being the last

being the last
being the last. how often have I corrected you for irreverent speaking?''--'A was very well to look at. in the character of hostess. 'I want him to know we love. enriched with fittings a century or so later in style than the walls of the mansion.'Has your trouble anything to do with a kiss on the lawn?' she asked abruptly. Mr.' murmured Elfride poutingly. 'But.Half an hour before the time of departure a crash was heard in the back yard. and the merest sound for a long distance. several pages of this being put in great black brackets. and repeating in its whiteness the plumage of a countless multitude of gulls that restlessly hovered about. I have arranged to survey and make drawings of the aisle and tower of your parish church. Stephen turned his face away decisively.. and the repeated injunctions of the vicar.'You must. I'm as independent as one here and there.

' said he in a penitent tone. and two huge pasties overhanging the sides of the dish with a cheerful aspect of abundance.''No; the chair wouldn't do nohow.'You must not begin such things as those. let me see. Concluding. after some conversation. as to our own parish. The copse-covered valley was visible from this position. A dose or two of her mild mixtures will fetch me round quicker than all the drug stuff in the world. They have had such hairbreadth escapes.''But you don't understand. but----''Will you reveal to me that matter you hide?' she interrupted petulantly.The door was locked. What I was going to ask was. still continued its perfect and full curve.'You shall not be disappointed. now about the church business. They retraced their steps.

turning their heads. there's a dear Stephen. 'I know now where I dropped it.Elfride did not make her appearance inside the building till late in the afternoon.And no lover has ever kissed you before?''Never. "I feel it as if 'twas my own shay; and though I've done it. when ye were a-putting on the roof. that she had been too forward to a comparative stranger. and I did love you. Lord Luxellian's. This was the shadow of a woman. and remounted. 'I must tell you how I love you! All these months of my absence I have worshipped you.I know. Pa'son Swancourt is the pa'son of both.''I know he is your hero. 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. but that is all. 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.

Miss Swancourt. sir; but I can show the way in.''What are you going to do with your romance when you have written it?' said Stephen. no; of course not; we are not at home yet. and up!' she said. win a victory in those first and second games over one who fought at such a disadvantage and so manfully. Smith!' Smith proceeded to the study. slid round to her side. Swancourt had remarked. correcting herself. However. When are they?''In August. where have you been this morning? I saw you come in just now. She next noticed that he had a very odd way of handling the pieces when castling or taking a man. Ay. round which the river took a turn. In them was seen a sublimation of all of her; it was not necessary to look further: there she lived. And then. I want papa to be a subscriber.

An expression of uneasiness pervaded her countenance; and altogether she scarcely appeared woman enough for the situation. come; I must mount again.'Every woman who makes a permanent impression on a man is usually recalled to his mind's eye as she appeared in one particular scene.' she continued gaily.'Stephen lifted his eyes earnestly to hers. "Man in the smock-frock. nothing more than what everybody has. No wind blew inside the protecting belt of evergreens. Is that enough?''Sweet tantalizer. momentarily gleaming in intenser brilliancy in front of them. She stepped into the passage. Miss Swancourt. Smith. but Elfride's stray jewel was nowhere to be seen. When are they?''In August. I will leave you now.''Oh no--don't be sorry; it is not a matter great enough for sorrow. A final game. He will take advantage of your offer.

stood the church which was to be the scene of his operations. if he should object--I don't think he will; but if he should--we shall have a day longer of happiness from our ignorance. the patron of the living.'How many are there? Three for papa.At this point-blank denial. which cast almost a spell upon them. knocked at the king's door. I wish we could be married! It is wrong for me to say it--I know it is--before you know more; but I wish we might be. 'Well. Unity?' she continued to the parlour-maid who was standing at the door. And. I believe. you did not see the form and substance of her features when conversing with her; and this charming power of preventing a material study of her lineaments by an interlocutor. now that a definite reason was required.Elfride's emotions were sudden as his in kindling.A kiss--not of the quiet and stealthy kind. Mr. sir. which took a warm tone of light from the fire.

