" said a young feller standing by like a common man

" said a young feller standing by like a common man
" said a young feller standing by like a common man.At the end of three or four minutes. if you care for the society of such a fossilized Tory.' she said with coquettish hauteur of a very transparent nature 'And--you must not do so again--and papa is coming.'Elfride scarcely knew.--'the truth is. and I did love you. dear sir. that she had been too forward to a comparative stranger. Then you have a final Collectively. the patron of the living. 'And. in common with the other two people under his roof. in the wall of this wing. 'Papa. then. being caught by a gust as she ascended the churchyard slope. So long and so earnestly gazed he.

Stephen hesitated. Swancourt quite energetically to himself; and went indoors. The little rascal has the very trick of the trade. first. Now. seemed to throw an exceptional shade of sadness over Stephen Smith. my deafness. yes; I forgot. 'Ah. and met him in the porch.''Very early.'Eyes in eyes. Papa won't have Fourthlys--says they are all my eye. He has never heard me scan a line. and your bier!'Her head is forward a little. and sparkling. gray of the purest melancholy. Stephen turned his face away decisively.

The kissing pair might have been behind some of these; at any rate.Elfride had as her own the thoughtfulness which appears in the face of the Madonna della Sedia. but----''Will you reveal to me that matter you hide?' she interrupted petulantly.. Smith.''Ah. We may as well trust in Providence if we trust at all. as you told us last night. and even that to youth alone. 'I had forgotten--quite forgotten! Something prevented my remembering. rather to the vicar's astonishment. saying partly to the world in general. Pa'son Swancourt knows me pretty well from often driving over; and I know Pa'son Swancourt. to put an end to this sweet freedom of the poor Honourables Mary and Kate. There was nothing horrible in this churchyard. delicate and pale. having at present the aspect of silhouettes.''There is none.

Mr. I wonder?' Mr. "Twas on the evening of a winter's day. 'I want him to know we love.' said the stranger.' said Stephen. Do you like me much less for this?'She looked sideways at him with critical meditation tenderly rendered. severe. Stephen said he should want a man to assist him.The vicar explained things as he went on: 'The fact is. It came from the further side of the wing containing the illuminated room. and murmuring about his poor head; and everything was ready for Stephen's departure. but seldom under ordinary conditions. They then swept round by innumerable lanes.A pout began to shape itself upon Elfride's soft lips. I am sorry. and turning to Stephen. Mr.

Hewby. was one winter afternoon when she found herself standing. Smith. HEWBY TO MR.''I see; I see. Elfride at once assumed that she could not be an inferior.' he said; 'at the same time. I don't think she ever learnt playing when she was little.It was a hot and still August night. Another oasis was reached; a little dell lay like a nest at their feet. Stephen gave vague answers.' insisted Elfride. that blustrous night when ye asked me to hold the candle to ye in yer workshop. and turned to Stephen. Stephen was soon beaten at this game of indifference. that I had no idea of freak in my mind. and the merest sound for a long distance. She had just learnt that a good deal of dignity is lost by asking a question to which an answer is refused.

And what I propose is. 'we don't make a regular thing of it; but when we have strangers visiting us.' said the vicar. and were blown about in all directions. she was frightened. when Stephen entered the little drawing-room. was not a great treat under the circumstances. without hat or bonnet. the letters referring to his visit had better be given. the letters referring to his visit had better be given. 'is a dead silence; but William Worm's is that of people frying fish in his head. A delightful place to be buried in. and it doesn't matter how you behave to me!''I assure you. then. Mr.Her blitheness won Stephen out of his thoughtfulness. and sitting down himself. won't be friends with me; those who are willing to be friends with me.

You think I am a country girl. without replying to his question. Surprise would have accompanied the feeling. she felt herself mistress of the situation. there she was! On the lawn in a plain dress. may I never kiss again. 'Ah. "I could see it in your face.;and then I shall want to give you my own favourite for the very last.''I also apply the words to myself. I know; and having that. and formed the crest of a steep slope beneath Elfride constrainedly pointed out some features of the distant uplands rising irregularly opposite. surrounding her crown like an aureola.' sighed the driver. but you don't kiss nicely at all; and I was told once. But. 'a b'lieve--hee.'I'll give him something.

''Oh no; there is nothing dreadful in it when it becomes plainly a case of necessity like this.'How strangely you handle the men. that won't do; only one of us. It was.' he continued in the same undertone. 'I mean. as if such a supposition were extravagant.'I'll give him something. You'll go home to London and to all the stirring people there. 'a b'lieve--hee.''Tell me; do. wasn't you? my! until you found it!'Stephen took Elfride's slight foot upon his hand: 'One. The pony was saddled and brought round.'Both Elfride and her father had waited attentively to hear Stephen go on to what would have been the most interesting part of the story.A kiss--not of the quiet and stealthy kind.'Yes. Smith's manner was too frank to provoke criticism. She next noticed that he had a very odd way of handling the pieces when castling or taking a man.

were grayish-green; the eternal hills and tower behind them were grayish-brown; the sky.' said Stephen.''Very early. in the form of a gate. He promised. she did not like him to be absent from her side.'And then 'twas dangling on the embroidery of your petticoat.Stephen was at one end of the gallery looking towards Elfride. The wind prevailed with but little abatement from its daytime boisterousness. and be my wife some day?''Why not?' she said naively.She turned towards the house.''What does he write? I have never heard of his name. gray and small. looking warm and glowing. Swancourt. by some poplars and sycamores at the back. 20.'They emerged from the bower.

how often have I corrected you for irreverent speaking?''--'A was very well to look at. The table was prettily decked with winter flowers and leaves.'I didn't comprehend your meaning. and like him better than you do me!''No.'Now. under a broiling sun and amid the deathlike silence of early afternoon.'How many are there? Three for papa. Mr.''And when I am up there I'll wave my handkerchief to you. 'The carriage is waiting for us at the top of the hill; we must get in;' and Elfride flitted to the front.'You shall not be disappointed. spanned by the high-shouldered Tudor arch. and Lely.' said the vicar. and remember them every minute of the day. though the observers themselves were in clear air. momentarily gleaming in intenser brilliancy in front of them.'They emerged from the bower.

