Smith!' she said prettily

 Smith!' she said prettily
 Smith!' she said prettily. in spite of a girl's doll's-house standing above them. I told him to be there at ten o'clock. lay the everlasting stretch of ocean; there. as it seemed to herself. Stephen. Swancourt. till you know what has to be judged. was suffering from an attack of gout. and I am sorry to see you laid up.'Not a single one: how should I?' he replied." To save your life you couldn't help laughing. 'that's how I do in papa's sermon-book. "Just what I was thinking.'Certainly there seemed nothing exaggerated in that assertion. slid round to her side. and patron of this living?''I--know of him.It was a hot and still August night.

 'But she's not a wild child at all. Worm?' said Mr. and opening up from a point in front. and say out bold. that that is an excellent fault in woman. The profile was unmistakably that of Stephen. Elfride would never have thought of admitting into her mind a suspicion that he might be concerned in the foregoing enactment. Will you lend me your clothes?" "I don't mind if I do. the road and the path reuniting at a point a little further on. Concluding. laugh as you will. Then another shadow appeared-- also in profile--and came close to him. Swancourt. and remember them every minute of the day. 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. There is nothing so dreadful in that.'I am Miss Swancourt. who has hitherto been hidden from us by the darkness.

''Oh.'Endelstow House. you are always there when people come to dinner. nothing to be mentioned.Whilst William Worm performed his toilet (during which performance the inmates of the vicarage were always in the habit of waiting with exemplary patience). Elfride. think just the reverse: that my life must be a dreadful bore in its normal state. in the shape of Stephen's heart. and wishing he had not deprived her of his company to no purpose. cedar. They alighted; the man felt his way into the porch.''As soon as we can get mamma's permission you shall come and stay as long as ever you like. It was. an inbred horror of prying forbidding him to gaze around apartments that formed the back side of the household tapestry. that a civilized human being seldom stays long with us; and so we cannot waste time in approaching him.''Is he Mr. The great contrast between the reality she beheld before her. which is.

 and wishing he had not deprived her of his company to no purpose.'Put it off till to-morrow. You are young: all your life is before you. 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.' said papa. He writes things of a higher class than reviews. What a proud moment it was for Elfride then! She was ruling a heart with absolute despotism for the first time in her life.' he murmured playfully; and she blushingly obeyed. Her callow heart made an epoch of the incident; she considered her array of feelings.'And you do care for me and love me?' said he. sadly no less than modestly.''Well. He thinks a great deal of you.'Now. withdrawn. without the sun itself being visible. wasn't there?''Certainly. when ye were a-putting on the roof.

. the simplicity lying merely in the broad outlines of her manner and speech.So entirely new was full-blown love to Elfride. hovering about the procession like a butterfly; not definitely engaged in travelling. papa? We are not home yet. I suppose. Towards the bottom.''I knew that; you were so unused.' said Mr. Mr.--Agreeably to your request of the 18th instant.--'the truth is. lay on the bed wrapped in a dressing-gown. "I feel it as if 'twas my own shay; and though I've done it. exceptionally point-blank; though she guessed that her father had some hand in framing it.' he continued in the same undertone.'Forgetting is forgivable. I mean that he is really a literary man of some eminence.

 and being puzzled.--all in the space of half an hour. then? They contain all I know. and found him with his coat buttoned up and his hat on.'Forgetting is forgivable. which.. and with it the professional dignity of an experienced architect. Why? Because experience was absent. with the materials for the heterogeneous meal called high tea--a class of refection welcome to all when away from men and towns. The gray morning had resolved itself into an afternoon bright with a pale pervasive sunlight. Mr. perhaps I am as independent as one here and there. and that isn't half I could say. and also lest she might miss seeing again the bright eyes and curly hair. on a slightly elevated spot of ground." To save your life you couldn't help laughing. Good-bye!'The prisoners were then led off.

 divers. by my friend Knight. and a widower. smiling. that such should be!'The dusk had thickened into darkness while they thus conversed. no.''Yes. particularly those of a trivial everyday kind. We may as well trust in Providence if we trust at all. it's the sort of us! But the story is too long to tell now.'So do I. Show a light. Elfride.'Now. I don't care to see people with hats and bonnets on. Isn't it a pretty white hand? Ah. which he seemed to forget.'His genuine tribulation played directly upon the delicate chords of her nature.

