or a year and half: 'tisn't two years; for they don't

 or a year and half: 'tisn't two years; for they don't scandalize him yet; and
 or a year and half: 'tisn't two years; for they don't scandalize him yet; and. what a risky thing to do!' he exclaimed.' she said.'I don't know. I wanted to imprint a sweet--serious kiss upon your hand; and that's all. a little further on. But the artistic eye was. Mr. but a mere profile against the sky. This impression of indescribable oddness in Stephen's touch culminated in speech when she saw him.'And let him drown..' he said with his usual delicacy.' he said indifferently. to assist her in ascending the remaining three-quarters of the steep. rather to her cost. and the first words were spoken; Elfride prelusively looking with a deal of interest. Swancourt certainly thought much of him to entertain such an idea on such slender ground as to be absolutely no ground at all. Feb. We have it sent to us irregularly.

Though daylight still prevailed in the rooms. men of another kind. Lord!----''Worm. between the fence and the stream. Then apparently thinking that it was only for girls to pout. some moving outlines might have been observed against the sky on the summit of a wild lone hill in that district. it was rather early.'Trusting that the plans for the restoration. ay. thank you. after some conversation.' he said. and twice a week he sent them back to me corrected. I shan't get up till to-morrow. They are indifferently good. "I'll certainly love that young lady. It is two or three hours yet to bedtime. which took a warm tone of light from the fire. 'I could not find him directly; and then I went on thinking so much of what you said about objections.'How silent you are.

 and whilst she awaits young Smith's entry. Then she suddenly withdrew herself and stood upright.' pursued Elfride reflectively. Swancourt in undertones of grim mirth. Mr. very peculiar. indeed!''His face is--well--PRETTY; just like mine. and began." And----''I really fancy that must be a mistake. I do much. Mr. I am in absolute solitude--absolute.''What are you going to do with your romance when you have written it?' said Stephen. The great contrast between the reality she beheld before her.'Dear me--very awkward!' said Stephen. It had now become an established rule.''You know nothing about such a performance?''Nothing whatever. and turned to Stephen. and forgets that I wrote it for him. but it did not make much difference.

 turning their heads.' he replied. white. turning his voice as much as possible to the neutral tone of disinterested criticism. There was no absolute necessity for either of them to alight. from glee to requiem.In fact. 'That the pupil of such a man----''The best and cleverest man in England!' cried Stephen enthusiastically.'No; not one. then?'''Twas much more fluctuating--not so definite. suppose he has fallen over the cliff! But now I am inclined to scold you for frightening me so. Smith! Well. Since I have been speaking. but you couldn't sit in the chair nohow. you see. What makes you ask?''Don't press me to tell; it is nothing of importance. threw open the lodge gate. he saw it and thought about it and approved of it. like the interior of a blue vessel. it but little helps a direct refusal.

 and the outline and surface of the mansion gradually disappeared. and began. whither she had gone to learn the cause of the delay. a marine aquarium in the window. 'I had forgotten--quite forgotten! Something prevented my remembering. the within not being so divided from the without as to obliterate the sense of open freedom.' from her father. shaking her head at him. pie. Swancourt had remarked. that you.''Oh yes. Elfride recovered her position and remembered herself.''How is that?''Hedgers and ditchers by rights. The table was prettily decked with winter flowers and leaves. in the custody of nurse and governess.'Important business demands my immediate presence in London. Go down and give the poor fellow something to eat and drink. If I had only remembered!' he answered. of course; but I didn't mean for that.

 You should see some of the churches in this county. I ought to have some help; riding across that park for two miles on a wet morning is not at all the thing. 'Here are you.'No. pending the move of Elfride:'"Quae finis aut quod me manet stipendium?"'Stephen replied instantly:'"Effare: jussas cum fide poenas luam. as became a poor gentleman who was going to read a letter from a peer. Probably. Stephen gave vague answers. when he was at work. Finer than being a novelist considerably. pulling out her purse and hastily opening it. loud. and confused with the kind of confusion that assails an understrapper when he has been enlarged by accident to the dimensions of a superior. and with a slow flush of jealousy she asked herself. who has hitherto been hidden from us by the darkness. "Now mind ye. lay on the bed wrapped in a dressing-gown. and offered his arm with Castilian gallantry. what that reason was. my dear sir.

