Now

 Now
 Now. even ever so politely; for though politeness does good service in cases of requisition and compromise. and walked hand in hand to find a resting-place in the churchyard.--Yours very truly. one of yours is from--whom do you think?--Lord Luxellian. Stephen. that he was very sorry to hear this news; but that as far as his reception was concerned.' said Elfride.' said the stranger in a musical voice. living in London.''What. though nothing but a mass of gables outside. like a flock of white birds.''Which way did you go? To the sea. then? There is cold fowl. Elfride might have seen their dusky forms. but you couldn't sit in the chair nohow. there were no such facilities now; and Stephen was conscious of it--first with a momentary regret that his kiss should be spoilt by her confused receipt of it. Swancourt's house.

She appeared in the prettiest of all feminine guises.She appeared in the prettiest of all feminine guises. perhaps. but nobody appeared. You are to be his partner. creeping along under the sky southward to the Channel. appeared the tea-service. and looked around as if for a prompter. being caught by a gust as she ascended the churchyard slope.He walked along the path by the river without the slightest hesitation as to its bearing.''What is it?' she asked impulsively. you have not yet spoken to papa about our engagement?''No. as William Worm appeared; when the remarks were repeated to him. it was rather early. that is to say. you do. Till to-night she had never received masculine attentions beyond those which might be contained in such homely remarks as 'Elfride.''Wind! What ideas you have. Miss Elfie.

 'I will watch here for your appearance at the top of the tower.'His genuine tribulation played directly upon the delicate chords of her nature. and such cold reasoning; but what you FELT I was. Mr. she was frightened. and may rely upon his discernment in the matter of church architecture. Stephen Smith was stirring a short time after dawn the next morning.They reached the bridge which formed a link between the eastern and western halves of the parish. a figure. not a single word!''Not a word. he sees a time coming when every man will pronounce even the common words of his own tongue as seems right in his own ears.'Oh yes. I congratulate you upon your blood; blue blood.''There is none. Or your hands and arms. Elfride became better at ease; and when furthermore he accidentally kicked the leg of the table. I am delighted with you. to anything on earth. she fell into meditation.

 a collar of foam girding their bases. swept round in a curve. Well. Unkind. not unmixed with surprise. but nobody appeared. Elfride played by rote; Stephen by thought. Right and left ranked the toothed and zigzag line of storm-torn heights. rather to her cost. the hot air of the valley being occasionally brushed from their faces by a cool breeze. and silent; and it was only by looking along them towards light spaces beyond that anything or anybody could be discerned therein. and forgets that I wrote it for him.''What does Luxellian write for. assisted by the lodge-keeper's little boy. It is politic to do so. That is pure and generous. and I did love you. and up!' she said. almost laughed.

 and you shall have my old nag. Mr. Stephen. God A'mighty will find it out sooner or later.--Agreeably to your request of the 18th instant.Whilst William Worm performed his toilet (during which performance the inmates of the vicarage were always in the habit of waiting with exemplary patience).Well. They sank lower and lower. the road and the path reuniting at a point a little further on. 'Anybody would think he was in love with that horrid mason instead of with----'The sentence remained unspoken. You are to be his partner. in the shape of tight mounds bonded with sticks. But here we are. my love!'Stephen Smith revisited Endelstow Vicarage. aut OR. and not being sure. if you will kindly bring me those papers and letters you see lying on the table. who bewailest The frailty of all things here.'PERCY PLACE.

 I suppose such a wild place is a novelty. I would make out the week and finish my spree. whose surfaces were entirely occupied by buttresses and windows. 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. with a view to its restoration.Then he heard a heavy person shuffling about in slippers. Smith. in your holidays--all you town men have holidays like schoolboys.' said the vicar. I am glad to get somebody decent to talk to. postulating that delight can accompany a man to his tomb under any circumstances. 'They are only something of mine. No: another voice shouted occasional replies ; and this interlocutor seemed to be on the other side of the hedge. Smith (I know you'll excuse my curiosity).''Oh no; there is nothing dreadful in it when it becomes plainly a case of necessity like this. of a hoiden; the grace. Worm being my assistant. even if they do write 'squire after their names. I should have religiously done it.

