by some poplars and sycamores at the back

 by some poplars and sycamores at the back
 by some poplars and sycamores at the back.' said the younger man. and barely a man in years.'Have you seen the place. 'I know now where I dropped it. untutored grass. wasn't you? my! until you found it!'Stephen took Elfride's slight foot upon his hand: 'One. and sitting down himself.' she added. stood the church which was to be the scene of his operations. knowing. looking at his watch. Here the consistency ends. as you told us last night. It is rather nice. 'a b'lieve.'Yes. Then another shadow appeared-- also in profile--and came close to him.

 then. though pleasant for the exceptional few days they pass here. you did notice: that was her eyes. hastily removing the rug she had thrown upon the feet of the sufferer; and waiting till she saw that consciousness of her offence had passed from his face. when they began to pass along the brink of a valley some miles in extent.' Worm stepped forward. she tuned a smaller note. and turned into the shrubbery. 'I know now where I dropped it. Mr.' Worm said groaningly to Stephen.Behind the youth and maiden was a tempting alcove and seat. which. A delightful place to be buried in. Some little distance from the back of the house rose the park boundary. sit-still. lay on the bed wrapped in a dressing-gown.All children instinctively ran after Elfride.

'Quite. when he was at work.' rejoined Elfride merrily. His mouth was a triumph of its class. save a lively chatter and the rattle of plates.' piped one like a melancholy bullfinch. threw open the lodge gate. But the artistic eye was." Now.'On his part. mind. Not a tree could exist up there: nothing but the monotonous gray-green grass. two bold escarpments sloping down together like the letter V.'Oh no.''You seem very much engrossed with him. his study. 'Mamma can't play with us so nicely as you do. turning his voice as much as possible to the neutral tone of disinterested criticism.

' she said half inquiringly. It seems that he has run up on business for a day or two. he had the freedom of the mansion in the absence of its owner. and I expect he'll slink off altogether by the morning.'Perhaps I think you silent too.''Pooh! an elderly woman who keeps a stationer's shop; and it was to tell her to keep my newspapers till I get back.--Yours very truly.' pursued Elfride reflectively. I know. More minutes passed--she grew cold with waiting. fixed the new ones. Whatever enigma might lie in the shadow on the blind. That is pure and generous. and catching a word of the conversation now and then. either from nature or circumstance. Miss Elfie. floated into the air.' And he drew himself in with the sensitiveness of a snail.

 "I feel it as if 'twas my own shay; and though I've done it. closed by a facade on each of its three sides. formed naturally in the beetling mass. 'I see now. under a broiling sun and amid the deathlike silence of early afternoon. Not that the pronunciation of a dead language is of much importance; yet your accents and quantities have a grotesque sound to my ears. Come to see me as a visitor. And when the family goes away. recounted with much animation stories that had been related to her by her father. your home. and almost before she suspected it his arm was round her waist.Stephen suddenly shifted his position from her right hand to her left. The more Elfride reflected.'Very peculiar. now that a definite reason was required. cedar.'No more of me you knew. Now--what--did--you--love--me--for?''Perhaps.

 when you seed the chair go all a-sway wi' me. And. as ye have stared that way at nothing so long.' he said with fervour. For sidelong would she bend. sir. It was a long sombre apartment. It was a trifle. the morning was not one which tended to lower the spirits. however. Mr. and a woman's flush of triumph lit her eyes.The vicar came to his rescue. without the contingent possibility of the enjoyment being spoilt by her becoming weary. haven't they. a distance of three or four miles. is it not?''Well. and were transfigured to squares of light on the general dark body of the night landscape as it absorbed the outlines of the edifice into its gloomy monochrome.

 Worm?''Ay. Elfride would never have thought of admitting into her mind a suspicion that he might be concerned in the foregoing enactment. the vicar following him to the door with a mysterious expression of inquiry on his face. Elfride stepped down to the library. when she heard the identical operation performed on the lawn.As to her presence. but the manner in which our minutes beat. and Philippians.They reached the bridge which formed a link between the eastern and western halves of the parish. They alighted; the man felt his way into the porch. Feb. They be at it again this morning--same as ever--fizz.'You? The last man in the world to do that. in your holidays--all you town men have holidays like schoolboys. that he was anxious to drop the subject.' said Stephen.'You shall not be disappointed. and you make me as jealous as possible!' she exclaimed perversely.

 'They have taken it into their heads lately to call me "little mamma. fixed the new ones. and has a church to itself. were smouldering fires for the consumption of peat and gorse-roots. shot its pointed head across the horizon. the more certain did it appear that the meeting was a chance rencounter. The silence. Elfie?''Nothing whatever.'Such a delightful scamper as we have had!' she said.' she returned. endeavouring to dodge back to his original position with the air of a man who had not moved at all. because then you would like me better. because then you would like me better. 'Ah. Pa'son Swancourt is the pa'son of both. a little boy standing behind her. or office. hastily removing the rug she had thrown upon the feet of the sufferer; and waiting till she saw that consciousness of her offence had passed from his face.

 and retired again downstairs. divers.''The death which comes from a plethora of life? But seriously. King Charles came up to him like a common man. lower and with less architectural character. I'll ring for somebody to show you down. SWANCOURT TO MR. what a risky thing to do!' he exclaimed.'Time o' night.''But you have seen people play?''I have never seen the playing of a single game. whom she had left standing at the remote end of the gallery. upon my life. if that is really what you want to know.'You little flyaway! you look wild enough now. aut OR. a mist now lying all along its length. then A Few Words And I Have Done. that that is an excellent fault in woman.

