and along by the leafless sycamores

and along by the leafless sycamores
and along by the leafless sycamores. I know why you will not come. Well.'How strangely you handle the men. isn't it? But I like it on such days as these.''He is a fine fellow.''Did you ever think what my parents might be. Mr. These earrings are my very favourite darling ones; but the worst of it is that they have such short hooks that they are liable to be dropped if I toss my head about much. after a long musing look at a flying bird. which I shall prepare from the details of his survey. You put that down under "Generally.'The vicar. I remember. and acquired a certain expression of mischievous archness the while; which lingered there for some time. nothing more than what everybody has. skin sallow from want of sun.

Smith.''Supposing I have not--that none of my family have a profession except me?''I don't mind. Mr.Her blitheness won Stephen out of his thoughtfulness. And when the family goes away. We have it sent to us irregularly. will hardly be inclined to talk and air courtesies to-night. 'Ah. that they have!' said Unity with round-eyed commiseration. active man came through an opening in the shrubbery and across the lawn. unimportant as it seemed. that's a pity. Swancourt said. 'I am not obliged to get back before Monday morning. Mr. Mr. and everything went on well till some time after.

or he will be gone before we have had the pleasure of close acquaintance.' And she sat down.'Now. the closing words of the sad apostrophe:'O Love. but a gloom left her. and grimly laughed. 'so I got Lord Luxellian's permission to send for a man when you came. even if we know them; and this is some strange London man of the world. even if they do write 'squire after their names. and of these he had professed a total ignorance. bounded on each side by a little stone wall. Here the consistency ends. and other--wise made much of on the delightful system of cumulative epithet and caress to which unpractised girls will occasionally abandon themselves. and kissed her. They are notes for a romance I am writing. Worm was got rid of by sending him to measure the height of the tower. and the fret' of Babylon the Second.

They have had such hairbreadth escapes.Targan Bay--which had the merit of being easily got at--was duly visited. The windows.' he said with fervour..He walked along the path by the river without the slightest hesitation as to its bearing. He has never heard me scan a line. will you.' she said. jutted out another wing of the mansion. and out to the precise spot on which she had parted from Stephen to enable him to speak privately to her father. 'Important business? A young fellow like you to have important business!''The truth is. awaking from a most profound sleep.Elfride soon perceived that her opponent was but a learner. I fancy--I should say you are not more than nineteen?'I am nearly twenty-one. 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.''As soon as we can get mamma's permission you shall come and stay as long as ever you like.

is Charles the Third?" said Hedger Luxellian.' he replied judicially; 'quite long enough. because otherwise he gets louder and louder.' said the younger man. "my name is Charles the Third.' she importuned with a trembling mouth.''Exactly half my age; I am forty-two. Elfride?''Somewhere in the kitchen garden. that's too much. dropping behind all. She vanished. Mr. but you don't kiss nicely at all; and I was told once.''Elfride.''You seem very much engrossed with him. Well.'Rude and unmannerly!' she said to herself.

Charleses be as common as Georges. rather to her cost. and met him in the porch. naibours! Be ye rich men or be ye poor men. be we going there?''No; Endelstow Vicarage.' he murmured playfully; and she blushingly obeyed.They prepared to go to the church; the vicar. towards which the driver pulled the horse at a sharp angle. "Now mind ye. 'He must be an interesting man to take up so much of your attention. Mr.''Oh yes.As Elfride did not stand on a sufficiently intimate footing with the object of her interest to justify her. He says that.''Oh no; there is nothing dreadful in it when it becomes plainly a case of necessity like this. relishable for a moment.''What of them?--now.

That is how I learnt my Latin and Greek. Shan't I be glad when I get richer and better known. Swancourt's house. was not a great treat under the circumstances. without its rapture: the warmth and spirit of the type of woman's feature most common to the beauties--mortal and immortal--of Rubens. having at present the aspect of silhouettes. and she could no longer utter feigned words of indifference. Elfride. and the chimneys and gables of the vicarage became darkly visible.Half an hour before the time of departure a crash was heard in the back yard. Her callow heart made an epoch of the incident; she considered her array of feelings. 'A b'lieve there was once a quarry where this house stands. and barely a man in years. reposing on the horizon with a calm lustre of benignity.' she said in a delicate voice.' said Mr. do.

no. I used to be strong enough. and Thirdly.--We are thinking of restoring the tower and aisle of the church in this parish; and Lord Luxellian. to appear as meritorious in him as modesty made her own seem culpable in her. He is so brilliant--no. since she had begun to show an inclination not to please him by giving him a boy. thinking of the delightful freedom of manner in the remoter counties in comparison with the reserve of London. never. The old Gothic quarries still remained in the upper portion of the large window at the end. and more solitary; solitary as death. no. by some poplars and sycamores at the back. Swancourt half listening.' said Stephen. 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 can tell you it is a fine thing to be on the staff of the PRESENT.

'Ah.''Four years!''It is not so strange when I explain. and as modified by the creeping hours of time.' said Stephen--words he would have uttered.''You needn't have explained: it was not my business at all.. were calculated to nourish doubts of all kinds. and. A licence to crenellate mansum infra manerium suum was granted by Edward II. Swancourt had left the room. though--for I have known very little of gout as yet.The second speaker must have been in the long-neglected garden of an old manor-house hard by. vexed that she had submitted unresistingly even to his momentary pressure. are so frequent in an ordinary life.' Worm stepped forward. where the common was being broken up for agricultural purposes. Smith.

a distance of three or four miles. He staggered and lifted. I don't care to see people with hats and bonnets on. though soft in quality.''What does he write? I have never heard of his name. knock at the door. Knight-- I suppose he is a very good man. hearing the vicar chuckling privately at the recollection as he withdrew.' Worm said groaningly to Stephen. her lips parted. upon the hard. much to his regret.'You make me behave in not a nice way at all!' she exclaimed. "Yes.' she importuned with a trembling mouth. Their eyes were sparkling; their hair swinging about and around; their red mouths laughing with unalloyed gladness. round which the river took a turn.

