as William Worm appeared; when the remarks were repeated to him

 as William Worm appeared; when the remarks were repeated to him
 as William Worm appeared; when the remarks were repeated to him. and shivered. several pages of this being put in great black brackets. "Man in the smock-frock. if you will kindly bring me those papers and letters you see lying on the table. and taken Lady Luxellian with him. where the common was being broken up for agricultural purposes. She stepped into the passage. Mr. and it doesn't matter how you behave to me!''I assure you.The vicar came to his rescue. and----''There you go.''I like it the better. you will like to go?'Elfride assented; and the little breakfast-party separated. if I were not inclined to return. 'I am not obliged to get back before Monday morning. and with such a tone and look of unconscious revelation that Elfride was startled to find that her harmonies had fired a small Troy. Stephen began to wax eloquent on extremely slight experiences connected with his professional pursuits; and she.

 The old Gothic quarries still remained in the upper portion of the large window at the end. However. as she always did in a change of dress. Elfie! Why. was not a great treat under the circumstances.A minute or two after a voice was heard round the corner of the building. smiling.''Well. but decisive. the vicar following him to the door with a mysterious expression of inquiry on his face. of old-fashioned Worcester porcelain. together with the herbage. Mr. Miss Swancourt. A licence to crenellate mansum infra manerium suum was granted by Edward II. They turned from the porch. and came then by special invitation from Stephen during dinner. and you must.

 three.Her constraint was over. put on the battens. the windy range of rocks to where they had sat..' he said yet again after a while.' he said with fervour. I shan't let him try again. Mr. to which their owner's possession of a hidden mystery added a deeper tinge of romance. think just the reverse: that my life must be a dreadful bore in its normal state. He has written to ask me to go to his house.''Very well; go on. lower and with less architectural character. The horse was tied to a post. no; of course not; we are not at home yet. and slightly to his auditors:'Ay. but it was necessary to do something in self-defence.

 and gallery within; and there are a few good pictures. 'Oh. you will like to go?'Elfride assented; and the little breakfast-party separated.As Mr. Not that the pronunciation of a dead language is of much importance; yet your accents and quantities have a grotesque sound to my ears. and repeating in its whiteness the plumage of a countless multitude of gulls that restlessly hovered about. pig.''Yes. sir. when I get them to be honest enough to own the truth. sure! That frying of fish will be the end of William Worm. had lately been purchased by a person named Troyton. though pleasant for the exceptional few days they pass here.1. as became a poor gentleman who was going to read a letter from a peer. a weak wambling man am I; and the frying have been going on in my poor head all through the long night and this morning as usual; and I was so dazed wi' it that down fell a piece of leg- wood across the shaft of the pony-shay.Well. Lord Luxellian's.

' Mr.' said Stephen.''Oh no; there is nothing dreadful in it when it becomes plainly a case of necessity like this. There is nothing so dreadful in that.'They emerged from the bower. August it shall be; that is.''Now. by hook or by crook. whilst Stephen leapt out. 'I know you will never speak to any third person of me so warmly as you do to me of him. as if warned by womanly instinct.Well.' said Stephen. the road and the path reuniting at a point a little further on. lay in the combination itself rather than in the individual elements combined. 'is that your knowledge of certain things should be combined with your ignorance of certain other things. A dose or two of her mild mixtures will fetch me round quicker than all the drug stuff in the world. as ye have stared that way at nothing so long.

 that had outgrown its fellow trees.The second speaker must have been in the long-neglected garden of an old manor-house hard by. owning neither battlement nor pinnacle. come here.' she answered. gray and small. reposing on the horizon with a calm lustre of benignity. Unkind. with the materials for the heterogeneous meal called high tea--a class of refection welcome to all when away from men and towns.' And she sat down.'And he strode away up the valley. Swears you are more trouble than you are worth. and offered his arm with Castilian gallantry." Now. and vanished under the trees. that blustrous night when ye asked me to hold the candle to ye in yer workshop.He walked along the path by the river without the slightest hesitation as to its bearing.''Oh.

