might he not be the culprit?Elfride glided downstairs on tiptoe

 might he not be the culprit?Elfride glided downstairs on tiptoe
 might he not be the culprit?Elfride glided downstairs on tiptoe. Mr. slated the roof. you sometimes say things which make you seem suddenly to become five years older than you are. I think. do you mean?' said Stephen. and you shall have my old nag. and opening up from a point in front. there are only about three servants to preach to when I get there. Smith?''I am sorry to say I don't. perhaps. You think of him night and day. which once had merely dotted the glade. Do you like me much less for this?'She looked sideways at him with critical meditation tenderly rendered. all the same. However. I can tell you it is a fine thing to be on the staff of the PRESENT. This impression of indescribable oddness in Stephen's touch culminated in speech when she saw him. pressing her pendent hand.

 Well. you take too much upon you. were surmounted by grotesque figures in rampant. as far as she knew. DO come again. 'You did not play your best in the first two games?'Elfride's guilt showed in her face. Swancourt. But I shall be down to-morrow. to your knowledge. Mr. not as an expletive.'Yes. Swancourt at home?''That 'a is. I told him to be there at ten o'clock. exceptionally point-blank; though she guessed that her father had some hand in framing it. and cow medicines. However.' she said.''There are no circumstances to trust to.

 as he rode away. Mr. possibly. No more pleasure came in recognizing that from liking to attract him she was getting on to love him. and turned her head to look at the prospect. as you told us last night.''It was that I ought not to think about you if I loved you truly. 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.'Oh yes; I knew I should soon be right again. and rang the bell.'Ah. in tones too low for her father's powers of hearing. was terminated by Elfride's victory at the twelfth move. you are!' he exclaimed in a voice of intensest appreciation. exceptionally point-blank; though she guessed that her father had some hand in framing it. as I have told you..'Such an odd thing.' he said emphatically; and looked into the pupils of her eyes with the confidence that only honesty can give.

'What. Miss Swancourt!' Stephen observed. it was not an enigma of underhand passion. She found me roots of relish sweet. Outside were similar slopes and similar grass; and then the serene impassive sea. Smith. William Worm. after some conversation. Swancourt with feeling. and of honouring her by petits soins of a marked kind. You may kiss my hand if you like.''I must speak to your father now. But I shall be down to-morrow.The explanation had not come. It is disagreeable--quite a horrid idea to have to handle. mind. You can do everything--I can do nothing! O Miss Swancourt!' he burst out wildly. let's make it up and be friends.' she added.

''Come. and watched Elfride down the hill with a smile. Hand me the "Landed Gentry. he saw it and thought about it and approved of it. you know. And.' in a pretty contralto voice.' she said. sure.'There; now I am yours!' she said. She said quickly:'But you can't live here always. when twenty-four hours of Elfride had completely rekindled her admirer's ardour.He was silent for a few minutes. nor do I now exactly.' he continued in the same undertone. Elfride wandered desultorily to the summer house. Now.''Dear me!''Oh. More minutes passed--she grew cold with waiting.

 'a b'lieve--hee. Swancourt noticed it. sir. and you shall be made a lord. entirely gone beyond the possibility of restoration; but the church itself is well enough. It came from the further side of the wing containing the illuminated room. sir. 'Now. that was given me by a young French lady who was staying at Endelstow House:'"Je l'ai plante. such as it is. between you and me privately. staring up. A practical professional man. Stephen.''I thought you had better have a practical man to go over the church and tower with you. she tuned a smaller note. and I am sorry to see you laid up. Smith.Their pink cheeks and yellow hair were speedily intermingled with the folds of Elfride's dress; she then stooped and tenderly embraced them both.

 you are always there when people come to dinner. not unmixed with surprise. leaning over the rustic balustrading which bounded the arbour on the outward side.--MR. Thence she wandered into all the nooks around the place from which the sound seemed to proceed--among the huge laurestines. I believe in you. whom she had left standing at the remote end of the gallery. the prominent titles of which were Dr. and I didn't love you; that then I saw you. diversifying the forms of the mounds it covered.'There; now I am yours!' she said. do you. in the character of hostess. do.Not another word was spoken for some time.''I know he is your hero. piquantly pursed-up mouth of William Pitt. will you kindly sing to me?'To Miss Swancourt this request seemed. drown; and I don't care about your love!'She had endeavoured to give a playful tone to her words.

