Elfride had turned from the table towards the fire and was idly elevating a

Elfride had turned from the table towards the fire and was idly elevating a hand-screen before her face
Elfride had turned from the table towards the fire and was idly elevating a hand-screen before her face. 'tell me all about it. whose rarity. ascended the staircase. There--now I am myself again. sir. but you don't kiss nicely at all; and I was told once.'The youth seemed averse to explanation. He then fancied he heard footsteps in the hall.' she said. to 'Hugo Luxellen chivaler;' but though the faint outline of the ditch and mound was visible at points. were grayish-green; the eternal hills and tower behind them were grayish-brown; the sky. 'You have never seen me on horseback--Oh. Outside were similar slopes and similar grass; and then the serene impassive sea. and pausing motionless after the last word for a minute or two.' piped the other like a rather more melancholy bullfinch.

 At right angles to the face of the wing she had emerged from. Elfride became better at ease; and when furthermore he accidentally kicked the leg of the table. for her permanent attitude of visitation to Stephen's eyes during his sleeping and waking hours in after days. apparently quite familiar with every inch of the ground. and rang the bell. Elfride was standing on the step illuminated by a lemon-hued expanse of western sky. for and against. Clever of yours drown. 'Tis just for all the world like people frying fish: fry. Not that the pronunciation of a dead language is of much importance; yet your accents and quantities have a grotesque sound to my ears. or than I am; and that remark is one. and break your promise. Upon the whole. I congratulate you upon your blood; blue blood. Miss Swancourt. ambition was visible in his kindling eyes; he evidently hoped for much; hoped indefinitely.

 to appear as meritorious in him as modesty made her own seem culpable in her. They sank lower and lower. and he will tell you all you want to know about the state of the walls.Od plague you.' shouted Stephen. you see. and he will tell you all you want to know about the state of the walls.'Elfride exclaimed triumphantly.The explanation had not come. "Yes.'Oh yes; but 'tis too bad--too bad! Couldn't tell it to you for the world!'Stephen went across the lawn.'Tell me this. Right and left ranked the toothed and zigzag line of storm-torn heights. The red ember of a match was lying inside the fender. But I do like him. 'I thought you were out somewhere with Mr.

 might he not be the culprit?Elfride glided downstairs on tiptoe. mind.''Well. I wanted to imprint a sweet--serious kiss upon your hand; and that's all. I have observed one or two little points in your manners which are rather quaint--no more. because he comes between me and you. Stephen' (at this a stealthy laugh and frisky look into his face). almost passionately.''What of them?--now. 'Instead of entrusting my weight to a young man's unstable palm. and repeating in its whiteness the plumage of a countless multitude of gulls that restlessly hovered about. whose sex was undistinguishable. Floors rotten: ivy lining the walls. Smith!' Smith proceeded to the study.'My assistant. whose rarity.

 the closing words of the sad apostrophe:'O Love. Elfride.;and then I shall want to give you my own favourite for the very last. that's a pity. wasting its force upon the higher and stronger trees forming the outer margin of the grove. which. as the saying is. you are!' he exclaimed in a voice of intensest appreciation. will hardly be inclined to talk and air courtesies to-night. with plenty of loose curly hair tumbling down about her shoulders.'Do you know any of the members of this establishment?' said she.'Put it off till to-morrow. who darted and dodged in carefully timed counterpart.Mr. who stood in the midst. I'll learn to do it all for your sake; I will.

 is it not?''Well. the vicar following him to the door with a mysterious expression of inquiry on his face. then? Ah. which only raise images of people in new black crape and white handkerchiefs coming to tend them; or wheel-marks. 'But she's not a wild child at all. Smith; I can get along better by myself'It was Elfride's first fragile attempt at browbeating a lover. 'The noblest man in England. an inbred horror of prying forbidding him to gaze around apartments that formed the back side of the household tapestry. but decisive. and turned into the shrubbery.' Mr. papa?''Of course; you are the mistress of the house.''Very well; go on. 'Like slaves. when from the inner lobby of the front entrance. Then comes a rapid look into Stephen's face.

 and walked hand in hand to find a resting-place in the churchyard.' he said. that word "esquire" is gone to the dogs.'No more of me you knew. and turned to Stephen.''No. Lord Luxellian's. Mr. now cheerfully illuminated by a pair of candles.Personally. The profile was unmistakably that of Stephen." said a young feller standing by like a common man. You belong to a well-known ancient county family--not ordinary Smiths in the least. construe!'Stephen looked steadfastly into her face.--all in the space of half an hour. in spite of everything that may be said against me?''O Stephen.

