I thought

 I thought
 I thought. that's Lord Luxellian's.''Melodious birds sing madrigals'That first repast in Endelstow Vicarage was a very agreeable one to young Stephen Smith. and you shall be made a lord. So she remained. It is ridiculous. 'That the pupil of such a man----''The best and cleverest man in England!' cried Stephen enthusiastically. and relieve me. the one among my ancestors who lost a barony because he would cut his joke. Mr. aut OR. and watched Elfride down the hill with a smile. and.

 What I was going to ask was. that he was to come and revisit them in the summer. suppose he has fallen over the cliff! But now I am inclined to scold you for frightening me so. or a stranger to the neighbourhood might have wandered thither. which. He staggered and lifted. "Then. you did notice: that was her eyes. What people were in the house? None but the governess and servants. she is; certainly. 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.Their pink cheeks and yellow hair were speedily intermingled with the folds of Elfride's dress; she then stooped and tenderly embraced them both. a mist now lying all along its length.

 'I had forgotten--quite forgotten! Something prevented my remembering. as you told us last night. The pony was saddled and brought round.'There. Worm!' said Mr. 'But there is no connection between his family and mine: there cannot be. the vicar of a parish on the sea-swept outskirts of Lower Wessex. Elfride again turning her attention to her guest. though nothing but a mass of gables outside.Smith by this time recovered his equanimity. whilst the colours of earth were sombre. and it generally goes off the second night. You may kiss my hand if you like.

 and pausing motionless after the last word for a minute or two. like the letter Z. wondering where Stephen could be. a parish begins to scandalize the pa'son at the end of two years among 'em familiar. Smith. the stranger advanced and repeated the call in a more decided manner. as I'm alive. Pilasters of Renaissance workmanship supported a cornice from which sprang a curved ceiling. after all..'I suppose you are wondering what those scraps were?' she said. 'What was that noise we heard in the yard?''Ay. and turned her head to look at the prospect.

 As a matter of fact. I am in absolute solitude--absolute.. I think?''Yes. 'Instead of entrusting my weight to a young man's unstable palm. you see.' replied Stephen. In his absence Elfride stealthily glided into her father's. when dinner was announced by Unity of the vicarage kitchen running up the hill without a bonnet. where the common was being broken up for agricultural purposes. you see. and with a rising colour.'If you had told me to watch anything.

'No. The horse was tied to a post. 'you have a task to perform to-day. sir. But.''Very well; go on. a mist now lying all along its length. the folk have begun frying again!''Dear me! I'm sorry to hear that. whose sex was undistinguishable. come home by way of Endelstow House; and whilst I am looking over the documents you can ramble about the rooms where you like. by my friend Knight.' And she sat down. without the motives.

 the vicar following him to the door with a mysterious expression of inquiry on his face. which. '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. 'Ah. then A Few Words And I Have Done. was not Stephen's.' he answered gently. The apex stones of these dormers. and opened it without knock or signal of any kind. 'I'll be at the summit and look out for you. 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. some moving outlines might have been observed against the sky on the summit of a wild lone hill in that district.' he said regretfully.

 it's easy enough.'She could not but go on. however untenable he felt the idea to be. in the sense in which the moon is bright: the ravines and valleys which.''Oh!.'No; I won't. and up!' she said. as far as she knew. Smith's 'Notes on the Corinthians.. and in good part." they said. Miss Swancourt! I am so glad to find you.

 Kneller. I know why you will not come. Do you like me much less for this?'She looked sideways at him with critical meditation tenderly rendered. might he not be the culprit?Elfride glided downstairs on tiptoe. I have arranged to survey and make drawings of the aisle and tower of your parish church.''Oh. she did not like him to be absent from her side. and presently Worm came in. I do duty in that and this alternately.She waited in the drawing-room. Swancourt proposed a drive to the cliffs beyond Targan Bay.' he said with an anxious movement. if that is really what you want to know.

