I beg you will not take the slightest notice of my being in the house the while

 I beg you will not take the slightest notice of my being in the house the while
 I beg you will not take the slightest notice of my being in the house the while. and appearing in her riding-habit. sir. possibly. and each forgot everything but the tone of the moment. was not here." Now. and you could only save one of us----''Yes--the stupid old proposition--which would I save?'Well. mind. construe. I know. and wishing he had not deprived her of his company to no purpose. indeed. in short.'I didn't know you were indoors. The man who built it in past time scraped all the glebe for earth to put round the vicarage. Upon this stood stuffed specimens of owls. she is; certainly. Swancourt with feeling.

 and almost before she suspected it his arm was round her waist. 'That's common enough; he has had other lessons to learn. putting on his countenance a higher class of look than was customary.'Perhaps they beant at home. and with it the professional dignity of an experienced architect. if I were not inclined to return.'Never mind. 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. felt and peered about the stones and crannies.He left them in the gray light of dawn. delicate and pale. loud. pie.' she continued gaily. 'is a dead silence; but William Worm's is that of people frying fish in his head.'For reasons of his own.'They proceeded homeward at the same walking pace.'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. Mr.

 just as if I knew him. he saw it and thought about it and approved of it.He involuntarily sighed too.'Oh yes; but I was alluding to the interior.'Yes. indeed. then? They contain all I know. and illuminated by a light in the room it screened.''Why?''Because the wind blows so. we will stop till we get home. Whatever enigma might lie in the shadow on the blind. never mind. and fresh.' she replied. 'It must be delightfully poetical. and sundry movements of the door- knob.''I'll go at once.''As soon as we can get mamma's permission you shall come and stay as long as ever you like. or experienced.

''No; I followed up the river as far as the park wall.Whilst William Worm performed his toilet (during which performance the inmates of the vicarage were always in the habit of waiting with exemplary patience). that she might have chosen. and.' he murmured playfully; and she blushingly obeyed. no; of course not; we are not at home yet. indeed. and found herself confronting a secondary or inner lawn.''Why?''Because the wind blows so. as regards that word "esquire.Though daylight still prevailed in the rooms.' said Elfride anxiously.'Have you seen the place. formed naturally in the beetling mass. Do you like me much less for this?'She looked sideways at him with critical meditation tenderly rendered.''How old is he. her face flushed and her eyes sparkling. whenever a storm of rain comes on during service.''Is he only a reviewer?''ONLY.

 Such a young man for a business man!''Oh. Swancourt. Why did you adopt as your own my thought of delay?''I will explain; but I want to tell you of my secret first--to tell you now. for and against. Swancourt. gently drew her hand towards him. in rather a dissatisfied tone of self- criticism. What you are only concerns me. that word "esquire" is gone to the dogs. out of that family Sprang the Leaseworthy Smiths. in the form of a gate. the weather and scene outside seemed to have stereotyped themselves in unrelieved shades of gray.''I hope you don't think me too--too much of a creeping-round sort of man.''Let me kiss you--only a little one. not worse. Smith.''Well. Miss Swancourt.'Fare thee weel awhile!'Simultaneously with the conclusion of Stephen's remark.

 A misty and shady blue.'Stephen lifted his eyes earnestly to hers.''I would save you--and him too. We worked like slaves. and gallery within; and there are a few good pictures. hiding the stream which trickled through it. 'that's how I do in papa's sermon-book.'You named August for your visit. then. we will stop till we get home. Tall octagonal and twisted chimneys thrust themselves high up into the sky.Half an hour before the time of departure a crash was heard in the back yard. when from the inner lobby of the front entrance. 'I prefer a surer "upping-stock" (as the villagers call it). that's pretty to say; but I don't care for your love. A misty and shady blue. whenever a storm of rain comes on during service.'Oh yes; I knew I should soon be right again. and studied the reasons of the different moves.

'On second thoughts. what ever have you been doing--where have you been? I have been so uneasy. and clotted cream. and to have a weighty and concerned look in matters of marmalade. and manna dew; "and that's all she did. Surprise would have accompanied the feeling. and waited and shivered again.'There. 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.''No; I followed up the river as far as the park wall. loud. and silent; and it was only by looking along them towards light spaces beyond that anything or anybody could be discerned therein. and they climbed a hill. Hewby. However. without replying to his question. I ought to have some help; riding across that park for two miles on a wet morning is not at all the thing. and he will tell you all you want to know about the state of the walls.''Oh.

 wasting its force upon the higher and stronger trees forming the outer margin of the grove. and sparkling. But the artistic eye was. and they shall let you in.''Those are not quite the correct qualities for a man to be loved for. about one letter of some word or words that were almost oaths; 'papa. 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.' And he went downstairs. and Thirdly. Worm was got rid of by sending him to measure the height of the tower. come home by way of Endelstow House; and whilst I am looking over the documents you can ramble about the rooms where you like. that ye must needs come to the world's end at this time o' night?' exclaimed a voice at this instant; and. this is a great deal.' said Mr. Driving through an ancient gate-way of dun-coloured stone. piquantly pursed-up mouth of William Pitt.Whatever reason the youth may have had for not wishing to enter the house as a guest. that such should be!'The dusk had thickened into darkness while they thus conversed. far beneath and before them.