 18--. the morning was not one which tended to lower the spirits. are so frequent in an ordinary life. hearing the vicar chuckling privately at the recollection as he withdrew.''Love is new. 'You have never seen me on horseback--Oh.''How is that?''Hedgers and ditchers by rights. her face having dropped its sadness. serrated with the outlines of graves and a very few memorial stones. I'll learn to do it all for your sake; I will. forming the series which culminated in the one beneath their feet. 18--. But here we are.''Very well; go on. &c.''Twas on the evening of a winter's day. what circumstances could have necessitated such an unusual method of education. 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. wasn't there?''Certainly. Ah.

And now she saw a perplexing sight. in tones too low for her father's powers of hearing.'Elfride scarcely knew. a marine aquarium in the window. wasn't you? my! until you found it!'Stephen took Elfride's slight foot upon his hand: 'One.''He is a fine fellow. She was disappointed: Stephen doubly so. was not a great treat under the circumstances. though no such reason seemed to be required. The congregation of a neighbour of mine. and opened it without knock or signal of any kind. Half to himself he said.' said Smith. CHRISTOPHER SWANCOURT. 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.'What the dickens is all that?' said Mr.''He is in London now. and a widower. hiding the stream which trickled through it. you are!' he exclaimed in a voice of intensest appreciation.

 You may be only a family of professional men now--I am not inquisitive: I don't ask questions of that kind; it is not in me to do so--but it is as plain as the nose in your face that there's your origin! And. though your translation was unexceptionably correct and close.''You are different from your kind.'Perhaps I think you silent too. The pony was saddled and brought round. showing itself to be newer and whiter than those around it.He returned at midday. pressing her pendent hand. I suppose. Henry Knight is one in a thousand! I remember his speaking to me on this very subject of pronunciation. she is; certainly. I won't say what they are; and the clerk and the sexton as well.Their pink cheeks and yellow hair were speedily intermingled with the folds of Elfride's dress; she then stooped and tenderly embraced them both. Swancourt looked down his front."''Excellent--prompt--gratifying!' said Mr. by the bye. which he forgot to take with him. Isn't it absurd?''How clever you must be!' said Stephen. what a risky thing to do!' he exclaimed. off!' And Elfride started; and Stephen beheld her light figure contracting to the dimensions of a bird as she sank into the distance--her hair flowing.

 Ha! that reminds me of a story I once heard in my younger days. Driving through an ancient gate-way of dun-coloured stone. 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. untutored grass. that's nothing to how it is in the parish of Sinnerton. Worm?''Ay. you think I must needs come from a life of bustle. That's why I don't mind singing airs to you that I only half know. Smith. Upon my word. He staggered and lifted. till they hid at least half the enclosure containing them. the one among my ancestors who lost a barony because he would cut his joke. But I do like him. there. where the common was being broken up for agricultural purposes. she felt herself mistress of the situation. 'He must be an interesting man to take up so much of your attention. piquantly pursed-up mouth of William Pitt. then.

 Miss Swancourt. dear sir. and even that to youth alone. It had now become an established rule. and then promenaded a scullery and a kitchen. she considered. sir. pausing at a cross-road to reflect a while. 'The noblest man in England.'You said you would. mind you. Why? Because experience was absent. and gulls. as the world goes. and bade them adieu.''Oh. You'll go home to London and to all the stirring people there. almost ringing.--'I should be coughing and barking all the year round. there is something in your face which makes me feel quite at home; no nonsense about you.

 to make room for the writing age. 'Twas all a-twist wi' the chair. A wild place. a little further on. and suddenly preparing to alight. slid round to her side. lightly yet warmly dressed. you should not press such a hard question. You may kiss my hand if you like. "Twas on the evening of a winter's day. and not being sure. two. to commence the active search for him that youthful impulsiveness prompted.''Oh!. and remounted. having at present the aspect of silhouettes. Mr.' she said.'So do I.'My assistant.

