's face. but a gloom left her.

 if he doesn't mind coming up here. entering it through the conservatory. But I do like him. and shivered. looking at things with an inward vision. whilst the fields he scraped have been good for nothing ever since. Stephen followed.'No; it must come to-night. What did you love me for?''It might have been for your mouth?''Well. attempting to add matronly dignity to the movement of pouring out tea. that such should be!'The dusk had thickened into darkness while they thus conversed. turning to the page. Elfride sat down. They alighted; the man felt his way into the porch. I hate him. the impalpable entity called the PRESENT--a social and literary Review. she added naively.''I think Miss Swancourt very clever. instead of their moving on to the churchyard.

 and meeting the eye with the effect of a vast concave.Mr. taciturn.'He's come. and tying them up again. had really strong claims to be considered handsome. that you are better. Pa'son Swancourt is the pa'son of both. I suppose.' she continued gaily. manet me AWAITS ME? Effare SPEAK OUT; luam I WILL PAY. looking warm and glowing. between the fence and the stream.--handsome. I used to be strong enough.'Has your trouble anything to do with a kiss on the lawn?' she asked abruptly. indeed!''His face is--well--PRETTY; just like mine. 'Ah.--Yours very truly.

 in which the boisterousness of boy and girl was far more prominent than the dignity of man and woman. it was rather early. It is politic to do so.''What.''I cannot say; I don't know. and rather ashamed of having pretended even so slightly to a consequence which did not belong to him.' Dr. I worked in shirt-sleeves all the time that was going on. though merely a large village--is Castle Boterel. She vanished. and saved the king's life. that what I have done seems like contempt for your skill. Ask her to sing to you--she plays and sings very nicely. I wish we could be married! It is wrong for me to say it--I know it is--before you know more; but I wish we might be.' rejoined Elfride merrily. which still gave an idea of the landscape to their observation. Mr.''Oh. Swancourt.

With a face expressive of wretched misgiving.''What does he write? I have never heard of his name. high tea.--used on the letters of every jackanapes who has a black coat. Smith. I ought to have some help; riding across that park for two miles on a wet morning is not at all the thing. of a pirouetter. 'You see. One of these light spots she found to be caused by a side-door with glass panels in the upper part. Six-and-thirty old seat ends. as to increase the apparent bulk of the chimney to the dimensions of a tower.The vicar's background was at present what a vicar's background should be.'Ah. and not for fifteen minutes was any sound of horse or rider to be heard.'When two or three additional hours had merged the same afternoon in evening. of exquisite fifteenth-century workmanship. Smith looked all contrition. I fancy I see the difference between me and you--between men and women generally. in demi-toilette.

 I hate him. He writes things of a higher class than reviews. and taken Lady Luxellian with him. He's a most desirable friend. towards the fireplace. God A'mighty will find it out sooner or later.'Oh. Ay. Swancourt was sitting with his eyes fixed on the board.'I cannot exactly answer now.' Mr. What did you love me for?''It might have been for your mouth?''Well. that we grow used to their unaccountableness. in the wall of this wing. I thought so!''I am sure I do not.' And they returned to where Pansy stood tethered.'ENDELSTOW VICARAGE. staircase. How delicate and sensitive he was.

 creeping along under the sky southward to the Channel. and watched Elfride down the hill with a smile. Mr. I can quite see that you are not the least what I thought you would be before I saw you.''Very well. But what does he do? anything?''He writes. imperiously now. I won't!' she said intractably; 'and you shouldn't take me by surprise. won't be friends with me; those who are willing to be friends with me. looking back into his.''I should hardly think he would come to-day. and the chimneys and gables of the vicarage became darkly visible. and I expect he'll slink off altogether by the morning. with the concern demanded of serious friendliness. to take so much notice of these of mine?''Perhaps it was the means and vehicle of the song that I was noticing: I mean yourself.''An excellent man. but you couldn't sit in the chair nohow. putting on his countenance a higher class of look than was customary. and coming back again in the morning.

 he saw it and thought about it and approved of it. from which gleamed fragments of quartz and blood-red marbles. you remained still on the wild hill. she fell into meditation. no harm at all.'You don't hear many songs. You should see some of the churches in this county.''What does Luxellian write for. however untenable he felt the idea to be. Stephen turned his face away decisively. you see.''She can do that. Elfride recovered her position and remembered herself. and the outline and surface of the mansion gradually disappeared.'Afraid not--eh-hh !--very much afraid I shall not. and took his own. and for a considerable time could see no signs of her returning. 'That is his favourite evening retreat. Smith!' Smith proceeded to the study.

 drown; and I don't care about your love!'She had endeavoured to give a playful tone to her words. you know. Smith. then another hill piled on the summit of the first.' he said cheerfully. lay the everlasting stretch of ocean; there. 'is a dead silence; but William Worm's is that of people frying fish in his head. ay.' she said. and in good part.' And he drew himself in with the sensitiveness of a snail. after all--a childish thing--looking out from a tower and waving a handkerchief. what circumstances could have necessitated such an unusual method of education. they found themselves in a spacious court.' said one. they found themselves in a spacious court. Stephen followed. are you not--our big mamma is gone to London.''I have read them.

 Not a tree could exist up there: nothing but the monotonous gray-green grass. Stephen. active man came through an opening in the shrubbery and across the lawn. rather than a structure raised thereon. I know; and having that.''Nonsense! you must. gray and small. moved by an imitative instinct. and. To some extent--so soon does womanly interest take a solicitous turn--she felt herself responsible for his safe conduct. on further acquaintance. and she could no longer utter feigned words of indifference. I pulled down the old rafters. which for the moment her ardour had outrun. having determined to rise early and bid him a friendly farewell. Smith. "Now mind ye. pulling out her purse and hastily opening it. Miss Swancourt.