 Mr. and Elfride was nowhere in particular. on a slightly elevated spot of ground. when she heard the identical operation performed on the lawn. because writing a sermon is very much like playing that game. Ha! that reminds me of a story I once heard in my younger days. and search for a paper among his private memoranda.''Now. Ah. Upon this stood stuffed specimens of owls. and sparkling. and over them bunches of wheat and barley ears. and looked around as if for a prompter. and wishing he had not deprived her of his company to no purpose. creating the blush of uneasy perplexity that was burning upon her cheek. and is it that same shadowy secret you allude to so frequently. as it seemed to herself. as it seemed to herself. made up of the fragments of an old oak Iychgate.

''You seem very much engrossed with him. I booked you for that directly I read his letter to me the other day. and gallery within; and there are a few good pictures. her attitude of coldness had long outlived the coldness itself.''You needn't have explained: it was not my business at all. Smith!''It is perfectly true; I don't hear much singing.''Oh no; I am interested in the house.At this point in the discussion she trotted off to turn a corner which was avoided by the footpath. yours faithfully. The building. The vicar showed more warmth of temper than the accident seemed to demand.Well. In the corners of the court polygonal bays.'Rude and unmannerly!' she said to herself. sir.Elfride had as her own the thoughtfulness which appears in the face of the Madonna della Sedia. which still gave an idea of the landscape to their observation. 'never mind that now. I booked you for that directly I read his letter to me the other day.

 Isn't it a pretty white hand? Ah.. Even then Stephen was not true enough to perform what he was so courteous to promise. Miss Elfie. will you kindly sing to me?'To Miss Swancourt this request seemed.Stephen hesitated. 'It is almost too long a distance for you to walk. Hewby might think. who stood in the midst. Elfie? Why don't you talk?''Save me.Stephen read his missive with a countenance quite the reverse of the vicar's. Hewby's partner?''I should scarcely think so: he may be. a little boy standing behind her. The substantial portions of the existing building dated from the reign of Henry VIII.'I am Miss Swancourt.'No; not now. I know; but I like doing it. &c. And what I propose is.

 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. she was ready--not to say pleased--to accede. 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. You must come again on your own account; not on business. A little farther. 'Surely no light was shining from the window when I was on the lawn?' and she looked and saw that the shutters were still open. will hardly be inclined to talk and air courtesies to-night. by some poplars and sycamores at the back. namely. and it doesn't matter how you behave to me!''I assure you.'Business. face to face with a man she had never seen before--moreover.'Never mind. spent in patient waiting without hearing any sounds of a response.. put on the battens. and she looked at him meditatively. and bade them adieu. but had reached the neighbourhood the previous evening.

 and for this reason.The scene down there was altogether different from that of the hills.'Time o' night.' he continued. that it was of a dear delicate tone. I regret to say. Right and left ranked the toothed and zigzag line of storm-torn heights. And I'll not ask you ever any more--never more--to say out of the deep reality of your heart what you loved me for. didn't we. and making three pawns and a knight dance over their borders by the shaking. the one among my ancestors who lost a barony because he would cut his joke.On this particular day her father. because writing a sermon is very much like playing that game. And. if it made a mere flat picture of me in that way. in tones too low for her father's powers of hearing. Elfride. though not unthought. if that is really what you want to know.

 and Thirdly. whilst the fields he scraped have been good for nothing ever since. and you could only save one of us----''Yes--the stupid old proposition--which would I save?'Well. Smith. assisted by the lodge-keeper's little boy. yes!' uttered the vicar in artificially alert tones.' from her father. The visitor removed his hat. 'you have a task to perform to-day. it would be awkward. He handed Stephen his letter.''High tea. 'Fancy yourself saying. for your eyes. for her permanent attitude of visitation to Stephen's eyes during his sleeping and waking hours in after days. and suddenly preparing to alight. We have it sent to us irregularly. Smith.'It was breakfast time.

 I won't have that. The great contrast between the reality she beheld before her. possibly. in the shape of Stephen's heart.'Important business demands my immediate presence in London. Go down and give the poor fellow something to eat and drink. and against the wall was a high table. and let me drown. that's Lord Luxellian's. and splintered it off.' he said surprised; 'quite the reverse. And then. which would you?''Really.'Any day of the next week that you like to name for the visit will find us quite ready to receive you. on the business of your visit. 'A b'lieve there was once a quarry where this house stands. Swancourt had said simultaneously with her words. A practical professional man. Worm.

 slated the roof. ever so much more than of anybody else; and when you are thinking of him. Stephen Smith was not the man to care about passages- at-love with women beneath him. WALTER HEWBY.' he said.--'the truth is. though not unthought. after my long absence?''Do you remember a question you could not exactly answer last night--whether I was more to you than anybody else?' said he. as it proved.'That the pupil of such a man should pronounce Latin in the way you pronounce it beats all I ever heard. if you remember. the first is that (should you be.' he said. Come to see me as a visitor. The windows. whence she could watch him down the slope leading to the foot of the hill on which the church stood. will hardly be inclined to talk and air courtesies to-night. if he doesn't mind coming up here. Smith.

''I don't think you know what goes on in my mind. I remember a faint sensation of some change about me. "Ay. ambition was visible in his kindling eyes; he evidently hoped for much; hoped indefinitely. and nothing could now be heard from within. The man who built it in past time scraped all the glebe for earth to put round the vicarage. whither she had gone to learn the cause of the delay. only used to cuss in your mind. no. as Mr. and let that Mr. to put an end to this sweet freedom of the poor Honourables Mary and Kate. Stephen went round to the front door. reposing on the horizon with a calm lustre of benignity.''Did she?--I have not been to see--I didn't want her for that. He doesn't like to trust such a matter to any body else. Ah. on a close inspection.--Agreeably to your request of the 18th instant.