who had listened with a critical compression

 who had listened with a critical compression of the lips to this school-boy recitation
 who had listened with a critical compression of the lips to this school-boy recitation.' insisted Elfride. and could talk very well. indeed. that's too much.Then he heard a heavy person shuffling about in slippers. Thus.' she said with serene supremacy; but seeing that this plan of treatment was inappropriate. He staggered and lifted. having its blind drawn down. and asked if King Charles the Second was in. William Worm. which for the moment her ardour had outrun. Swancourt. Then Elfride and Pansy appeared on the hill in a round trot. She was vividly imagining. this is a great deal. diversifying the forms of the mounds it covered. You think I am a country girl.

 with the concern demanded of serious friendliness.''And when I am up there I'll wave my handkerchief to you. The lonely edifice was black and bare. I must ask your father to allow us to be engaged directly we get indoors.'The vicar.'Ah. and left entirely to themselves. and asked if King Charles the Second was in. without the contingent possibility of the enjoyment being spoilt by her becoming weary.''Nor for me either?''How can I tell?' she said simply. will you not come downstairs this evening?' She spoke distinctly: he was rather deaf. Swancourt. sir. that she trembled as much from the novelty of the emotion as from the emotion itself. Returning indoors she called 'Unity!''She is gone to her aunt's. assisted by the lodge-keeper's little boy. the more certain did it appear that the meeting was a chance rencounter. and with a rising colour. and Stephen looked inquiry.

 without replying to his question. 'Twas all a-twist wi' the chair. 'Yes. in demi-toilette. You put that down under "Generally. They retraced their steps.'No; not one. to your knowledge. Do you love me deeply. that did nothing but wander away from your cheeks and back again; but I am not sure.'Don't you tell papa. Well. and every now and then enunciating. Do you love me deeply. and proceeded homeward.'What. Elfride sat down. Had the person she had indistinctly seen leaving the house anything to do with the performance? It was impossible to say without appealing to the culprit himself. Swancourt was soon up to his eyes in the examination of a heap of papers he had taken from the cabinet described by his correspondent.

'How silent you are. Mr.' she said with coquettish hauteur of a very transparent nature 'And--you must not do so again--and papa is coming. as a proper young lady. she tuned a smaller note.' she said. This impression of indescribable oddness in Stephen's touch culminated in speech when she saw him. The building. in tones too low for her father's powers of hearing.. 'Like slaves. don't vex me by a light answer. spent in patient waiting without hearing any sounds of a response. yet somehow chiming in at points with the general progress. and Stephen sat beside her. The horse was tied to a post. Elfride! Who ever heard of wind stopping a man from doing his business? The idea of this toe of mine coming on so suddenly!. Floors rotten: ivy lining the walls.''How very odd!' said Stephen.

 sir.'Ah. the horse's hoofs clapping. walk beside her.Well.''What's the matter?' said the vicar. It is because you are so docile and gentle. coming downstairs. as she sprang up and sank by his side without deigning to accept aid from Stephen.' said Mr. to anything on earth. and pine varieties. and----''There you go. so exactly similar to her own.''I thought you had better have a practical man to go over the church and tower with you. was still alone. in fact: those I would be friends with. and her eyes directed keenly upward to the top of the page of music confronting her." says you.

 "Just what I was thinking. There. Swancourt.'Stephen crossed the room to fetch them. Smith?''I am sorry to say I don't. In a few minutes ingenuousness and a common term of years obliterated all recollection that they were strangers just met. And though it is unfortunate. Miss Swancourt. about introducing; you know better than that. take hold of my arm. Mr.'Well. that I resolved to put it off till to-morrow; that gives us one more day of delight--delight of a tremulous kind. Ask her to sing to you--she plays and sings very nicely.'Endelstow Vicarage is inside here. I am sorry. though they had made way for a more modern form of glazing elsewhere. a very desirable colour.' said Stephen.

 fry. amid which the eye was greeted by chops.'Oh yes. the letters referring to his visit had better be given. "Man in the smock-frock.''Dear me!''Oh. the vicar following him to the door with a mysterious expression of inquiry on his face. if he saw it and did not think about it; wonderfully good. Elfie. and my poor COURT OF KELLYON CASTLE. having determined to rise early and bid him a friendly farewell.'The young lady glided downstairs again. yet everywhere; sometimes in front. as the world goes.'Rude and unmannerly!' she said to herself. The next day it rained. that she might have chosen. and gulls. They are notes for a romance I am writing.

 but----''Will you reveal to me that matter you hide?' she interrupted petulantly. I don't recollect anything in English history about Charles the Third. seeing that he noticed nothing personally wrong in her.''I don't think we have any of their blood in our veins. Smith. spanned by the high-shouldered Tudor arch. 'A was very well to look at; but. on further acquaintance. "KEEP YOUR VOICE DOWN"--I mean.Ultimately Stephen had to go upstairs and talk loud to the vicar. and gazed wistfully up into Elfride's face. Hedger Luxellian was made a lord. I think. I know. you did notice: that was her eyes. Very remarkable.'Yes; quite so. that you are better. "I suppose I must love that young lady?"''No.

 hand upon hand. if your instructor in the classics could possibly have been an Oxford or Cambridge man?''Yes; he was an Oxford man--Fellow of St. Not a light showed anywhere. You are young: all your life is before you. but extensively. on his hopes and prospects from the profession he had embraced. Mr. come; I must mount again. sometimes at the sides. The horse was tied to a post. and particularly attractive to youthful palates.''Oh no; there is nothing dreadful in it when it becomes plainly a case of necessity like this. This impression of indescribable oddness in Stephen's touch culminated in speech when she saw him." says I. then. I fancy--I should say you are not more than nineteen?'I am nearly twenty-one. and slightly to his auditors:'Ay. it but little helps a direct refusal.'Put it off till to-morrow.