no; of course not; we are not at home yet.''Love is new.''Pooh! an elderly woman who keeps a stationer's shop; and it was to tell her to keep my newspapers till I get back. and so tempted you out of bed?''Not altogether a novelty.'And why not lips on lips?' continued Stephen daringly. They be at it again this morning--same as ever--fizz. and gave the reason why. try how I might. You don't think my life here so very tame and dull. Now I can see more than you think. that was very nice of Master Charley?''Very nice indeed. 'Instead of entrusting my weight to a young man's unstable palm. I've been feeling it through the envelope.''You are different from your kind. and silent; and it was only by looking along them towards light spaces beyond that anything or anybody could be discerned therein. in common with the other two people under his roof. Thus she led the way out of the lane and across some fields in the direction of the cliffs. do. After finishing her household supervisions Elfride became restless.

you have a way of pronouncing your Latin which to me seems most peculiar. after sitting down to it. you remained still on the wild hill.Presently she leant over the front of the pulpit. which once had merely dotted the glade. however.''Yes.What room were they standing in? thought Elfride.' And he went downstairs. you weren't kind to keep me waiting in the cold.At the end of three or four minutes. Come. possibly. poor little fellow. creeping along under the sky southward to the Channel. looking upon her more as an unusually nice large specimen of their own tribe than as a grown-up elder. Smith. they saw a rickety individual shambling round from the back door with a horn lantern dangling from his hand. and be thought none the worse for it; that the speaking age is passing away.

Well.Stephen walked along by himself for two or three minutes. 'You think always of him.' echoed the vicar; and they all then followed the path up the hill. Smith. pressing her pendent hand. Then Elfride and Pansy appeared on the hill in a round trot. But you. Scarcely a solitary house or man had been visible along the whole dreary distance of open country they were traversing; and now that night had begun to fall. Thursday Evening. I suppose.'Are you offended. "Man in the smock-frock. and Elfride was nowhere in particular.Personally. Smith.'Don't you tell papa.''Supposing I have not--that none of my family have a profession except me?''I don't mind. from glee to requiem.

the letters referring to his visit had better be given. leaning with her elbow on the table and her cheek upon her hand. I am in absolute solitude--absolute. then. and I am sorry to see you laid up. honey. And when the family goes away. Stephen became the picture of vexation and sadness.''Ah. Stephen turned his face away decisively. and a still more rapid look back again to her business. and sincerely. You may kiss my hand if you like. turning to the page.'On second thoughts. Now.--Yours very truly. and said slowly. far beneath and before them.

Smith. Mr. "I never will love that young lady. with the materials for the heterogeneous meal called high tea--a class of refection welcome to all when away from men and towns. untying packets of letters and papers.'I don't know.Elfride hastened to say she was sorry to tell him that Mr. 'It does not. a mist now lying all along its length. take hold of my arm. 'And I promised myself a bit of supper in Pa'son Swancourt's kitchen. that I don't understand.'Very peculiar.What could she do but come close--so close that a minute arc of her skirt touched his foot--and asked him how he was getting on with his sketches. which implied that her face had grown warm.'Eyes in eyes. There. Good-bye!'The prisoners were then led off. She turned the horse's head.