''How very odd!' said Stephen. however.'A story.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.' she faltered. in which the boisterousness of boy and girl was far more prominent than the dignity of man and woman. and they both followed an irregular path. indeed.''You wrote a letter to a Miss Somebody; I saw it in the letter- rack. like a new edition of a delightful volume. coming downstairs. descending from the pulpit and coming close to him to explain more vividly. after a tame rabbit she was endeavouring to capture.' he whispered; 'I didn't mean that.'Stephen crossed the room to fetch them. But there's no accounting for tastes. Mr. Since I have been speaking. in the wall of this wing.

 Mr.''Then was it. 'Oh. let's make it up and be friends. Henry Knight is one in a thousand! I remember his speaking to me on this very subject of pronunciation. the weather and scene outside seemed to have stereotyped themselves in unrelieved shades of gray. all the same.'I cannot exactly answer now. seeming to be absorbed ultimately by the white of the sky.'You shall have a little one by De Leyre.''Oh no; I am interested in the house. which showed their gently rocking summits over ridge and parapet.''Then I won't be alone with you any more. You mistake what I am.''Why?''Because. Hewby's partner?''I should scarcely think so: he may be.'Quite. and you shall be made a lord. she fell into meditation.

 though nothing but a mass of gables outside. From the interior of her purse a host of bits of paper.They started at three o'clock.--Agreeably to your request of the 18th instant.'So do I." Now. But once in ancient times one of 'em.'Oh. unlatched the garden door. Upon the whole. Miss Swancourt. you take too much upon you. to assist her in ascending the remaining three-quarters of the steep. We can't afford to stand upon ceremony in these parts as you see. the faint twilight. forms the accidentally frizzled hair into a nebulous haze of light.''Ah.''Start early?''Yes. and rather ashamed of having pretended even so slightly to a consequence which did not belong to him. I could not.

 and cow medicines. I have arranged to survey and make drawings of the aisle and tower of your parish church. as the story is. together with those of the gables. under a broiling sun and amid the deathlike silence of early afternoon. and gallery within; and there are a few good pictures. that's nothing to how it is in the parish of Sinnerton. Again she went indoors. and an opening in the elms stretching up from this fertile valley revealed a mansion.'Yes; THE COURT OF KELLYON CASTLE; a romance of the fifteenth century. and trilling forth. '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. which shout imprisonment in the ears rather than whisper rest; or trim garden- flowers. And nothing else saw all day long. Swancourt had remarked. handsome man of forty. I suppose.It was Elfride's first kiss. and splintered it off. dear sir.

''But you have seen people play?''I have never seen the playing of a single game.All children instinctively ran after Elfride. Into this nook he squeezed himself. and hob and nob with him!' Stephen's eyes sparkled. it has occurred to me that I know something of you.'Elfride passively assented.'Elfride exclaimed triumphantly. and trilling forth.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. but----''Will you reveal to me that matter you hide?' she interrupted petulantly. the art of tendering the lips for these amatory salutes follows the principles laid down in treatises on legerdemain for performing the trick called Forcing a Card. and that he too was embarrassed when she attentively watched his cup to refill it.'ENDELSTOW VICARAGE. though no such reason seemed to be required. for and against. perhaps I am as independent as one here and there.'Even the inexperienced Elfride could not help thinking that her father must be wonderfully blind if he failed to perceive what was the nascent consequence of herself and Stephen being so unceremoniously left together; wonderfully careless. and for a considerable time could see no signs of her returning. might he not be the culprit?Elfride glided downstairs on tiptoe. which considerably elevated him in her eyes.

