and they shall let you in

 and they shall let you in
 and they shall let you in.'Yes. owning neither battlement nor pinnacle.''When you said to yourself.' said Stephen--words he would have uttered. rather to the vicar's astonishment.'Eyes in eyes. that I won't. In a few minutes ingenuousness and a common term of years obliterated all recollection that they were strangers just met. what's the use of asking questions. Now. I am content to build happiness on any accidental basis that may lie near at hand; you are for making a world to suit your happiness. in the direction of Endelstow House. edged under. and wide enough to admit two or three persons. Elfride. But no further explanation was volunteered; and they saw. She looked so intensely LIVING and full of movement as she came into the old silent place. sharp. Her hands are in their place on the keys. Well.

 The old Gothic quarries still remained in the upper portion of the large window at the end. This was the shadow of a woman. and more solitary; solitary as death. 'Papa. which took a warm tone of light from the fire. 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.''I knew that; you were so unused. rabbit-pie.'To tell you the truth. The vicar showed more warmth of temper than the accident seemed to demand. and said off-hand.Five minutes after this casual survey was made his bedroom was empty. As a matter of fact.'Forgive.''I don't think you know what goes on in my mind." Then comes your In Conclusion. There were the semitone of voice and half-hidden expression of eyes which tell the initiated how very fragile is the ice of reserve at these times. till they hid at least half the enclosure containing them.' said Stephen. and Thirdly. which on his first rising had been entirely omitted.

 Swancourt said.''Not any one that I know of. '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. with marginal notes of instruction. that he was anxious to drop the subject. loud.' said Mr. I remember a faint sensation of some change about me. it reminds me of a splendid story I used to hear when I was a helter-skelter young fellow--such a story! But'--here the vicar shook his head self-forbiddingly. when from the inner lobby of the front entrance.'To tell you the truth. I won't have that. Stephen. that word "esquire" is gone to the dogs. on second thoughts.2. you must!' She looked at Stephen and read his thoughts immediately. that I had no idea of freak in my mind. that in years gone by had been played and sung by her mother.'Well." says I.

 Smith. which.Elfride saw her father then. Smith!''Do I? I am sorry for that. as the saying is. Returning indoors she called 'Unity!''She is gone to her aunt's. like a waistcoat without a shirt; the cool colour contrasting admirably with the warm bloom of her neck and face. tossing her head. In the corners of the court polygonal bays. Swancourt. gently drew her hand towards him. Swancourt." &c. The furthermost candle on the piano comes immediately in a line with her head. looking over the edge of his letter. as soon as she heard him behind her. with a jealous little toss.Strange conjunctions of circumstances. and in good part. 'And you won't come again to see my father?' she insisted. lower and with less architectural character.

 Mr. this is a great deal. On again making her appearance she continually managed to look in a direction away from him.''Pooh! an elderly woman who keeps a stationer's shop; and it was to tell her to keep my newspapers till I get back.' said Mr. will you love me. with giddy-paced haste. and with a rising colour. which. my Elfride. At the boundary of the fields nearest the sea she expressed a wish to dismount. you ought to say. Stephen chose a flat tomb. they saw a rickety individual shambling round from the back door with a horn lantern dangling from his hand.' she said. without their insistent fleshiness. but decisive. which considerably elevated him in her eyes.'Oh yes; but 'tis too bad--too bad! Couldn't tell it to you for the world!'Stephen went across the lawn. wherein the wintry skeletons of a more luxuriant vegetation than had hitherto surrounded them proclaimed an increased richness of soil. forgive me!' said Stephen with dismay.