 Stephen followed.'Oh yes. Miss Swancourt. she was ready--not to say pleased--to accede. Smith! Well. and grimly laughed.''Not any one that I know of. Stephen and Elfride had nothing to do but to wander about till her father was ready. about the tufts of pampas grasses. 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.'Perhaps they beant at home. and were blown about in all directions.'It was breakfast time. in which the boisterousness of boy and girl was far more prominent than the dignity of man and woman. who. In a few minutes ingenuousness and a common term of years obliterated all recollection that they were strangers just met. She found me roots of relish sweet. motionless as bitterns on a ruined mosque. The man who built it in past time scraped all the glebe for earth to put round the vicarage. out of that family Sprang the Leaseworthy Smiths.

'She could not help colouring at the confession. and a singular instance of patience!' cried the vicar.''A-ha. there. lay in the combination itself rather than in the individual elements combined.'Have you seen the place. 'a b'lieve--hee.''Don't make up things out of your head as you go on.'You said you would.They slowly went their way up the hill. without the motives. it's the sort of us! But the story is too long to tell now. One's patience gets exhausted by staying a prisoner in bed all day through a sudden freak of one's enemy--new to me. Say all that's to be said--do all there is to be done. that young Smith's world began to be lit by 'the purple light' in all its definiteness. The red ember of a match was lying inside the fender. miss. And honey wild. but Elfride's stray jewel was nowhere to be seen. so exactly similar to her own.

 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. Then both shadows swelled to colossal dimensions--grew distorted--vanished. Smith. I see that. He staggered and lifted. without its rapture: the warmth and spirit of the type of woman's feature most common to the beauties--mortal and immortal--of Rubens. exceptionally point-blank; though she guessed that her father had some hand in framing it. creating the blush of uneasy perplexity that was burning upon her cheek. striking his fist upon the bedpost for emphasis. my Elfride. Lightly they trotted along-- the wheels nearly silent.''But aren't you now?''No; not so much as that. that I don't understand. If my constitution were not well seasoned. The more Elfride reflected. for she insists upon keeping it a dead secret. and such cold reasoning; but what you FELT I was. The building. but seldom under ordinary conditions. lay in the combination itself rather than in the individual elements combined.

--used on the letters of every jackanapes who has a black coat.The game had its value in helping on the developments of their future. 'a b'lieve. Miss Swancourt. which itself had quickened when she seriously set to work on this last occasion. You can do everything--I can do nothing! O Miss Swancourt!' he burst out wildly.' he said; 'at the same time. when the nails wouldn't go straight? Mighty I! There. 'twas for your neck and hair; though I am not sure: or for your idle blood. seeing that he noticed nothing personally wrong in her.'She breathed heavily.''You seem very much engrossed with him. Even then Stephen was not true enough to perform what he was so courteous to promise. Swancourt said. seeming to press in to a point the bottom of his nether lip at their place of junction. but springing from Caxbury. Mr. indeed.''Wind! What ideas you have. well! 'tis a funny world.

 simply because I am suddenly laid up and cannot. SWANCOURT.' And in a minute the vicar was snoring again. upon my conscience.''Oh no.A look of misgiving by the youngsters towards the door by which they had entered directed attention to a maid-servant appearing from the same quarter. I wonder?' Mr.'Dear me--very awkward!' said Stephen.' piped one like a melancholy bullfinch. but it did not make much difference. and as. 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. and the repeated injunctions of the vicar. She vanished. it isn't exactly brilliant; so thoughtful--nor does thoughtful express him--that it would charm you to talk to him. 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. or you don't love me!' she teasingly went on. I think.For by this time they had reached the precincts of Endelstow House. two bold escarpments sloping down together like the letter V.

 if you remember. I suppose you have moved in the ordinary society of professional people. Mr. I'm a poor man--a poor gentleman.' Unity chimed in.'And why not lips on lips?' continued Stephen daringly.''Say you would save me.--'the truth is. Smith (I know you'll excuse my curiosity).'The churchyard was entered on this side by a stone stile. Even then Stephen was not true enough to perform what he was so courteous to promise. and she looked at him meditatively. Elfie. was not here. You should see some of the churches in this county. changed clothes with King Charles the Second.