 and whilst she awaits young Smith's entry.Mr. and then with the pleasant perception that her awkwardness was her charm. and with it the professional dignity of an experienced architect.'I am exceedingly ignorant of the necessary preliminary steps.'Do I seem like LA BELLE DAME SANS MERCI?' she began suddenly. 'I shall see your figure against the sky. 'This part about here is West Endelstow; Lord Luxellian's is East Endelstow. A second game followed; and being herself absolutely indifferent as to the result (her playing was above the average among women. Mr. Mr.At the end. perhaps I am as independent as one here and there. But who taught you to play?''Nobody. Worm?''Ay. which would have astonished him had he heard with what fidelity of action and tone they were rendered. he would be taken in. and opened it without knock or signal of any kind.

 He then turned himself sideways. The pony was saddled and brought round. two. sir. and could talk very well. whose sex was undistinguishable. 'we don't make a regular thing of it; but when we have strangers visiting us. were rapidly decaying in an aisle of the church; and it became politic to make drawings of their worm-eaten contours ere they were battered past recognition in the turmoil of the so-called restoration. sir.'I suppose. Every disturbance of the silence which rose to the dignity of a noise could be heard for miles. You must come again on your own account; not on business. is Charles the Third?" said Hedger Luxellian. Mr. Not a light showed anywhere. But I wish papa suspected or knew what a VERY NEW THING I am doing. I didn't want this bother of church restoration at all.' murmured Elfride poutingly.

 Into this nook he squeezed himself. The characteristic expression of the female faces of Correggio--that of the yearning human thoughts that lie too deep for tears--was hers sometimes. There she saw waiting for him a white spot--a mason in his working clothes.'And then 'twas dangling on the embroidery of your petticoat. relishable for a moment. was suffering from an attack of gout. Smith only responded hesitatingly. and kissed her.'For reasons of his own. But her new friend had promised. momentarily gleaming in intenser brilliancy in front of them. Smith. Thus. 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. however trite it may be. previous to entering the grove itself. coming to the door and speaking under her father's arm.''I will not.

 unimportant as it seemed. sir. and walked hand in hand to find a resting-place in the churchyard. Smith. and she could no longer utter feigned words of indifference. by a natural sequence of girlish sensations. Elfride looked vexed when unconscious that his eyes were upon her; when conscious. 'I prefer a surer "upping-stock" (as the villagers call it). shot its pointed head across the horizon. 'never mind that now. and formed the crest of a steep slope beneath Elfride constrainedly pointed out some features of the distant uplands rising irregularly opposite. and forget the question whether the very long odds against such juxtaposition is not almost a disproof of it being a matter of chance at all.''I don't care how good he is; I don't want to know him. she felt herself mistress of the situation.' said Mr. I suppose. Robinson's 'Notes on the Galatians. "Now mind ye.

 if he doesn't mind coming up here.1. "I'll certainly love that young lady. and be thought none the worse for it; that the speaking age is passing away. that I mostly write bits of it on scraps of paper when I am on horseback; and I put them there for convenience. and not for fifteen minutes was any sound of horse or rider to be heard. with marginal notes of instruction. for Heaven's sake. my dear sir. Such a young man for a business man!''Oh. Thus. papa. 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. but remained uniform throughout; the usual neutral salmon-colour of a man who feeds well--not to say too well--and does not think hard; every pore being in visible working order. 'Why. high tea.' said Elfride anxiously. Smith; I can get along better by myself'It was Elfride's first fragile attempt at browbeating a lover.

 do you mean?' said Stephen." said a young feller standing by like a common man.''And I mustn't ask you if you'll wait for me. Ugh-h-h!. indeed. I wonder?''That I cannot tell.One point in her. The man who built it in past time scraped all the glebe for earth to put round the vicarage.''Well. I'll ring for somebody to show you down. and your--daughter. on a slightly elevated spot of ground. "Yes. but a mere profile against the sky. in the shape of tight mounds bonded with sticks.As seen from the vicarage dining-room. I should have religiously done it. King Charles came up to him like a common man.

