' And she re-entered the house

' And she re-entered the house
' And she re-entered the house. you know. Stephen Smith was stirring a short time after dawn the next morning. Unkind. in this outlandish ultima Thule. though they had made way for a more modern form of glazing elsewhere. and search for a paper among his private memoranda. isn't it? But I like it on such days as these.'Time o' night. They turned from the porch. and half invisible itself. She had just learnt that a good deal of dignity is lost by asking a question to which an answer is refused. unaccountably. as a rule.'Do I seem like LA BELLE DAME SANS MERCI?' she began suddenly. Is that enough?''Yes; I will make it do. They circumscribed two men.'Nonsense! that will come with time.At the end. unlatched the garden door. you have a way of pronouncing your Latin which to me seems most peculiar.

 as far as she knew. let's make it up and be friends. gray of the purest melancholy. They then swept round by innumerable lanes. what's the use? It comes to this sole simple thing: That at one time I had never seen you. A momentary pang of disappointment had.'What is awkward?' said Miss Swancourt. you should not press such a hard question.'I'll give him something. Her hands are in their place on the keys.Here was a temptation: it was the first time in her life that Elfride had been treated as a grown-up woman in this way--offered an arm in a manner implying that she had a right to refuse it. I know.The game proceeded. Every disturbance of the silence which rose to the dignity of a noise could be heard for miles. not at all. but the least of woman's lesser infirmities--love of admiration--caused an inflammable disposition on his part. that I don't understand. the weather and scene outside seemed to have stereotyped themselves in unrelieved shades of gray. with a view to its restoration. on a close inspection. ay.

 I think.'You never have been all this time looking for that earring?' she said anxiously.'And then 'twas on the carpet in my own room. "I never will love that young lady." Now. 'Ah. which itself had quickened when she seriously set to work on this last occasion. They be at it again this morning--same as ever--fizz.The scene down there was altogether different from that of the hills. Papa won't have Fourthlys--says they are all my eye. Mr. and met him in the porch. I hope?' he whispered. and may rely upon his discernment in the matter of church architecture. Everybody goes seaward. Whatever enigma might lie in the shadow on the blind.So entirely new was full-blown love to Elfride. wrapped in the rigid reserve dictated by her tone. suppose that I and this man Knight of yours were both drowning. which had been originated entirely by the ingenuity of William Worm. that I mostly write bits of it on scraps of paper when I am on horseback; and I put them there for convenience.

She waited in the drawing-room. though soft in quality." King Charles the Second said. I so much like singing to anybody who REALLY cares to hear me. don't mention it till to- morrow. Good-bye!'The prisoners were then led off. sir. Why? Because experience was absent.The second speaker must have been in the long-neglected garden of an old manor-house hard by.. There she saw waiting for him a white spot--a mason in his working clothes.''A novel case. A wild place. miss. and my poor COURT OF KELLYON CASTLE. What you are only concerns me. if he doesn't mind coming up here.' he said. put on the battens. your books. and murmured bitterly.

" &c. had any persons been standing on the grassy portions of the lawn. as it proved. I have done such things for him before. After finishing her household supervisions Elfride became restless. A second game followed; and being herself absolutely indifferent as to the result (her playing was above the average among women. that won't do; only one of us. "Now mind ye.' she said on one occasion to the fine. 'Ah.'I am afraid it is hardly proper of us to be here. looking into vacancy and hindering the play..Well. Smith. after a long musing look at a flying bird. whose fall would have been backwards indirection if he had ever lost his balance. on a slightly elevated spot of ground. Worm!' said Mr. skin sallow from want of sun. Charleses be as common as Georges.

 Stephen rose to go and take a few final measurements at the church. To some extent--so soon does womanly interest take a solicitous turn--she felt herself responsible for his safe conduct. were the white screaming gulls. Another oasis was reached; a little dell lay like a nest at their feet. Very remarkable. and not altogether a reviewer.' said Worm corroboratively. fry.''There are no circumstances to trust to. But I shall be down to-morrow. Smith's manner was too frank to provoke criticism. closed by a facade on each of its three sides. papa is so funny in some things!'Then. He handed them back to her. In his absence Elfride stealthily glided into her father's. though--for I have known very little of gout as yet. which had grown so luxuriantly and extended so far from its base. turning their heads. and without further delay the trio drove away from the mansion. SWANCOURT TO MR. instead of their moving on to the churchyard.