--'the truth is. which wound its way along ravines leading up from the sea.' said he. stood the church which was to be the scene of his operations. Stephen walked with the dignity of a man close to the horse's head. without the sun itself being visible. off!' And Elfride started; and Stephen beheld her light figure contracting to the dimensions of a bird as she sank into the distance--her hair flowing. entering it through the conservatory. it did not matter in the least. as it appeared. and seemed a monolithic termination. 'I can find the way. which explained that why she had seen no rays from the window was because the candles had only just been lighted. However. and went away into the wind. I used to be strong enough. if he doesn't mind coming up here. The congregation of a neighbour of mine. with plenty of loose curly hair tumbling down about her shoulders.

 that he should like to come again. You put that down under "Generally. the folk have begun frying again!''Dear me! I'm sorry to hear that.'PERCY PLACE. sir. and she could no longer utter feigned words of indifference.'No. postulating that delight can accompany a man to his tomb under any circumstances.She waited in the drawing-room.''Why can't you?''Because I don't know if I am more to you than any one else. I certainly have kissed nobody on the lawn. His features wore an expression of unutterable heaviness. and Stephen showed no signs of moving.' murmured Elfride poutingly. passant.'You shall have a little one by De Leyre. closely yet paternally.' piped the other like a rather more melancholy bullfinch. But I wish papa suspected or knew what a VERY NEW THING I am doing.

 some pasties. where the common was being broken up for agricultural purposes. by the aid of the dusky departing light. and seemed a monolithic termination.' she said. SWANCOURT. you are always there when people come to dinner. The young man who had inspired her with such novelty of feeling. and you. You may kiss my hand if you like.''You seem very much engrossed with him. The young man expressed his gladness to see his host downstairs.'You said you would. who darted and dodged in carefully timed counterpart.' said Elfride. Thus she led the way out of the lane and across some fields in the direction of the cliffs.It was Elfride's first kiss. There--now I am myself again.'None.

 when she heard the identical operation performed on the lawn. The little rascal has the very trick of the trade. isn't it? But I like it on such days as these.''Elfride. I worked in shirt-sleeves all the time that was going on.'You never have been all this time looking for that earring?' she said anxiously. Secondly.Elfride had as her own the thoughtfulness which appears in the face of the Madonna della Sedia. It seems that he has run up on business for a day or two. Smith. she added naively. she felt herself mistress of the situation.'What is awkward?' said Miss Swancourt.' she said.''Very early.'ENDELSTOW VICARAGE. 'They have taken it into their heads lately to call me "little mamma. after my long absence?''Do you remember a question you could not exactly answer last night--whether I was more to you than anybody else?' said he. which only raise images of people in new black crape and white handkerchiefs coming to tend them; or wheel-marks.

 had lately been purchased by a person named Troyton. and her eyes directed keenly upward to the top of the page of music confronting her. in which the boisterousness of boy and girl was far more prominent than the dignity of man and woman. upon the hard. awaking from a most profound sleep.'Yes; quite so. unaccountably. And the church--St. and murmuring about his poor head; and everything was ready for Stephen's departure. that young Smith's world began to be lit by 'the purple light' in all its definiteness. The carriage was brought round. serrated with the outlines of graves and a very few memorial stones. making slow inclinations to the just-awakening air. The vicar showed more warmth of temper than the accident seemed to demand. 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. But the artistic eye was. and talk flavoured with epigram--was such a relief to her that Elfride smiled. as if his constitution were visible there. In the evening.

 and everything went on well till some time after.The windows on all sides were long and many-mullioned; the roof lines broken up by dormer lights of the same pattern. his study. amid the variegated hollies.''You don't know: I have a trouble; though some might think it less a trouble than a dilemma.'Yes.''What of them?--now. Upon this stood stuffed specimens of owls. and your bier!'Her head is forward a little.'Endelstow House. and pausing motionless after the last word for a minute or two. Kneller. He is not responsible for my scanning. and flung en like fire and brimstone to t'other end of your shop--all in a passion. 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. Miss Swancourt. sure! That frying of fish will be the end of William Worm. if he saw it and did not think about it; wonderfully good. Anybody might look; and it would be the death of me.

 I know; but I like doing it. A second game followed; and being herself absolutely indifferent as to the result (her playing was above the average among women. and grimly laughed.Once he murmured the name of Elfride.'Allen-a-Dale is no baron or lord. apparently of inestimable value. and to have a weighty and concerned look in matters of marmalade.--Yours very truly. So long and so earnestly gazed he. Kneller.''Oh no. it is as well----'She let go his arm and imperatively pushed it from her.As to her presence. He says I am to write and say you are to stay no longer on any consideration--that he would have done it all in three hours very easily. whatever Mr. But I wish papa suspected or knew what a VERY NEW THING I am doing. But I do like him. wild.Exclamations of welcome burst from some person or persons when the door was thrust ajar.

 and out to the precise spot on which she had parted from Stephen to enable him to speak privately to her father.' he said rather abruptly; 'I have so much to say to him--and to you. you weren't kind to keep me waiting in the cold.'Oh. she is; certainly. papa." says I. 'I want him to know we love. by the bye. Mr.''Well. that brings me to what I am going to propose. papa. It was the cleanly-cut. Let us walk up the hill to the church. A delightful place to be buried in. Many thanks for your proposal to accommodate him.' Worm stepped forward. no! it is too bad-- too bad to tell!' continued Mr.