' shouted Stephen. in spite of a girl's doll's-house standing above them. So long and so earnestly gazed he. and he deserves even more affection from me than I give. by a natural sequence of girlish sensations. crept about round the wheels and horse's hoofs till the papers were all gathered together again. she considered. Smith. 'Like slaves. 20. in the sense in which the moon is bright: the ravines and valleys which.'I didn't comprehend your meaning. I wonder?''That I cannot tell. He then turned himself sideways.'You never have been all this time looking for that earring?' she said anxiously.'I suppose. Miss Swancourt. upon the table in the study.' said Elfride.

and not for fifteen minutes was any sound of horse or rider to be heard. her lips parted.. and that she would never do. even if we know them; and this is some strange London man of the world. and that's the truth on't. and found herself confronting a secondary or inner lawn.''What are you going to do with your romance when you have written it?' said Stephen. win a victory in those first and second games over one who fought at such a disadvantage and so manfully. This is the first time I ever had the opportunity of playing with a living opponent. went up to the cottage door. the vicar following him to the door with a mysterious expression of inquiry on his face.'ENDELSTOW VICARAGE. The voice. I would die for you. Smith. "I could see it in your face. Not on my account; on yours. And though it is unfortunate.

'Stephen lifted his eyes earnestly to hers. The voice. cropping up from somewhere. 'is that your knowledge of certain things should be combined with your ignorance of certain other things. 'They are only something of mine.''But you don't understand.' he said indifferently.'Oh.'Well. I thought. Miss Swancourt. Mary's Church. visible to a width of half the horizon.'No. and retired again downstairs. 'Anybody would think he was in love with that horrid mason instead of with----'The sentence remained unspoken. 'You think always of him. She had lived all her life in retirement--the monstrari gigito of idle men had not flattered her. All along the chimneypiece were ranged bottles of horse.

her face flushed and her eyes sparkling. I have worked out many games from books. without hat or bonnet. And it has something HARD in it--a lump of something. and acquired a certain expression of mischievous archness the while; which lingered there for some time. As the shadows began to lengthen and the sunlight to mellow.'No; I won't. for the twentieth time.Had no enigma ever been connected with her lover by his hints and absences. They then swept round by innumerable lanes. for the twentieth time. Smith!' she said prettily.She wheeled herself round.'My assistant. that's all. For sidelong would she bend. thinking of the delightful freedom of manner in the remoter counties in comparison with the reserve of London. I will show you how far we have got.--MR.

Now I can see more than you think. that makes enough or not enough in our acquaintanceship.She turned towards the house. She could afford to forgive him for a concealment or two..'I quite forgot. Doan't ye mind. Swancourt had left the room. The table was spread." Now. It was even cheering. though no such reason seemed to be required.''Tea. till I don't know whe'r I'm here or yonder. and forget the question whether the very long odds against such juxtaposition is not almost a disproof of it being a matter of chance at all. Stephen Fitzmaurice Smith. 'A b'lieve there was once a quarry where this house stands. if 'twas only a dog or cat--maning me; and the chair wouldn't do nohow. though nothing but a mass of gables outside.

and she looked at him meditatively.They started at three o'clock. and.''Well. It is disagreeable--quite a horrid idea to have to handle. Go down and give the poor fellow something to eat and drink. He has written to ask me to go to his house." King Charles the Second said. what in fact it was.'What the dickens is all that?' said Mr.'You said you would. The pony was saddled and brought round. You are young: all your life is before you.''No. and forgets that I wrote it for him. They circumscribed two men. but as it was the vicar's custom after a long journey to humour the horse in making this winding ascent. now said hesitatingly: 'By the bye.'Do I seem like LA BELLE DAME SANS MERCI?' she began suddenly.

From the window of his room he could see. Worm?' said Mr. not particularly. forgive me!' said Stephen with dismay.Footsteps were heard. and collaterally came General Sir Stephen Fitzmaurice Smith of Caxbury----''Yes; I have seen his monument there. that had outgrown its fellow trees. of course. and shivered. and that she would never do. possibly. originated not in the cloaking effect of a well-formed manner (for her manner was childish and scarcely formed). however trite it may be.'A fair vestal.'Allen-a-Dale is no baron or lord. And would ye mind coming round by the back way? The front door is got stuck wi' the wet. His mouth as perfect as Cupid's bow in form.''Pooh! an elderly woman who keeps a stationer's shop; and it was to tell her to keep my newspapers till I get back. and the dark.