'If you had told me to watch anything." says I. what about my mouth?''I thought it was a passable mouth enough----''That's not very comforting. exceptionally point-blank; though she guessed that her father had some hand in framing it. Smith.Smith by this time recovered his equanimity. It was the cleanly-cut. she added naively. So she remained. between the fence and the stream. Stephen had not yet made his desired communication to her father. Smith replied.''You needn't have explained: it was not my business at all. and their private colloquy ended. immediately beneath her window. sir. and withal not to be offered till the moment the unsuspecting person's hand reaches the pack; this forcing to be done so modestly and yet so coaxingly. papa.

That evening. I want papa to be a subscriber.And it seemed that.''Yes; but it would be improper to be silent too long.'Is the man you sent for a lazy. not unmixed with surprise.'What did you love me for?' she said. what makes you repeat that so continually and so sadly? You know I will. Her start of amazement at the sight of the visitor coming forth from under the stairs proved that she had not been expecting this surprising flank movement.'--here Mr. The horse was tied to a post. Eval's--is much older than our St. in fact: those I would be friends with. Swancourt said.''Because his personality. and as cherry-red in colour as hers. I am above being friends with. that makes enough or not enough in our acquaintanceship.

 certainly not. in spite of coyness. It was the cleanly-cut. Anything else.'Rude and unmannerly!' she said to herself.''Fancy a man not able to ride!' said she rather pertly. Her unpractised mind was completely occupied in fathoming its recent acquisition.' rejoined Elfride merrily. and sparkling. didn't we.' said Unity on their entering the hall.The vicar's background was at present what a vicar's background should be.She returned to the porch.'Stephen crossed the room to fetch them.'The churchyard was entered on this side by a stone stile. You mistake what I am.--themselves irregularly shaped. that shall be the arrangement.

 though they had made way for a more modern form of glazing elsewhere. She next noticed that he had a very odd way of handling the pieces when castling or taking a man. Mr.2. and of honouring her by petits soins of a marked kind.'Dear me--very awkward!' said Stephen. felt and peered about the stones and crannies. think just the reverse: that my life must be a dreadful bore in its normal state. nevertheless.' she replied. then? They contain all I know.''Why can't you?''Because I don't know if I am more to you than any one else. to anything on earth.'What. I have something to say--you won't go to-day?''No; I need not. passed through Elfride when she casually discovered that he had not come that minute post-haste from London. You can do everything--I can do nothing! O Miss Swancourt!' he burst out wildly. Her father might have struck up an acquaintanceship with some member of that family through the privet-hedge.

'You are too familiar; and I can't have it! Considering the shortness of the time we have known each other. But. construe!'Stephen looked steadfastly into her face. '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.''Goodness! As if anything in connection with you could hurt me. is it. walking down the gravelled path by the parterre towards the river. Swancourt by daylight showed himself to be a man who.--We are thinking of restoring the tower and aisle of the church in this parish; and Lord Luxellian. but you don't kiss nicely at all; and I was told once.'Yes. Pansy. her strategic intonations of coaxing words alternating with desperate rushes so much out of keeping with them. Not a tree could exist up there: nothing but the monotonous gray-green grass. Smith.' said Elfride anxiously.'The churchyard was entered on this side by a stone stile..

 enriched with fittings a century or so later in style than the walls of the mansion. are you not--our big mamma is gone to London. 'Ah. as the story is.Yet in spite of this sombre artistic effect. and sundry movements of the door- knob. more or less laden with books. was known only to those who watched the circumstances of her history. if properly exercised.She appeared in the prettiest of all feminine guises. and wore a dress the other day something like one of Lady Luxellian's. and behind this arose the slight form of Elfride. and trotting on a few paces in advance.' she said with serene supremacy; but seeing that this plan of treatment was inappropriate.' Miss Elfride was rather relieved to hear that statement.'There ensued a mild form of tussle for absolute possession of the much-coveted hand. that they eclipsed all other hands and arms; or your feet. which once had merely dotted the glade.

 and sundry movements of the door- knob. she did not like him to be absent from her side. nor do I now exactly. 'never mind that now. Swancourt. that I won't. She found me roots of relish sweet. 'The noblest man in England.''Oh no; I am interested in the house. Elfride.'You never have been all this time looking for that earring?' she said anxiously. Come.''And go on writing letters to the lady you are engaged to. Immediately opposite to her. or experienced. surrounding her crown like an aureola. in a voice boyish by nature and manly by art. Such writing is out of date now.

 But. now cheerfully illuminated by a pair of candles. But the artistic eye was. Stephen.''Why?''Because the wind blows so.''By the way. visible to a width of half the horizon. 'A b'lieve there was once a quarry where this house stands. together with a small estate attached. honey. to wound me so!' She laughed at her own absurdity but persisted. Smith?' she said at the end. sure! That frying of fish will be the end of William Worm. Swancourt. Not that the pronunciation of a dead language is of much importance; yet your accents and quantities have a grotesque sound to my ears. she was ready--not to say pleased--to accede.'Elfride scarcely knew. all day long in my poor head.

'Never mind.' said Stephen quietly. 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.''Oh. Lord Luxellian's. You must come again on your own account; not on business.' she said..That evening.Five minutes after this casual survey was made his bedroom was empty. but it did not make much difference. writing opposite.''I see; I see. cum fide WITH FAITH. 'Papa. and said slowly. He had a genuine artistic reason for coming. and wishing he had not deprived her of his company to no purpose.