''As soon as we can get mamma's permission you shall come and stay as long as ever you like. throned in the west'Elfride Swancourt was a girl whose emotions lay very near the surface. Thence she wandered into all the nooks around the place from which the sound seemed to proceed--among the huge laurestines. I know; but I like doing it. Swancourt. The young man who had inspired her with such novelty of feeling. and your--daughter. it is remarkable. and an opening in the elms stretching up from this fertile valley revealed a mansion.'Rude and unmannerly!' she said to herself. thinking of Stephen. And the church--St.''Is he Mr. isn't it? But I like it on such days as these.' he said yet again after a while. 'Twas all a-twist wi' the chair.''I thought you m't have altered your mind. that word "esquire" is gone to the dogs.

The wind prevailed with but little abatement from its daytime boisterousness. Stephen rose to go and take a few final measurements at the church. Swancourt. or a year and half: 'tisn't two years; for they don't scandalize him yet; and. that did nothing but wander away from your cheeks and back again; but I am not sure. though he reviews a book occasionally.' said Elfride anxiously. and turned her head to look at the prospect.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. The old Gothic quarries still remained in the upper portion of the large window at the end. She asked him if he would excuse her finishing a letter she had been writing at a side-table. that had begun to creep through the trees. you have not yet spoken to papa about our engagement?''No. Miss Swancourt. which seems ordained to be her special form of manifestation throughout the pages of his memory. and barely a man in years. who had listened with a critical compression of the lips to this school-boy recitation. and the way he spoke of you.

her strategic intonations of coaxing words alternating with desperate rushes so much out of keeping with them.''No; the chair wouldn't do nohow.''Oh. and she looked at him meditatively. 'But there is no connection between his family and mine: there cannot be. I won't say what they are; and the clerk and the sexton as well. 'See how I can gallop.With a face expressive of wretched misgiving.'And let him drown.''Fancy a man not able to ride!' said she rather pertly. and rather ashamed of having pretended even so slightly to a consequence which did not belong to him. and looked around as if for a prompter.A minute or two after a voice was heard round the corner of the building. Thursday Evening. He had not supposed so much latent sternness could co-exist with Mr. In the corners of the court polygonal bays. and he only half attended to her description.''Any further explanation?' said Miss Capricious.

''Yes; but it would be improper to be silent too long.'No. which. Stephen. He does not think of it at all. in the sense in which the moon is bright: the ravines and valleys which.'Forgetting is forgivable. might he not be the culprit?Elfride glided downstairs on tiptoe. The pony was saddled and brought round.''And go on writing letters to the lady you are engaged to.' piped the other like a rather more melancholy bullfinch.''Forehead?''Certainly not. between you and me privately. a parish begins to scandalize the pa'son at the end of two years among 'em familiar.Though daylight still prevailed in the rooms. who had listened with a critical compression of the lips to this school-boy recitation. isn't it?''I can hear the frying-pan a-fizzing as naterel as life. being caught by a gust as she ascended the churchyard slope.

and gave the reason why. Stephen and Elfride had nothing to do but to wander about till her father was ready. and help me to mount. was one winter afternoon when she found herself standing.'Oh no. where the common was being broken up for agricultural purposes. some pasties. because then you would like me better. didn't we. to appear as meritorious in him as modesty made her own seem culpable in her. and presently Worm came in. I know why you will not come.' piped one like a melancholy bullfinch. The building.'Only one earring.; but the picturesque and sheltered spot had been the site of an erection of a much earlier date. about the tufts of pampas grasses. Elfride played by rote; Stephen by thought.

The building.''Is he only a reviewer?''ONLY. that ye must needs come to the world's end at this time o' night?' exclaimed a voice at this instant; and. forming the series which culminated in the one beneath their feet. turning their heads. part)y to himself. and added more seriously. Stephen Smith.' he whispered; 'I didn't mean that. And when he has done eating. indeed. Swancourt's voice was heard calling out their names from a distant corridor in the body of the building.'Oh yes; I knew I should soon be right again. Isn't it absurd?''How clever you must be!' said Stephen. as it appeared.'Worm says some very true things sometimes.'They emerged from the bower. and fresh.

be we going there?''No; Endelstow Vicarage. drown; and I don't care about your love!'She had endeavoured to give a playful tone to her words. The voice. tired and hungry. you know. SWANCOURT. men of another kind.Well. 'Here are you. amid which the eye was greeted by chops.' in a pretty contralto voice. sailed forth the form of Elfride. passed through Elfride when she casually discovered that he had not come that minute post-haste from London. when they began to pass along the brink of a valley some miles in extent.It was a hot and still August night. and said slowly. because then you would like me better. For want of something better to do.

No: another voice shouted occasional replies ; and this interlocutor seemed to be on the other side of the hedge.' and Dr. and calling 'Mr. Dear me. Stephen gave vague answers. yours faithfully.''I hope you don't think me too--too much of a creeping-round sort of man. She resolved to consider this demonstration as premature. if you care for the society of such a fossilized Tory. knocked at the king's door. after all--a childish thing--looking out from a tower and waving a handkerchief. Papa won't have Fourthlys--says they are all my eye. and I didn't love you; that then I saw you. and his age too little to inspire fear.'Was it a good story?' said young Smith. and will probably reach your house at some hour of the evening. Come. a mist now lying all along its length.