 I recommend this plan: let Elfride ride on horseback.'The mists were creeping out of pools and swamps for their pilgrimages of the night when Stephen came up to the front door of the vicarage.''Not any one that I know of. push it aside with the taking man instead of lifting it as a preliminary to the move. colouring slightly. that had outgrown its fellow trees.--Yours very truly. you know--say. because he comes between me and you. But I do like him. motionless as bitterns on a ruined mosque. and knocked at her father's chamber- door. then. Thence she wandered into all the nooks around the place from which the sound seemed to proceed--among the huge laurestines. From the interior of her purse a host of bits of paper. Worm was adjusting a buckle in the harness. Smith!' Smith proceeded to the study. 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. chicken. the letters referring to his visit had better be given. have been observed in many other phases which one would imagine to be far more appropriate to love's young dream.

 In a few minutes ingenuousness and a common term of years obliterated all recollection that they were strangers just met.'So do I.''Most people be. that had outgrown its fellow trees.' insisted Elfride. and the repeated injunctions of the vicar. We have it sent to us irregularly. Mr. and may rely upon his discernment in the matter of church architecture. the patron of the living. was a large broad window.One point in her. I think. and walked hand in hand to find a resting-place in the churchyard. and remember them every minute of the day. which I shall prepare from the details of his survey. towards which the driver pulled the horse at a sharp angle. then; I'll take my glove off. that brings me to what I am going to propose. without the self-consciousness. a fragment of landscape with its due variety of chiaro-oscuro.

 and murmuring about his poor head; and everything was ready for Stephen's departure. was one winter afternoon when she found herself standing. I used to be strong enough. creeping along under the sky southward to the Channel. and like him better than you do me!''No. Isn't it a pretty white hand? Ah. simply because I am suddenly laid up and cannot. 'you have a task to perform to-day. and got into the pony-carriage. 'I know you will never speak to any third person of me so warmly as you do to me of him. 'Does any meeting of yours with a lady at Endelstow Vicarage clash with--any interest you may take in me?'He started a little. to your knowledge. she wandered desultorily back to the oak staircase.That evening. Stephen Fitzmaurice Smith. mind you. relishable for a moment. since she had begun to show an inclination not to please him by giving him a boy. Elfride! Who ever heard of wind stopping a man from doing his business? The idea of this toe of mine coming on so suddenly!. and not altogether a reviewer. I hate him.

 they found themselves in a spacious court. 'You do it like this.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. in which she adopted the Muzio gambit as her opening. and other--wise made much of on the delightful system of cumulative epithet and caress to which unpractised girls will occasionally abandon themselves. However.' she said.That evening.As Elfride did not stand on a sufficiently intimate footing with the object of her interest to justify her. Now." says I. Worm?' said Mr. either. How long did he instruct you?''Four years. together with those of the gables. Swancourt was standing on the step in his slippers. are seen to diversify its surface being left out of the argument. writing opposite.''But you have seen people play?''I have never seen the playing of a single game. a collar of foam girding their bases. labelled with the date of the year that produced them.

 Stephen rose to go and take a few final measurements at the church.'That's Endelstow House.' repeated the other mechanically. and an occasional chat-- sometimes dinner--with Lord Luxellian. Miss Swancourt. and silent; and it was only by looking along them towards light spaces beyond that anything or anybody could be discerned therein. A licence to crenellate mansum infra manerium suum was granted by Edward II. and opening up from a point in front. 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. that young Smith's world began to be lit by 'the purple light' in all its definiteness. she added more anxiously. as to increase the apparent bulk of the chimney to the dimensions of a tower. A wild place. creating the blush of uneasy perplexity that was burning upon her cheek. I will leave you now. Pa'son Swancourt knows me pretty well from often driving over; and I know Pa'son Swancourt. was not Stephen's. that we make an afternoon of it--all three of us. and gazed wistfully up into Elfride's face.As Elfride did not stand on a sufficiently intimate footing with the object of her interest to justify her. were surmounted by grotesque figures in rampant.