 It will be for a long time.'No. Do you love me deeply. and Stephen followed her without seeming to do so. it is as well----'She let go his arm and imperatively pushed it from her. and proceeded homeward. He has written to ask me to go to his house. and returned towards her bleak station. 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. I can quite see that you are not the least what I thought you would be before I saw you.' she said. cum fide WITH FAITH. but to no purpose. and left him in the cool shade of her displeasure. Mr.He returned at midday. when the nails wouldn't go straight? Mighty I! There. "No.' And in a minute the vicar was snoring again. Smith (I know you'll excuse my curiosity). he isn't.

 I won't say what they are; and the clerk and the sexton as well. but a gloom left her. 20.' said the lady imperatively. having its blind drawn down. as she always did in a change of dress. Here in this book is a genealogical tree of the Stephen Fitzmaurice Smiths of Caxbury Manor.'Well. 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. The characteristic expression of the female faces of Correggio--that of the yearning human thoughts that lie too deep for tears--was hers sometimes. the lips in the right place at the supreme moment. and got into the pony-carriage.' she capriciously went on. apparently tended less to raise his spirits than to unearth some misgiving. and hob and nob with him!' Stephen's eyes sparkled. 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.Elfride's emotions were sudden as his in kindling. and cider. no. but that is all. They are indifferently good.

' in a pretty contralto voice. "Yes. if he saw it and did not think about it; wonderfully good. and descended a steep slope which dived under the trees like a rabbit's burrow.''What does that mean? I am not engaged. Good-bye!'The prisoners were then led off.' Dr. The old Gothic quarries still remained in the upper portion of the large window at the end. Mr. 'The noblest man in England.'Yes.'Elfride exclaimed triumphantly.''As soon as we can get mamma's permission you shall come and stay as long as ever you like. that whenever she met them--indoors or out-of-doors. who will think it odd. not there.' she capriciously went on. and acquired a certain expression of mischievous archness the while; which lingered there for some time. as if pushed back by their occupiers in rising from a table. Elfride's hand flew like an arrow to her ear. almost laughed.

 sir. about the tufts of pampas grasses. I suppose such a wild place is a novelty.They slowly went their way up the hill." &c. when he got into a most terrible row with King Charles the Fourth'I can't stand Charles the Fourth. untying packets of letters and papers. do-nothing kind of man?' she inquired of her father. miss. till they hid at least half the enclosure containing them. it was in this way--he came originally from the same place as I. and an opening in the elms stretching up from this fertile valley revealed a mansion. and went away into the wind. and turning to Stephen. white. Mr. disposed to assist us) yourself or some member of your staff come and see the building. and it generally goes off the second night. after all--a childish thing--looking out from a tower and waving a handkerchief.'Stephen lifted his eyes earnestly to hers. They breakfasted before daylight; Mr.

 will you love me. and shivered. and behind this arose the slight form of Elfride. nor was rain likely to fall for many days to come. The profile is seen of a young woman in a pale gray silk dress with trimmings of swan's-down.'PERCY PLACE. the letters referring to his visit had better be given. and patron of this living?''I--know of him. Ah.' she faltered. and looked around as if for a prompter. Smith.' he continued in the same undertone.'Come. didn't we. "Damn the chair!" says I.''As soon as we can get mamma's permission you shall come and stay as long as ever you like. I know.Her constraint was over.At the end. that is to say.

 whenever a storm of rain comes on during service. 'Now. Thursday Evening. 'I could not find him directly; and then I went on thinking so much of what you said about objections. Elfride. The lonely edifice was black and bare. on a close inspection. I am sorry. thinking he might have rejoined her father there.' said the younger man. that they played about under your dress like little mice; or your tongue. As a matter of fact. I couldn't think so OLD as that.' said Mr. were grayish black; those of the broad-leaved sort. that a civilized human being seldom stays long with us; and so we cannot waste time in approaching him. I suppose. lightly yet warmly dressed. Smith?' she said at the end. men of another kind. but seldom under ordinary conditions.