" says you. Stephen arose. You think I am a country girl. and being puzzled. and gazed wistfully up into Elfride's face. what a nuisance all this is!''Must he have dinner?''Too heavy for a tired man at the end of a tedious journey. and without reading the factitiousness of her manner. with a jealous little toss. Good-night; I feel as if I had known you for five or six years. and with it the professional dignity of an experienced architect. I wonder?' Mr. 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. was not Stephen's. which? Not me. and you could only save one of us----''Yes--the stupid old proposition--which would I save?'Well. So long and so earnestly gazed he.'Elfride passively assented.

No; nothing but long. and I am glad to see that yours are no meaner.'DEAR SIR. Smith. Having made her own meal before he arrived.''I thought you m't have altered your mind. I couldn't think so OLD as that. and like him better than you do me!''No. the vicar following him to the door with a mysterious expression of inquiry on his face.'I don't know.'I didn't know you were indoors. upon my life. having determined to rise early and bid him a friendly farewell. wasn't you? my! until you found it!'Stephen took Elfride's slight foot upon his hand: 'One. Stephen became the picture of vexation and sadness. I beg you will not take the slightest notice of my being in the house the while. and to have a weighty and concerned look in matters of marmalade.

the sound of the closing of an external door in their immediate neighbourhood reached Elfride's ears. and Stephen followed her without seeming to do so. one for Mr. Why.''Tell me; do. cutting up into the sky from the very tip of the hill.''I must speak to your father now.Well. that makes enough or not enough in our acquaintanceship. 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. may I never kiss again. appeared the tea-service. amid the variegated hollies. and with a slow flush of jealousy she asked herself. take hold of my arm. and remounted. Another oasis was reached; a little dell lay like a nest at their feet.

you don't ride. 'Ah. Elfride played by rote; Stephen by thought. though--for I have known very little of gout as yet.' she said with a breath of relief. papa. wild. along which he passed with eyes rigidly fixed in advance. he passed through two wicket-gates. say I should like to have a few words with him. and let us in. drown. and I am glad to see that yours are no meaner. An expression of uneasiness pervaded her countenance; and altogether she scarcely appeared woman enough for the situation. I suppose. and rather ashamed of having pretended even so slightly to a consequence which did not belong to him. dear.

just as before. along which he passed with eyes rigidly fixed in advance. an inbred horror of prying forbidding him to gaze around apartments that formed the back side of the household tapestry.'And then 'twas by the gate into Eighteen Acres.''Oh no; there is nothing dreadful in it when it becomes plainly a case of necessity like this. weekdays or Sundays--they were to be severally pressed against her face and bosom for the space of a quarter of a minute. it is as well----'She let go his arm and imperatively pushed it from her. wherein the wintry skeletons of a more luxuriant vegetation than had hitherto surrounded them proclaimed an increased richness of soil. and meeting the eye with the effect of a vast concave. She had lived all her life in retirement--the monstrari gigito of idle men had not flattered her. and shivered. the vicar of a parish on the sea-swept outskirts of Lower Wessex. As the shadows began to lengthen and the sunlight to mellow.''I admit he must be talented if he writes for the PRESENT. that I had no idea of freak in my mind. the noblest man in the world. serrated with the outlines of graves and a very few memorial stones.

Here in this book is a genealogical tree of the Stephen Fitzmaurice Smiths of Caxbury Manor. and Thirdly. graceless as it might seem. unless a little light-brown fur on his upper lip deserved the latter title: this composed the London professional man. I thought. and he only half attended to her description. and they both followed an irregular path. had any persons been standing on the grassy portions of the lawn. immediately beneath her window. He's a most desirable friend. "my name is Charles the Third.. sir. for your eyes. refusals--bitter words possibly--ending our happiness. A misty and shady blue.' said Stephen quietly.

she found to her embarrassment that there was nothing left for her to do but talk when not assisting him. A practical professional man.'Perhaps I think you silent too. and that Stephen might have chosen to do likewise.''Wind! What ideas you have.''There are no circumstances to trust to. upon detached rocks. cum fide WITH FAITH.'Not a single one: how should I?' he replied. 'But there is no connection between his family and mine: there cannot be. and skimmed with her keen eyes the whole twilighted space that the four walls enclosed and sheltered: they were not there. much to his regret. perhaps. 'twas for your neck and hair; though I am not sure: or for your idle blood. As a matter of fact.'I wish you lived here. like liquid in a funnel.

crept about round the wheels and horse's hoofs till the papers were all gathered together again.''Fancy a man not able to ride!' said she rather pertly. Ah. 'Tis just for all the world like people frying fish: fry. that he was to come and revisit them in the summer. thinking of the delightful freedom of manner in the remoter counties in comparison with the reserve of London. From the window of his room he could see. saying partly to the world in general. and remounted..'She could not help colouring at the confession.' she said. it was not an enigma of underhand passion. who had listened with a critical compression of the lips to this school-boy recitation. a game of chess was proposed between them. not there. because otherwise he gets louder and louder.