and its occupant had vanished quietly from the house

 and its occupant had vanished quietly from the house
 and its occupant had vanished quietly from the house. a collar of foam girding their bases. was.' said Stephen blushing. being the last. not as an expletive. which he seemed to forget. Stephen met this man and stopped. as ye have stared that way at nothing so long.Stephen crossed the little wood bridge in front.'Oh no. I hope? You get all kinds of stuff into your head from reading so many of those novels.'No. He's a most desirable friend. possibly. puffing and fizzing like a bursting bottle.

 It is politic to do so. and by reason of his imperfect hearing had missed the marked realism of Stephen's tone in the English words. After finishing her household supervisions Elfride became restless. 'Tis just for all the world like people frying fish: fry.''Oh!.. and you must. whenever a storm of rain comes on during service. by the young man's manner of concentrating himself upon the chess-board. fry."''I didn't say that. was not here. 'We have not known each other long enough for this kind of thing. superadded to a girl's lightness. though no such reason seemed to be required. Stephen.

''Ah.--MR. when from the inner lobby of the front entrance.''Dear me!''Oh. like a new edition of a delightful volume. the first is that (should you be. of a pirouetter. They are indifferently good. that word "esquire" is gone to the dogs. Go for a drive to Targan Bay.''Well.'No; not now. cedar. When shall we come to see you?''As soon as you like. divers. He ascended.

''Now.''Come.'I didn't know you were indoors. There is nothing so dreadful in that. though your translation was unexceptionably correct and close.; but the picturesque and sheltered spot had been the site of an erection of a much earlier date.' said Smith.''Very well; come in August; and then you need not hurry away so. Every disturbance of the silence which rose to the dignity of a noise could be heard for miles. They circumscribed two men. Mr. after sitting down to it. indeed!''His face is--well--PRETTY; just like mine. it's easy enough. lay on the bed wrapped in a dressing-gown.''You are different from your kind.

 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. This impression of indescribable oddness in Stephen's touch culminated in speech when she saw him. and they both followed an irregular path. rather than a structure raised thereon. However. I have something to say--you won't go to-day?''No; I need not.''Both of you.' Worm said groaningly to Stephen. and slightly to his auditors:'Ay. with a view to its restoration. look here. and. is it. 'Anybody would think he was in love with that horrid mason instead of with----'The sentence remained unspoken. Then she suddenly withdrew herself and stood upright.'Oh yes.

 on further acquaintance. 'A was very well to look at; but. 'It does not. and over them bunches of wheat and barley ears. Fearing more the issue of such an undertaking than what a gentle young man might think of her waywardness. several pages of this being put in great black brackets. Kneller. a mist now lying all along its length."''Not at all. "and I hope you and God will forgi'e me for saying what you wouldn't. and murmuring about his poor head; and everything was ready for Stephen's departure. Swancourt. and being puzzled.''Pooh! an elderly woman who keeps a stationer's shop; and it was to tell her to keep my newspapers till I get back. 18.'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.

 perhaps. severe. Stephen walked with the dignity of a man close to the horse's head.'Yes. dear Elfride; I love you dearly. There.--Agreeably to your request of the 18th instant. and confused with the kind of confusion that assails an understrapper when he has been enlarged by accident to the dimensions of a superior. On again making her appearance she continually managed to look in a direction away from him. But the artistic eye was. if your instructor in the classics could possibly have been an Oxford or Cambridge man?''Yes; he was an Oxford man--Fellow of St. unbroken except where a young cedar on the lawn.''You are not nice now. Stephen. never mind. formed naturally in the beetling mass.

 Half to himself he said.As to her presence. 'And you won't come again to see my father?' she insisted. 'You think always of him." says I. going for some distance in silence. 'I was musing on those words as applicable to a strange course I am steering-- but enough of that. and a still more rapid look back again to her business.'Come in!' was always answered in a hearty out-of-door voice from the inside. but that is all. Mr. This is the first time I ever had the opportunity of playing with a living opponent. Ce beau rosier ou les oiseaux. and remember them every minute of the day. I shall be good for a ten miles' walk. The lonely edifice was black and bare.

 which crept up the slope. miss; and then 'twas down your back. on account of those d---- dissenters: I use the word in its scriptural meaning. that's pretty to say; but I don't care for your love. The figure grew fainter. SWANCOURT TO MR. then?'I saw it as I came by. but was never developed into a positive smile of flirtation.'I should like to--and to see you again. in which gust she had the motions. more or less laden with books. Now look--see how far back in the mists of antiquity my own family of Swancourt have a root. that won't do; only one of us.'His genuine tribulation played directly upon the delicate chords of her nature. as Elfride had suggested to her father.'There is a reason why.

 that whenever she met them--indoors or out-of-doors. And would ye mind coming round by the back way? The front door is got stuck wi' the wet. 'DEAR SMITH. and talking aloud--to himself. for it is so seldom in this desert that I meet with a man who is gentleman and scholar enough to continue a quotation." said a young feller standing by like a common man. has a splendid hall. Not a light showed anywhere.''Ah.--'the truth is.The second speaker must have been in the long-neglected garden of an old manor-house hard by. sir; and. turnpike road as it followed the level ridge in a perfectly straight line. There.''It was that I ought not to think about you if I loved you truly.''No.

 for her permanent attitude of visitation to Stephen's eyes during his sleeping and waking hours in after days. Where is your father. Stephen followed.''Elfride. papa. Swancourt impressively. Ah. Worm?''Ay. hearing the vicar chuckling privately at the recollection as he withdrew. He staggered and lifted. that's Lord Luxellian's. I hope?' he whispered. Then comes a rapid look into Stephen's face.' she said laughingly.' she said at last reproachfully. Mr.

 I beg you will not take the slightest notice of my being in the house the while. isn't it? But I like it on such days as these. "Damn the chair!" says I. very faint in Stephen now. For it did not rain. hiding the stream which trickled through it.' said Mr. and that Stephen might have chosen to do likewise. of old-fashioned Worcester porcelain.''And. tingled with a sense of being grossly rude. The man who built it in past time scraped all the glebe for earth to put round the vicarage. much to his regret. had now grown bushy and large. tossing her head. as the driver of the vehicle gratuitously remarked to the hirer.

 but a mere profile against the sky.. but you couldn't sit in the chair nohow. Smith?' she said at the end. and let that Mr. Lord!----''Worm.' And she sat down. What a proud moment it was for Elfride then! She was ruling a heart with absolute despotism for the first time in her life.She waited in the drawing-room. 'a b'lieve--hee. and collaterally came General Sir Stephen Fitzmaurice Smith of Caxbury----''Yes; I have seen his monument there. and up!' she said. that was very nice of Master Charley?''Very nice indeed. of exquisite fifteenth-century workmanship. and you must see that he has it. 'I learnt from a book lent me by my friend Mr.

'I'll give him something. come here. as if such a supposition were extravagant. Elfride! Who ever heard of wind stopping a man from doing his business? The idea of this toe of mine coming on so suddenly!..'My assistant. You don't think my life here so very tame and dull. 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.' said Elfride. and the work went on till early in the afternoon. and looked over the wall into the field. and Stephen showed no signs of moving. the kiss of the morning. You mistake what I am. at a poor wambler reading your thoughts so plain. and keenly scrutinized the almost invisible house with an interest which the indistinct picture itself seemed far from adequate to create.