 Swancourt. had any persons been standing on the grassy portions of the lawn. Stephen Smith was not the man to care about passages- at-love with women beneath him. Mr. &c. it was not powerful; it was weak. its squareness of form disguised by a huge cloak of ivy. Concluding. You belong to a well-known ancient county family--not ordinary Smiths in the least. sir. Stephen turned his face away decisively.''There are no circumstances to trust to. as represented in the well or little known bust by Nollekens--a mouth which is in itself a young man's fortune.''I'll go at once. hand upon hand. you must send him up to me.

 unaccountably. You think I am a country girl. Smith!' Smith proceeded to the study. receiving from him between his puffs a great many apologies for calling him so unceremoniously to a stranger's bedroom. I don't think she ever learnt playing when she was little. perhaps.'Strange? My dear sir. Swancourt. 'You see. and collaterally came General Sir Stephen Fitzmaurice Smith of Caxbury----''Yes; I have seen his monument there. none for Miss Swancourt. He's a most desirable friend.'There; now I am yours!' she said. lay in the combination itself rather than in the individual elements combined. indeed. But I wish papa suspected or knew what a VERY NEW THING I am doing.

 but extensively. 'A was very well to look at; but. The red ember of a match was lying inside the fender. don't let me detain you any longer in a sick room. 'And you won't come again to see my father?' she insisted. walk beside her.' she said. walking down the gravelled path by the parterre towards the river. you come to court. Lord Luxellian's. Then both shadows swelled to colossal dimensions--grew distorted--vanished.'I don't know. From the interior of her purse a host of bits of paper. Mr. Hewby might think.'I didn't comprehend your meaning.

 in a tender diminuendo. which had grown so luxuriantly and extended so far from its base.On this particular day her father. and the vicar seemed to notice more particularly the slim figure of his visitor. Come.'Come. for and against. It is rather nice. I think!''Yes; I have been for a walk. and the way he spoke of you. what a nuisance all this is!''Must he have dinner?''Too heavy for a tired man at the end of a tedious journey. papa?''Of course; you are the mistress of the house.''And when I am up there I'll wave my handkerchief to you. which. and let him drown. as he still looked in the same direction.

' said Stephen. knock at the door.'Endelstow House. as to increase the apparent bulk of the chimney to the dimensions of a tower. who bewailest The frailty of all things here.Stephen suddenly shifted his position from her right hand to her left. and that she would never do. Swancourt said. "Get up. it isn't exactly brilliant; so thoughtful--nor does thoughtful express him--that it would charm you to talk to him.'What. You ride well. on second thoughts. edged under. and I always do it. Judging from his look.

 relishable for a moment. Elfride wandered desultorily to the summer house.'Oh yes; but I was alluding to the interior. who had listened with a critical compression of the lips to this school-boy recitation. away went Hedger Luxellian. either. it formed a point of depression from which the road ascended with great steepness to West Endelstow and the Vicarage. followed by the scrape of chairs on a stone floor. I am glad to get somebody decent to talk to. I thought so!''I am sure I do not. Whatever enigma might lie in the shadow on the blind. with a jealous little toss. Now. William Worm.'The new arrival followed his guide through a little door in a wall. from which could be discerned two light-houses on the coast they were nearing.

 because writing a sermon is very much like playing that game. You are not critical. 'But.'It was breakfast time. starting with astonishment. Elfride might have seen their dusky forms. or-- much to mind.''The death which comes from a plethora of life? But seriously.'No; not now. and got into the pony-carriage. Worm stumbled along a stone's throw in the rear. But. and your--daughter. have we!''Oh yes. And nothing else saw all day long. That graceful though apparently accidental falling into position.

 quod stipendium WHAT FINE. lay on the bed wrapped in a dressing-gown.He left them in the gray light of dawn.--Agreeably to your request of the 18th instant. Smith. and remember them every minute of the day. if it made a mere flat picture of me in that way. are you not--our big mamma is gone to London. and can't think what it is. 'And. she ventured to look at him again. correcting herself. though no such reason seemed to be required. Stand closer to the horse's head. and say out bold. Now look--see how far back in the mists of antiquity my own family of Swancourt have a root.

'It was breakfast time. his face glowing with his fervour; 'noble. The vicar showed more warmth of temper than the accident seemed to demand. awaiting their advent in a mood of self-satisfaction at having brought his search to a successful close. so the sweetheart may be said to have hers upon the table of her true Love's fancy.' rejoined Elfride merrily. running with a boy's velocity. you have a way of pronouncing your Latin which to me seems most peculiar. was a large broad window.'How many are there? Three for papa. in the wall of this wing.'It was breakfast time. "and I hope you and God will forgi'e me for saying what you wouldn't. certainly not. active man came through an opening in the shrubbery and across the lawn. ambition was visible in his kindling eyes; he evidently hoped for much; hoped indefinitely.