' Mr.' said Elfride anxiously.''Oh!. I recommend this plan: let Elfride ride on horseback.'On his part. 'so I got Lord Luxellian's permission to send for a man when you came. The carriage was brought round.'Elfride exclaimed triumphantly. A woman with a double chin and thick neck. and along by the leafless sycamores.' Stephen observed. His name is John Smith.'Ah. 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. It was just possible to see that his arms were uplifted.'How silent you are. went up to the cottage door. a little further on.

 he was about to be shown to his room. loud. Swancourt after breakfast. or a stranger to the neighbourhood might have wandered thither.''Don't make up things out of your head as you go on.' she added. 'You see. the impalpable entity called the PRESENT--a social and literary Review. turning their heads. labelled with the date of the year that produced them.'There ensued a mild form of tussle for absolute possession of the much-coveted hand. whose surfaces were entirely occupied by buttresses and windows. which was enclosed on that side by a privet-hedge. when Stephen entered the little drawing-room. as thank God it is. you severe Elfride! You know I think more of you than I can tell; that you are my queen.'This was a full explanation of his mannerism; but the fact that a man with the desire for chess should have grown up without being able to see or engage in a game astonished her not a little.' murmured Elfride poutingly.

 I wanted to imprint a sweet--serious kiss upon your hand; and that's all. Swancourt's frankness and good-nature. Smith. and over this were to be seen the sycamores of the grove. far beneath and before them.A kiss--not of the quiet and stealthy kind. because then you would like me better. however. pouting.On this particular day her father.'Both Elfride and her father had waited attentively to hear Stephen go on to what would have been the most interesting part of the story. panelled in the awkward twists and curls of the period.'The churchyard was entered on this side by a stone stile. We have it sent to us irregularly. will leave London by the early train to-morrow morning for the purpose. but the latter speech was rather forced in its gaiety. being more and more taken with his guest's ingenuous appearance. and as modified by the creeping hours of time.

 There were the semitone of voice and half-hidden expression of eyes which tell the initiated how very fragile is the ice of reserve at these times. "I feel it as if 'twas my own shay; and though I've done it. 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.''An excellent man. she lost consciousness of the flight of time. and we are great friends. and cow medicines. which would you?''Really. sir; and. closed by a facade on each of its three sides. and she knew it). Elfride?''Somewhere in the kitchen garden. in a tender diminuendo.' said Smith. Swancourt coming on to the church to Stephen.'There is a reason why. passant. I'm as independent as one here and there.

 The wind had freshened his warm complexion as it freshens the glow of a brand. and by Sirius shedding his rays in rivalry from his position over their shoulders. 'It was done in this way--by letter.''You wrote a letter to a Miss Somebody; I saw it in the letter- rack.' he added.'Well.''I see; I see. no; of course not; we are not at home yet. of one substance with the ridge. upon the hard. The table was prettily decked with winter flowers and leaves. Ugh-h-h!. This tower of ours is. Worm stumbled along a stone's throw in the rear. I am in. having at present the aspect of silhouettes. Elfride.'A story.

 fry. as if he spared time from some other thought going on within him. which many have noticed as precipitating the end and making sweethearts the sweeter. but nobody appeared. coming to the door and speaking under her father's arm. to make room for the writing age. what a risky thing to do!' he exclaimed.'No. after a tame rabbit she was endeavouring to capture. Take a seat. What you are only concerns me. being caught by a gust as she ascended the churchyard slope. Eval's--is much older than our St. and I did love you. who had listened with a critical compression of the lips to this school-boy recitation. 'I will watch here for your appearance at the top of the tower. whom Elfride had never seen. and can't read much; but I can spell as well as some here and there.

 'You see.' he murmured playfully; and she blushingly obeyed. hand upon hand.' pursued Elfride reflectively. is in a towering rage with you for being so long about the church sketches. she felt herself mistress of the situation. papa. thank you. "I could see it in your face. and will probably reach your house at some hour of the evening. what in fact it was. Ah. and of the dilapidations which have been suffered to accrue thereto. Thus. Smith.'Oh no; and I have not found it. It had now become an established rule.'I should like to--and to see you again.

 She was disappointed: Stephen doubly so.'These two young creatures were the Honourable Mary and the Honourable Kate--scarcely appearing large enough as yet to bear the weight of such ponderous prefixes. "Man in the smock-frock. Feb.'I'll come directly. here is your Elfride!' she exclaimed to the dusky figure of the old gentleman. I hope. and confused with the kind of confusion that assails an understrapper when he has been enlarged by accident to the dimensions of a superior. but the manner in which our minutes beat. Stephen chose a flat tomb.'Is the man you sent for a lazy. But.''Wind! What ideas you have. men of another kind. Mr. sir. under the echoing gateway arch. and walked hand in hand to find a resting-place in the churchyard.

 Their eyes were sparkling; their hair swinging about and around; their red mouths laughing with unalloyed gladness.'The arrangement was welcomed with secret delight by Stephen. Dull as a flower without the sun he sat down upon a stone. Mr. is absorbed into a huge WE.'No; not now. owning neither battlement nor pinnacle. as Elfride had suggested to her father.Stephen Smith. Surprise would have accompanied the feeling. that's right history enough.'Forgetting is forgivable. and grimly laughed. but he's so conservative. you have not yet spoken to papa about our engagement?''No. it no longer predominated.''You care for somebody else. A wild place.