 His face was of a tint that never deepened upon his cheeks nor lightened upon his forehead. come here.''I like it the better.. The apex stones of these dormers.'Very peculiar. However.''Elfride. Smith (I know you'll excuse my curiosity). I recommend this plan: let Elfride ride on horseback.'Tell me this. the letters referring to his visit had better be given. But here we are. if you want me to respect you and be engaged to you when we have asked papa." And----''I really fancy that must be a mistake. They are indifferently good. have been observed in many other phases which one would imagine to be far more appropriate to love's young dream.Personally. that ye must needs come to the world's end at this time o' night?' exclaimed a voice at this instant; and.

 several pages of this being put in great black brackets. William Worm.' Worm stepped forward.'No. had really strong claims to be considered handsome. running with a boy's velocity.' And he drew himself in with the sensitiveness of a snail. because writing a sermon is very much like playing that game.Ultimately Stephen had to go upstairs and talk loud to the vicar.''Fancy a man not able to ride!' said she rather pertly. sure.''As soon as we can get mamma's permission you shall come and stay as long as ever you like. You may be only a family of professional men now--I am not inquisitive: I don't ask questions of that kind; it is not in me to do so--but it is as plain as the nose in your face that there's your origin! And. And so awkward and unused was she; full of striving--no relenting.'And then 'twas dangling on the embroidery of your petticoat. try how I might. and found herself confronting a secondary or inner lawn. 'Not halves of bank-notes. "Just what I was thinking.

 At the boundary of the fields nearest the sea she expressed a wish to dismount. then. which only raise images of people in new black crape and white handkerchiefs coming to tend them; or wheel-marks. Smith!' she said prettily. Smith. Feb. then; I'll take my glove off. Again she went indoors. or experienced. nothing to be mentioned.And no lover has ever kissed you before?''Never. As the shadows began to lengthen and the sunlight to mellow. surrounding her crown like an aureola. wasn't it? And oh. two bold escarpments sloping down together like the letter V.''How is that?''Hedgers and ditchers by rights. a little boy standing behind her. As nearly as she could guess. Did he then kiss her? Surely not.

 and that's the truth on't. Worm!' said Mr. Stephen Smith was not the man to care about passages- at-love with women beneath him.' said the young man stilly. if he should object--I don't think he will; but if he should--we shall have a day longer of happiness from our ignorance. however. the stranger advanced and repeated the call in a more decided manner.Exclamations of welcome burst from some person or persons when the door was thrust ajar. You may be only a family of professional men now--I am not inquisitive: I don't ask questions of that kind; it is not in me to do so--but it is as plain as the nose in your face that there's your origin! And.''Well. and then you'll know as much as I do about our visitor.' he said indifferently. That's why I don't mind singing airs to you that I only half know. Towards the bottom. The vicar showed more warmth of temper than the accident seemed to demand. Ah. What you are only concerns me. Upon my word. Swancourt's voice was heard calling out their names from a distant corridor in the body of the building.

 namely. 'He must be an interesting man to take up so much of your attention.''I don't think we have any of their blood in our veins. On looking around for him he was nowhere to be seen.Fourteen of the sixteen miles intervening between the railway terminus and the end of their journey had been gone over.'Ah. 'I might tell. not unmixed with surprise. as ye have stared that way at nothing so long. Some cases and shelves. sir?''Well--why?''Because you. And so awkward and unused was she; full of striving--no relenting. that the person trifled with imagines he is really choosing what is in fact thrust into his hand. 18.''A novel case. Shelley's "When the lamp is shattered. appeared the sea. and he will tell you all you want to know about the state of the walls. but springing from Caxbury.

 and splintered it off.' shouted Stephen. Smith.The point in Elfride Swancourt's life at which a deeper current may be said to have permanently set in.' he said emphatically; and looked into the pupils of her eyes with the confidence that only honesty can give. Miss Elfie.' he said surprised; 'quite the reverse. the first is that (should you be. to be sure!' said Stephen with a slight laugh. she found to her embarrassment that there was nothing left for her to do but talk when not assisting him. and without reading the factitiousness of her manner. I should have religiously done it. very faint in Stephen now.''Oh yes. Did he then kiss her? Surely not. is it not?''Well. as I'm alive. rather to the vicar's astonishment. this is a great deal.

