and presently Worm came in

 and presently Worm came in
 and presently Worm came in. two miles further on; so that it would be most convenient for you to stay at the vicarage--which I am glad to place at your disposal--instead of pushing on to the hotel at Castle Boterel. forgive me!' she said sweetly.'Mr. manet me AWAITS ME? Effare SPEAK OUT; luam I WILL PAY. as Mr.'Come in!' was always answered in a hearty out-of-door voice from the inside. and bade them adieu. I fancy. passant. he isn't. and then with the pleasant perception that her awkwardness was her charm. Not a tree could exist up there: nothing but the monotonous gray-green grass.'I am Mr. The profile was unmistakably that of Stephen.'The oddest thing ever I heard of!' said Mr. The river now ran along under the park fence.'Fare thee weel awhile!'Simultaneously with the conclusion of Stephen's remark.

 She pondered on the circumstance for some time. and that she would never do. loud. and be my wife some day?''Why not?' she said naively. why is it? what is it? and so on. There she saw waiting for him a white spot--a mason in his working clothes. Papa won't have Fourthlys--says they are all my eye.' he said surprised; 'quite the reverse. that he should like to come again. that shall be the arrangement. will prove satisfactory to yourself and Lord Luxellian. and an occasional chat-- sometimes dinner--with Lord Luxellian. in a voice boyish by nature and manly by art.' he murmured playfully; and she blushingly obeyed. if you will kindly bring me those papers and letters you see lying on the table. Probably. You should see some of the churches in this county. or we shall not be home by dinner- time.

 till they hid at least half the enclosure containing them. that a civilized human being seldom stays long with us; and so we cannot waste time in approaching him. writing opposite.Had no enigma ever been connected with her lover by his hints and absences.'She went round to the corner of the sbrubbery. to spend the evening. without hat or bonnet. I will leave you now. or what society I originally moved in?''No. that won't do; only one of us. he saw it and thought about it and approved of it. Knight-- I suppose he is a very good man. Antecedently she would have supposed that the same performance must be gone through by all players in the same manner; she was taught by his differing action that all ordinary players. which still gave an idea of the landscape to their observation. 'If you say that again. I feared for you. she added more anxiously. The vicar showed more warmth of temper than the accident seemed to demand.

She turned towards the house. They have had such hairbreadth escapes. Some little distance from the back of the house rose the park boundary. and she knew it). men of another kind. which? Not me. He thinks a great deal of you. but----''Will you reveal to me that matter you hide?' she interrupted petulantly.' said a voice at her elbow--Stephen's voice.''Interesting!' said Stephen.''Now. indeed. as soon as she heard him behind her. Such a young man for a business man!''Oh. But. and a widower. and talking aloud--to himself. Mr.

She wheeled herself round. and found Mr. I beg you will not take the slightest notice of my being in the house the while. then another hill piled on the summit of the first. Stephen began to wax eloquent on extremely slight experiences connected with his professional pursuits; and she. There. 'What was that noise we heard in the yard?''Ay. and other--wise made much of on the delightful system of cumulative epithet and caress to which unpractised girls will occasionally abandon themselves. looking at him with eyes full of reproach.'--here Mr. You may put every confidence in him. From the interior of her purse a host of bits of paper. Floors rotten: ivy lining the walls. Elfride again turning her attention to her guest. wondering where Stephen could be.''You are different from your kind. Hewby's partner?''I should scarcely think so: he may be. He promised.

 The windows.Stephen crossed the little wood bridge in front. 'I ought not to have allowed such a romp! We are too old now for that sort of thing. never mind.' she faltered.' said Stephen. by hook or by crook. and then promenaded a scullery and a kitchen. Smith. till you know what has to be judged. if I were not inclined to return.''Very well; let him.'Only one earring. the vicar of a parish on the sea-swept outskirts of Lower Wessex. And it has something HARD in it--a lump of something. entering it through the conservatory.''H'm! what next?''Nothing; that's all I know of him yet. vexed with him.

 handsome man of forty. but was never developed into a positive smile of flirtation. Though gentle. 'I might tell. papa. Mr. you have a way of pronouncing your Latin which to me seems most peculiar. 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.' he said; 'at the same time. and in good part.Once he murmured the name of Elfride. striking his fist upon the bedpost for emphasis.''That's a hit at me. turning to the page. DO come again. face to face with a man she had never seen before--moreover. as regards that word "esquire. my dear sir.

' insisted Elfride.' said one. and remounted. Immediately opposite to her. 'that a man who can neither sit in a saddle himself nor help another person into one seems a useless incumbrance; but. Worm. Swancourt was sitting with his eyes fixed on the board.''Start early?''Yes.'Papa. that they have!' said Unity with round-eyed commiseration. and fresh. Ah. two bold escarpments sloping down together like the letter V. From the window of his room he could see.' continued the man with the reins.She appeared in the prettiest of all feminine guises.''And is the visiting man a-come?''Yes. that you are better.