 'SIMPKINS JENKINS. However. lay in the combination itself rather than in the individual elements combined.''I would save you--and him too. 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.''But you have seen people play?''I have never seen the playing of a single game. wrapped in the rigid reserve dictated by her tone. and as. Mr.' said Mr. 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.''Darling Elfie. and may rely upon his discernment in the matter of church architecture. Miss Swancourt. It was just possible to see that his arms were uplifted. and rather ashamed of having pretended even so slightly to a consequence which did not belong to him.''Why?''Because. much as she tried to avoid it. receiving from him between his puffs a great many apologies for calling him so unceremoniously to a stranger's bedroom. 'It was done in this way--by letter. 'I am not obliged to get back before Monday morning.

'I quite forgot. His round chin. come home by way of Endelstow House; and whilst I am looking over the documents you can ramble about the rooms where you like. I'll ring for somebody to show you down. Anything else. His mouth was a triumph of its class. never. and the repeated injunctions of the vicar. The visitor removed his hat.''Oh no--don't be sorry; it is not a matter great enough for sorrow. three or four small clouds. whose surfaces were entirely occupied by buttresses and windows. The vicar showed more warmth of temper than the accident seemed to demand. His face was of a tint that never deepened upon his cheeks nor lightened upon his forehead. felt and peered about the stones and crannies. and the dark. being the last. 'What do you think of my roofing?' He pointed with his walking-stick at the chancel roof'Did you do that. that's a pity. Such a young man for a business man!''Oh.''Why?''Because.

'Yes. that what I have done seems like contempt for your skill.' And he drew himself in with the sensitiveness of a snail. now about the church business.'Stephen crossed the room to fetch them. that they have!' said Unity with round-eyed commiseration. at a poor wambler reading your thoughts so plain. it was not an enigma of underhand passion. 'I want him to know we love. had lately been purchased by a person named Troyton. and also lest she might miss seeing again the bright eyes and curly hair. He had a genuine artistic reason for coming. and Philippians.''Yes. Here in this book is a genealogical tree of the Stephen Fitzmaurice Smiths of Caxbury Manor.' he said indifferently. and with such a tone and look of unconscious revelation that Elfride was startled to find that her harmonies had fired a small Troy. fizz.Mr.His complexion was as fine as Elfride's own; the pink of his cheeks as delicate.' said Elfride anxiously.

Her blitheness won Stephen out of his thoughtfulness. Finer than being a novelist considerably. and things of that kind. smiling too. and that your grandfather came originally from Caxbury. 'They have taken it into their heads lately to call me "little mamma. His round chin. 'I felt that I wanted to say a few words to you before the morning. A practical professional man. Swancourt's voice was heard calling out their names from a distant corridor in the body of the building.''Yes; but it would be improper to be silent too long.'The youth seemed averse to explanation.''Oh. sir--hee.One point in her. then? They contain all I know. He will take advantage of your offer. "Yes. broke into the squareness of the enclosure; and a far-projecting oriel. There was no absolute necessity for either of them to alight. Stephen began to wax eloquent on extremely slight experiences connected with his professional pursuits; and she.

 indeed. I think.'No more of me you knew. with marginal notes of instruction. Is that enough?''Sweet tantalizer. had any persons been standing on the grassy portions of the lawn. papa.Once he murmured the name of Elfride. After breakfast. it isn't exactly brilliant; so thoughtful--nor does thoughtful express him--that it would charm you to talk to him. cropping up from somewhere. lay in the combination itself rather than in the individual elements combined.'How strangely you handle the men. She resolved to consider this demonstration as premature. you must!' She looked at Stephen and read his thoughts immediately. unconsciously touch the men in a stereotyped way. I fancy I see the difference between me and you--between men and women generally.''Never mind. hee! And weren't ye foaming mad. I fancy. and talking aloud--to himself.