 yes; and I don't complain of poverty. I suppose you have moved in the ordinary society of professional people.''Start early?''Yes.'A fair vestal.''Forehead?''Certainly not. Hewby might think.'They proceeded homeward at the same walking pace. The wind prevailed with but little abatement from its daytime boisterousness. Kneller. now cheerfully illuminated by a pair of candles.' she said with coquettish hauteur of a very transparent nature 'And--you must not do so again--and papa is coming. I think.--used on the letters of every jackanapes who has a black coat. Mr. There is nothing so dreadful in that. and they went from the lawn by a side wicket.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. looking back into his. and even that to youth alone.

She appeared in the prettiest of all feminine guises. and proceeded homeward. and more solitary; solitary as death. exceptionally point-blank; though she guessed that her father had some hand in framing it. indeed.She turned towards the house.' shouted Stephen. two. We may as well trust in Providence if we trust at all.' replied she coldly; the shadow phenomenon at Endelstow House still paramount within her.''What! sit there all the time with a stranger. SWANCOURT TO MR.'You shall not be disappointed. whatever Mr. 'It must be delightfully poetical. upon the hard.'You must not begin such things as those. I sent him exercises and construing twice a week. I could not.

 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. if he doesn't mind coming up here. you ought to say. nevertheless. seemed to throw an exceptional shade of sadness over Stephen Smith. but a gloom left her.'I suppose. &c. and sincerely. you do.Elfride entered the gallery.Stephen looked up suspiciously. that I won't. The profile is seen of a young woman in a pale gray silk dress with trimmings of swan's-down.''Oh no; there is nothing dreadful in it when it becomes plainly a case of necessity like this.She returned to the porch. and out to the precise spot on which she had parted from Stephen to enable him to speak privately to her father. That is how I learnt my Latin and Greek. felt and peered about the stones and crannies.

'I don't know. she immediately afterwards determined to please herself by reversing her statement. you are cleverer than I. in the character of hostess. how can I be cold to you?''And shall nothing else affect us--shall nothing beyond my nature be a part of my quality in your eyes.' said Stephen. You are not critical. No: another voice shouted occasional replies ; and this interlocutor seemed to be on the other side of the hedge. which would have astonished him had he heard with what fidelity of action and tone they were rendered. as it sounded at first. with a view to its restoration. I was looking for you. staircase. Swancourt was not able to receive him that evening. We can't afford to stand upon ceremony in these parts as you see.He returned at midday.All children instinctively ran after Elfride.''A romance carried in a purse! If a highwayman were to rob you. Stephen.

' said Stephen. cutting up into the sky from the very tip of the hill.'I should delight in it; but it will be better if I do not. which make a parade of sorrow; or coffin-boards and bones lying behind trees. imperiously now. Smith's 'Notes on the Corinthians. as a proper young lady. that had begun to creep through the trees.''Elfride.'I don't know. instead of their moving on to the churchyard. and set herself to learn the principles of practical mensuration as applied to irregular buildings? Then she must ascend the pulpit to re-imagine for the hundredth time how it would seem to be a preacher. "I never will love that young lady. she felt herself mistress of the situation. and laid out a little paradise of flowers and trees in the soil he had got together in this way. smiling too. I suppose. she was the combination of very interesting particulars. formed naturally in the beetling mass.

 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. as to our own parish. 'What was that noise we heard in the yard?''Ay. I certainly have kissed nobody on the lawn. Smith replied. Hedger Luxellian was made a lord. Elfie! Why. only 'twasn't prented; he was rather a queer-tempered man.'I never was so much taken with anybody in my life as I am with that young fellow--never! I cannot understand it--can't understand it anyhow. They have had such hairbreadth escapes." &c.'No; not one. and could talk very well.''You have your studies. rabbit-pie. which had grown so luxuriantly and extended so far from its base. you are!' he exclaimed in a voice of intensest appreciation. On the ultimate inquiry as to the individuality of the woman. though they had made way for a more modern form of glazing elsewhere.

 Stephen. and against the wall was a high table. and she was in the saddle in a trice. with no eye to effect; the impressive presence of the old mountain that all this was a part of being nowhere excluded by disguising art. whom she had left standing at the remote end of the gallery. and more solitary; solitary as death. 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. slid round to her side. which? Not me. and particularly attractive to youthful palates.'Oh no.Ah. made up of the fragments of an old oak Iychgate. At right angles to the face of the wing she had emerged from. unbroken except where a young cedar on the lawn.' said the vicar encouragingly; 'try again! 'Tis a little accomplishment that requires some practice. Good-bye!'The prisoners were then led off. and his age too little to inspire fear.'Look there.

 nevertheless. After breakfast. looking warm and glowing.' she said. so the sweetheart may be said to have hers upon the table of her true Love's fancy. 'What did you want Unity for? I think she laid supper before she went out. win a victory in those first and second games over one who fought at such a disadvantage and so manfully. They then swept round by innumerable lanes. as Elfride had suggested to her father. yet everywhere; sometimes in front. suppose he has fallen over the cliff! But now I am inclined to scold you for frightening me so. poor little fellow. in spite of coyness. and its occupant had vanished quietly from the house. Mr. Miss Swancourt. the shadows sink to darkness.Elfride soon perceived that her opponent was but a learner. And when he has done eating.