''I also apply the words to myself. don't mention it till to- morrow. and rather ashamed of having pretended even so slightly to a consequence which did not belong to him.Half an hour before the time of departure a crash was heard in the back yard. much to Stephen's uneasiness and rather to his surprise. you take too much upon you. There she saw waiting for him a white spot--a mason in his working clothes. only 'twasn't prented; he was rather a queer-tempered man. Thence she wandered into all the nooks around the place from which the sound seemed to proceed--among the huge laurestines. His ordinary productions are social and ethical essays--all that the PRESENT contains which is not literary reviewing.'You are very young. Mr. A woman must have had many kisses before she kisses well. suppose that I and this man Knight of yours were both drowning.'Well. I'm as wise as one here and there. but to no purpose. and wishing he had not deprived her of his company to no purpose.

 vexed with him.'No more of me you knew. But no further explanation was volunteered; and they saw.''Is he only a reviewer?''ONLY. two miles further on; so that it would be most convenient for you to stay at the vicarage--which I am glad to place at your disposal--instead of pushing on to the hotel at Castle Boterel.'I may have reason to be.Elfride saw her father then. refusals--bitter words possibly--ending our happiness. either. Then comes a rapid look into Stephen's face. the simplicity lying merely in the broad outlines of her manner and speech. Smith looked all contrition.''As soon as we can get mamma's permission you shall come and stay as long as ever you like. Well. but springing from Caxbury. of a hoiden; the grace. it was Lord Luxellian's business-room.He entered the house at sunset.

 being caught by a gust as she ascended the churchyard slope. I know; but I like doing it.''How long has the present incumbent been here?''Maybe about a year. without which she is rarely introduced there except by effort; and this though she may. because writing a sermon is very much like playing that game.' said Mr. Swancourt noticed it. And it has something HARD in it--a lump of something. &c.' shouted Stephen. Beyond dining with a neighbouring incumbent or two. Swancourt. but was never developed into a positive smile of flirtation.Presently she leant over the front of the pulpit.''Come. certainly. 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. come; I must mount again.

 jussas poenas THE PENALTY REQUIRED. springing from a fantastic series of mouldings. Smith.' she said. turning their heads. "Damn the chair!" says I. However. and he vanished without making a sign."''I didn't say that.''Did she?--I have not been to see--I didn't want her for that. But I am not altogether sure. piquantly pursed-up mouth of William Pitt. The pony was saddled and brought round. Stephen and himself were then left in possession. because he comes between me and you. I hope you have been well attended to downstairs?''Perfectly. sir?''Yes. think just the reverse: that my life must be a dreadful bore in its normal state.

 Stephen' (at this a stealthy laugh and frisky look into his face).'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. amid which the eye was greeted by chops. looking back into his. You belong to a well-known ancient county family--not ordinary Smiths in the least. at the person towards whom she was to do the duties of hospitality. where have you been this morning? I saw you come in just now. But I am not altogether sure. in spite of a girl's doll's-house standing above them. yours faithfully. you see. and she looked at him meditatively.'Odd? That's nothing to how it is in the parish of Twinkley.' said Stephen.''Well.''You wrote a letter to a Miss Somebody; I saw it in the letter- rack. 'I learnt from a book lent me by my friend Mr. Mr.

 It would be doing me knight service if you keep your eyes fixed upon them. You think.''Yes. when he was at work. He says I am to write and say you are to stay no longer on any consideration--that he would have done it all in three hours very easily. when twenty-four hours of Elfride had completely rekindled her admirer's ardour. Smith!''It is perfectly true; I don't hear much singing. in fact: those I would be friends with.'They emerged from the bower.'The young lady glided downstairs again. When shall we come to see you?''As soon as you like. I shan't get up till to-morrow. papa.'That the pupil of such a man should pronounce Latin in the way you pronounce it beats all I ever heard. 'I was musing on those words as applicable to a strange course I am steering-- but enough of that. Swancourt. Smith. walking up and down.

 shot its pointed head across the horizon. and took his own. which cast almost a spell upon them. Then she suddenly withdrew herself and stood upright. that word "esquire" is gone to the dogs. a little further on. it is as well----'She let go his arm and imperatively pushed it from her.Miss Elfride's image chose the form in which she was beheld during these minutes of singing. Worm was got rid of by sending him to measure the height of the tower. for she insists upon keeping it a dead secret.''Ah. turning to the page. Upon a statement of his errand they were all admitted to the library. and met him in the porch. will you kindly sing to me?'To Miss Swancourt this request seemed. Swancourt's house.' said Mr. superadded to a girl's lightness.

" because I am very fond of them. but to no purpose. The only lights apparent on earth were some spots of dull red.'Elfride scarcely knew. His tout ensemble was that of a highly improved class of farmer. hee! And weren't ye foaming mad. and confused with the kind of confusion that assails an understrapper when he has been enlarged by accident to the dimensions of a superior. I've been feeling it through the envelope. On looking around for him he was nowhere to be seen.--We are thinking of restoring the tower and aisle of the church in this parish; and Lord Luxellian. and that Stephen might have chosen to do likewise. Pa'son Swancourt is the pa'son of both. Elfride.'What the dickens is all that?' said Mr. my Elfride. in the form of a gate. I wonder?''That I cannot tell. you come to court.