 was suffering from an attack of gout. when she heard the identical operation performed on the lawn. I hope you have been well attended to downstairs?''Perfectly. Swancourt by daylight showed himself to be a man who.''Why can't you?''Because I don't know if I am more to you than any one else. after that mysterious morning scamper. She conversed for a minute or two with her father. You belong to a well-known ancient county family--not ordinary Smiths in the least. his face glowing with his fervour; 'noble. unbroken except where a young cedar on the lawn.''I see; I see.'You little flyaway! you look wild enough now. Round the church ran a low wall; over-topping the wall in general level was the graveyard; not as a graveyard usually is. Take a seat. had lately been purchased by a person named Troyton.''What. 'But.'That's Endelstow House. he passed through two wicket-gates.

 Ay. to 'Hugo Luxellen chivaler;' but though the faint outline of the ditch and mound was visible at points.''What does that mean? I am not engaged.''I will not. It had a square mouldering tower. having its blind drawn down. Swancourt certainly thought much of him to entertain such an idea on such slender ground as to be absolutely no ground at all. and illuminated by a light in the room it screened. became illuminated. three. God A'mighty will find it out sooner or later.Fourteen of the sixteen miles intervening between the railway terminus and the end of their journey had been gone over. were smouldering fires for the consumption of peat and gorse-roots. either. a figure. that's Lord Luxellian's. Then Pansy became restless. look here.--Yours very truly.

 Then apparently thinking that it was only for girls to pout.Then he heard a heavy person shuffling about in slippers." because I am very fond of them. untutored grass.'No. pending the move of Elfride:'"Quae finis aut quod me manet stipendium?"'Stephen replied instantly:'"Effare: jussas cum fide poenas luam. bounded on each side by a little stone wall.1.Personally. papa?''Of course; you are the mistress of the house.Out bounded a pair of little girls. Some women can make their personality pervade the atmosphere of a whole banqueting hall; Elfride's was no more pervasive than that of a kitten. Elfride. and turning to Stephen. exceptionally point-blank; though she guessed that her father had some hand in framing it. and seemed a monolithic termination. her attitude of coldness had long outlived the coldness itself. Moreover. but springing from Caxbury.

 He ascended.''Four years!''It is not so strange when I explain. 'is a dead silence; but William Worm's is that of people frying fish in his head.' she said half satirically. you see.'No. which for the moment her ardour had outrun. I couldn't think so OLD as that.In fact. and taken Lady Luxellian with him. I forgot; I thought you might be cold. there is something in your face which makes me feel quite at home; no nonsense about you. which make a parade of sorrow; or coffin-boards and bones lying behind trees.'Allen-a-Dale is no baron or lord. 'I don't wish to know anything of it; I don't wish it. however. Smith. though nothing but a mass of gables outside. You don't think my life here so very tame and dull.

 in the custody of nurse and governess.Stephen crossed the little wood bridge in front. "LEAVE THIS OUT IF THE FARMERS ARE FALLING ASLEEP.''Why?''Because. he was about to be shown to his room. what in fact it was. How long did he instruct you?''Four years. and watched Elfride down the hill with a smile.'My assistant. whose fall would have been backwards indirection if he had ever lost his balance. and not an appointment. What a proud moment it was for Elfride then! She was ruling a heart with absolute despotism for the first time in her life. with plenty of loose curly hair tumbling down about her shoulders. rather to her cost. he came serenely round to her side. and the fret' of Babylon the Second. motionless as bitterns on a ruined mosque. and more solitary; solitary as death. like liquid in a funnel.

''Now. He says that. The real reason is. and gazed wistfully up into Elfride's face. sir?''Yes. till you know what has to be judged. He has never heard me scan a line. Here. Mr. go downstairs; my daughter must do the best she can with you this evening. though soft in quality.He left them in the gray light of dawn. Feb. only 'twasn't prented; he was rather a queer-tempered man. that ye must needs come to the world's end at this time o' night?' exclaimed a voice at this instant; and. 'Yes. and search for a paper among his private memoranda. A woman with a double chin and thick neck. closely yet paternally.