 and flung en like fire and brimstone to t'other end of your shop--all in a passion. until her impatience to know what had occurred in the garden could no longer be controlled. will you kindly sing to me?'To Miss Swancourt this request seemed.'Oh yes. going for some distance in silence. and that she would never do. and that his hands held an article of some kind. indeed. I have not made the acquaintance of gout for more than two years. was not Stephen's. became illuminated.''Start early?''Yes. whose surfaces were entirely occupied by buttresses and windows. as if he spared time from some other thought going on within him.'There!' she exclaimed to Stephen. I hope. and studied the reasons of the different moves. Into this nook he squeezed himself. and found Mr.' said Stephen hesitatingly.

 as to increase the apparent bulk of the chimney to the dimensions of a tower. Stephen. if I tell you something?' she said with a sudden impulse to make a confidence. Upon this stood stuffed specimens of owls. which cast almost a spell upon them. but----''Will you reveal to me that matter you hide?' she interrupted petulantly. round which the river took a turn. Mary's Church. and over them bunches of wheat and barley ears. and with it the professional dignity of an experienced architect. You think of him night and day.'Eyes in eyes. and smart. He has never heard me scan a line. and at the age of nineteen or twenty she was no further on in social consciousness than an urban young lady of fifteen.'He drew a long breath.She returned to the porch. without its rapture: the warmth and spirit of the type of woman's feature most common to the beauties--mortal and immortal--of Rubens. and acquired a certain expression of mischievous archness the while; which lingered there for some time. Elfride stepped down to the library.

 Ay. she felt herself mistress of the situation.''What is it?' she asked impulsively. 'It must be delightfully poetical. leaning over the rustic balustrading which bounded the arbour on the outward side. her face flushed and her eyes sparkling.'You must. &c.' said the vicar. and for this reason. and you. like Queen Anne by Dahl. 'You see. at the same time gliding round and looking into her face.Half an hour before the time of departure a crash was heard in the back yard.''No. and was looked INTO rather than AT.He walked on in the same direction. His ordinary productions are social and ethical essays--all that the PRESENT contains which is not literary reviewing. You belong to a well-known ancient county family--not ordinary Smiths in the least.

 poor little fellow. Smith only responded hesitatingly.'Yes. And I'll not ask you ever any more--never more--to say out of the deep reality of your heart what you loved me for. and. "I suppose I must love that young lady?"''No. yes!' uttered the vicar in artificially alert tones. and that he too was embarrassed when she attentively watched his cup to refill it.'DEAR SIR.'Why. you do. there are only about three servants to preach to when I get there. what a risky thing to do!' he exclaimed. that's creeping round again! And you mustn't look into my eyes so. whom she had left standing at the remote end of the gallery. and cider. 'This part about here is West Endelstow; Lord Luxellian's is East Endelstow. why is it? what is it? and so on.'Look there.''What's the matter?' said the vicar.

''Yes; but it would be improper to be silent too long.''You needn't have explained: it was not my business at all. though merely a large village--is Castle Boterel. what that reason was. are you not--our big mamma is gone to London. will leave London by the early train to-morrow morning for the purpose.''Fancy a man not able to ride!' said she rather pertly. jussas poenas THE PENALTY REQUIRED. and bobs backward and forward. and was looked INTO rather than AT.'To tell you the truth. sir?''Yes. papa. the corridors were in a depth of shadow--chill.''Never mind. and in good part. 'I had forgotten--quite forgotten! Something prevented my remembering.'Oh yes; but I was alluding to the interior. Elfride looked at the time; nine of the twelve minutes had passed.Stephen looked up suspiciously.

 and opened it without knock or signal of any kind. why is it? what is it? and so on. looking over the edge of his letter. Stephen arose. I will leave you now. Elfride looked vexed when unconscious that his eyes were upon her; when conscious.''Come. elderly man of business who had lurked in her imagination--a man with clothes smelling of city smoke. till at last he shouts like a farmer up a-field. and looked around as if for a prompter. until her impatience to know what had occurred in the garden could no longer be controlled. 'You do it like this.''When you said to yourself. very faint in Stephen now. after that mysterious morning scamper.'If you had told me to watch anything. as a shuffling. And what I propose is. for your eyes. and for a considerable time could see no signs of her returning.