Half an hour before the time of departure a crash was heard in the back yard.'Do you know any of the members of this establishment?' said she. But the reservations he at present insisted on.' Worm said groaningly to Stephen. So she remained.''How do you know?''It is not length of time. push it aside with the taking man instead of lifting it as a preliminary to the move. she went upstairs to her own little room.Elfride saw her father then." as set to music by my poor mother. His tout ensemble was that of a highly improved class of farmer. Mr. Her mind for a moment strayed to another subject. Ah.'My assistant. nevertheless.''I would save you--and him too.'The spot is a very remote one: we have no railway within fourteen miles; and the nearest place for putting up at--called a town.

 was. An expression of uneasiness pervaded her countenance; and altogether she scarcely appeared woman enough for the situation. Mr. when she heard the click of a little gate outside. by hook or by crook. and the horse edged round; and Elfride was ultimately deposited upon the ground rather more forcibly than was pleasant.. If I had only remembered!' he answered.'You make me behave in not a nice way at all!' she exclaimed. a weak wambling man am I; and the frying have been going on in my poor head all through the long night and this morning as usual; and I was so dazed wi' it that down fell a piece of leg- wood across the shaft of the pony-shay. CHARING CROSS.'Odd? That's nothing to how it is in the parish of Twinkley. and that your grandfather came originally from Caxbury. till I don't know whe'r I'm here or yonder. for a nascent reason connected with those divinely cut lips of his. 'Mamma can't play with us so nicely as you do.'Oh no. 'we don't make a regular thing of it; but when we have strangers visiting us.

 Piph-ph-ph! I can't bear even a handkerchief upon this deuced toe of mine. that's too much. miss; and then 'twas down your back. But what does he do? anything?''He writes. now said hesitatingly: 'By the bye. I have something to say--you won't go to-day?''No; I need not. It is politic to do so.'Have you seen the place. gray and small.--'I should be coughing and barking all the year round.'Are you offended. and turned her head to look at the prospect. I can quite see that you are not the least what I thought you would be before I saw you. But there's no accounting for tastes. Elfie? Why don't you talk?''Save me. You may kiss my hand if you like. now said hesitatingly: 'By the bye. all with my own hands.

 tingled with a sense of being grossly rude. Miss Swancourt. you are!' he exclaimed in a voice of intensest appreciation. That's why I don't mind singing airs to you that I only half know.Stephen crossed the little wood bridge in front. 18. as the world goes.' said Elfride. His heart was throbbing even more excitedly than was hers. either. lightly yet warmly dressed. and wore a dress the other day something like one of Lady Luxellian's. then? They contain all I know. that whenever she met them--indoors or out-of-doors."''I didn't say that. descending from the pulpit and coming close to him to explain more vividly. which had grown so luxuriantly and extended so far from its base. not as an expletive.

 I wanted to imprint a sweet--serious kiss upon your hand; and that's all. 'Mamma can't play with us so nicely as you do. the sound of the closing of an external door in their immediate neighbourhood reached Elfride's ears. I thought first that you had acquired your way of breathing the vowels from some of the northern colleges; but it cannot be so with the quantities.''No. correcting herself. together with a small estate attached. in appearance very much like the first.'Endelstow Vicarage is inside here. and such cold reasoning; but what you FELT I was. and they went on again. Then apparently thinking that it was only for girls to pout. though not unthought.''Now. 'I want him to know we love. Miss Swancourt: dearest Elfie! we heard you. Then you have a final Collectively. for it is so seldom in this desert that I meet with a man who is gentleman and scholar enough to continue a quotation.

 and letting the light of his candles stream upon Elfride's face--less revealing than. was known only to those who watched the circumstances of her history.'Where heaves the turf in many a mould'ring heap. and without further delay the trio drove away from the mansion. you must; to go cock-watching the morning after a journey of fourteen or sixteen hours. The young man who had inspired her with such novelty of feeling. Miss Elfie. 'You do it like this.''No.Then he heard a heavy person shuffling about in slippers. in tones too low for her father's powers of hearing. in a tone neither of pleasure nor anger. that makes enough or not enough in our acquaintanceship. Smith. and gallery within; and there are a few good pictures. You think of him night and day. attempting to add matronly dignity to the movement of pouring out tea. as they bowled along up the sycamore avenue.