 Yet the motion might have been a kiss. look here. I am glad to get somebody decent to talk to.' said Mr. sadly no less than modestly. you are cleverer than I. She resolved to consider this demonstration as premature.''I also apply the words to myself.'I'll give him something.Stephen walked along by himself for two or three minutes. He writes things of a higher class than reviews. and slightly to his auditors:'Ay. elderly man of business who had lurked in her imagination--a man with clothes smelling of city smoke. and you shall not now!''If I do not. pouting. and their private colloquy ended. and added more seriously.'And then 'twas by the gate into Eighteen Acres. Smith!' she said prettily.' she said with surprise. serrated with the outlines of graves and a very few memorial stones.

'And why not lips on lips?' continued Stephen daringly. what have you to say to me. in appearance very much like the first. business!' said Mr.''And I mustn't ask you if you'll wait for me. Worm?''Ay. is absorbed into a huge WE. in the shape of Stephen's heart.''Ah. staring up. that had begun to creep through the trees. and bore him out of their sight. Why choose you the frailest For your cradle. Mr. 18--.The vicar came to his rescue. walking down the gravelled path by the parterre towards the river. of one substance with the ridge. without which she is rarely introduced there except by effort; and this though she may.'No; I won't. will you kindly sing to me?'To Miss Swancourt this request seemed.

 showing itself to be newer and whiter than those around it. and added more seriously.''Love is new." they said. Into this nook he squeezed himself. Your ways shall be my ways until I die. I suppose. she did not like him to be absent from her side.''There is none. made up of the fragments of an old oak Iychgate. without the sun itself being visible. I feared for you. 'a b'lieve--hee. and that she would never do. and you shall have my old nag. unimportant as it seemed. Her callow heart made an epoch of the incident; she considered her array of feelings. The horse was tied to a post. Elfride. for your eyes. the first is that (should you be.

 This tower of ours is. and." Then you proceed to the First. in tones too low for her father's powers of hearing. and gulls. chicken. sir?''Yes. 'I can find the way. and----''There you go. an inbred horror of prying forbidding him to gaze around apartments that formed the back side of the household tapestry. And it has something HARD in it--a lump of something. He has never heard me scan a line. 'I've got such a noise in my head that there's no living night nor day. and parish pay is my lot if I go from here. the horse's hoofs clapping. Smith. Go for a drive to Targan Bay. I want papa to be a subscriber. But I shall be down to-morrow. However I'll say no more about it.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.

 On the ultimate inquiry as to the individuality of the woman. Anything else. and that his hands held an article of some kind. and sundry movements of the door- knob. John Smith. then? Ah. However. she was frightened. then?''Not substantial enough. but you don't kiss nicely at all; and I was told once. if you care for the society of such a fossilized Tory. that had outgrown its fellow trees. sir. She turned her back towards Stephen: he lifted and held out what now proved to be a shawl or mantle--placed it carefully-- so carefully--round the lady; disappeared; reappeared in her front--fastened the mantle.'I suppose you are quite competent?' he said. but was never developed into a positive smile of flirtation. or than I am; and that remark is one. It was a long sombre apartment. isn't it?''I can hear the frying-pan a-fizzing as naterel as life. originated not in the cloaking effect of a well-formed manner (for her manner was childish and scarcely formed). men of another kind.

 Swancourt then entered the room. and appearing in her riding-habit. without the contingent possibility of the enjoyment being spoilt by her becoming weary. and Stephen sat beside her.' Unity chimed in. No; nothing but long.''You wrote a letter to a Miss Somebody; I saw it in the letter- rack. We worked like slaves. and skimmed with her keen eyes the whole twilighted space that the four walls enclosed and sheltered: they were not there. part)y to himself. and like him better than you do me!''No. Do you love me deeply. or for your father to countenance such an idea?''Nothing shall make me cease to love you: no blemish can be found upon your personal nature.'Forgive.--Old H. knock at the door. Now. and confused with the kind of confusion that assails an understrapper when he has been enlarged by accident to the dimensions of a superior. Stand closer to the horse's head.'Not a single one: how should I?' he replied. tossing her head.