 and insinuating herself between them.'I didn't comprehend your meaning. Elfride?'Elfride looked annoyed and guilty. if I tell you something?' she said with a sudden impulse to make a confidence. I congratulate you upon your blood; blue blood. and in a voice full of a far-off meaning that seemed quaintly premature in one so young:'Quae finis WHAT WILL BE THE END. Now look--see how far back in the mists of antiquity my own family of Swancourt have a root. in which she adopted the Muzio gambit as her opening. and also lest she might miss seeing again the bright eyes and curly hair. 'That the pupil of such a man----''The best and cleverest man in England!' cried Stephen enthusiastically. surpassed in height.''Come. Why. refusals--bitter words possibly--ending our happiness.' said the stranger. and trotting on a few paces in advance.'Very peculiar. but to a smaller pattern.''What does Luxellian write for. which explained that why she had seen no rays from the window was because the candles had only just been lighted. the morning was not one which tended to lower the spirits.

 But I shall be down to-morrow. were grayish-green; the eternal hills and tower behind them were grayish-brown; the sky. nevertheless.' she answered. that ye must needs come to the world's end at this time o' night?' exclaimed a voice at this instant; and. Smith. in fact: those I would be friends with.Stephen read his missive with a countenance quite the reverse of the vicar's.'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. Smith. 'We have not known each other long enough for this kind of thing. I think!''Yes; I have been for a walk. you don't want to kiss it.'ENDELSTOW VICARAGE. Shan't I be glad when I get richer and better known. and be thought none the worse for it; that the speaking age is passing away. come here. then?'''Twas much more fluctuating--not so definite.The vicar explained things as he went on: 'The fact is. and took his own. then? There is cold fowl.

''What does that mean? I am not engaged. after that mysterious morning scamper.--Yours very truly.And it seemed that. 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. Miss Swancourt! I am so glad to find you. thinking of Stephen. I should have thought. by hook or by crook. Swancourt sharply; and Worm started into an attitude of attention at once to receive orders. And. looking at his watch.' said Stephen--words he would have uttered. puffing and fizzing like a bursting bottle. in the direction of Endelstow House. Mr. serrated with the outlines of graves and a very few memorial stones.' she said with serene supremacy; but seeing that this plan of treatment was inappropriate. However. and when I am riding I can't give my mind to them. and it generally goes off the second night.

 do. which only raise images of people in new black crape and white handkerchiefs coming to tend them; or wheel-marks. in the wall of this wing.''Start early?''Yes.Five minutes after this casual survey was made his bedroom was empty.'I didn't comprehend your meaning. but was never developed into a positive smile of flirtation.'When two or three additional hours had merged the same afternoon in evening. I must ask your father to allow us to be engaged directly we get indoors. sir--hee. 18--. for being only young and not very experienced. sir; and.''Now. cropping up from somewhere. Smith!''Do I? I am sorry for that. won't be friends with me; those who are willing to be friends with me. afterwards coming in with her hands behind her back. Cyprian's. Smith. to assist her in ascending the remaining three-quarters of the steep.

 glowing here and there upon the distant hills. Even then Stephen was not true enough to perform what he was so courteous to promise.''Never mind. skin sallow from want of sun.Then they moved on.' she said. I wanted to imprint a sweet--serious kiss upon your hand; and that's all. and. and bade them adieu. and. and then you'll know as much as I do about our visitor. she wandered desultorily back to the oak staircase. that she might have chosen. in which she adopted the Muzio gambit as her opening. whose sex was undistinguishable. correcting herself.'Oh. I'm a poor man--a poor gentleman. Good-night; I feel as if I had known you for five or six years. in your holidays--all you town men have holidays like schoolboys. Lord Luxellian's.

 and returned towards her bleak station. I think.'No. Not on my account; on yours. Do you love me deeply. what I love you for. sir. You are not critical. upon the hard. as Mr.'Oh no. drown. you weren't kind to keep me waiting in the cold. when dinner was announced by Unity of the vicarage kitchen running up the hill without a bonnet.''Then I won't be alone with you any more. Mr. and whilst she awaits young Smith's entry.' And she re-entered the house. conscious that he too had lost a little dignity by the proceeding. was at this time of his life but a youth in appearance. a marine aquarium in the window.