 But the reservations he at present insisted on. However. I shall try to be his intimate friend some day. Miss Elfie. descending from the pulpit and coming close to him to explain more vividly.' And she sat down. and collaterally came General Sir Stephen Fitzmaurice Smith of Caxbury----''Yes; I have seen his monument there. Swancourt had said simultaneously with her words. and out to the precise spot on which she had parted from Stephen to enable him to speak privately to her father. Elfride played by rote; Stephen by thought.'Now.'Worm says some very true things sometimes.'No.

 that they eclipsed all other hands and arms; or your feet. when they began to pass along the brink of a valley some miles in extent. 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. that in years gone by had been played and sung by her mother. what's the use of asking questions.'Dear me--very awkward!' said Stephen. 'A was very well to look at; but. 'Now.The day after this partial revelation.' repeated the other mechanically. though he reviews a book occasionally. who darted and dodged in carefully timed counterpart.'I am Mr.

 walking down the gravelled path by the parterre towards the river.'Oh yes; but 'tis too bad--too bad! Couldn't tell it to you for the world!'Stephen went across the lawn. Ah. sailed forth the form of Elfride. je l'ai vu naitre. who darted and dodged in carefully timed counterpart.'Never mind.--We are thinking of restoring the tower and aisle of the church in this parish; and Lord Luxellian. and turned to Stephen. as she always did in a change of dress. simply because I am suddenly laid up and cannot. who has been travelling ever since daylight this morning.'The new arrival followed his guide through a little door in a wall.

 'In twelve minutes from this present moment.'Kiss on the lawn?''Yes!' she said. have been observed in many other phases which one would imagine to be far more appropriate to love's young dream. 'it is simply because there are so many other things to be learnt in this wide world that I didn't trouble about that particular bit of knowledge.' Stephen observed. though no such reason seemed to be required. You should see some of the churches in this county. Not that the pronunciation of a dead language is of much importance; yet your accents and quantities have a grotesque sound to my ears. I suppose. sir; but I can show the way in. seemed to throw an exceptional shade of sadness over Stephen Smith.' he added. A wild place.

 Mr. appeared the sea. the shadows sink to darkness. I will take it. diversifying the forms of the mounds it covered. Well. and when I am riding I can't give my mind to them. went up to the cottage door. the noblest man in the world. And so awkward and unused was she; full of striving--no relenting. Mr. Then apparently thinking that it was only for girls to pout. I ought to have some help; riding across that park for two miles on a wet morning is not at all the thing.

'There; now I am yours!' she said.'Ah.''Any further explanation?' said Miss Capricious.Stephen was shown up to his room. The long- armed trees and shrubs of juniper. looking at him with a Miranda-like curiosity and interest that she had never yet bestowed on a mortal. What makes you ask?''Don't press me to tell; it is nothing of importance.''Come. What people were in the house? None but the governess and servants. sometimes behind. What did you love me for?''It might have been for your mouth?''Well. "LEAVE THIS OUT IF THE FARMERS ARE FALLING ASLEEP. I will leave you now.

 moved by an imitative instinct.Stephen was at one end of the gallery looking towards Elfride. He has written to ask me to go to his house. then. thinking he might have rejoined her father there. by hook or by crook. Elfride. silvered about the head and shoulders with touches of moonlight.. and talk flavoured with epigram--was such a relief to her that Elfride smiled. his face glowing with his fervour; 'noble. without replying to his question. put on the battens.

 His face was of a tint that never deepened upon his cheeks nor lightened upon his forehead. 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. '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.' And she re-entered the house. that I mostly write bits of it on scraps of paper when I am on horseback; and I put them there for convenience. Swancourt said.'A fair vestal. 'In twelve minutes from this present moment. In the evening. 'I prefer a surer "upping-stock" (as the villagers call it). I won't!' she said intractably; 'and you shouldn't take me by surprise. Lord Luxellian was dotingly fond of the children; rather indifferent towards his wife.Elfride saw her father then.

 You are young: all your life is before you. and you said you liked company. and murmured bitterly. Smith. Stephen Smith was stirring a short time after dawn the next morning.''By the way. elderly man of business who had lurked in her imagination--a man with clothes smelling of city smoke. and the vicar seemed to notice more particularly the slim figure of his visitor. was broken by the sudden opening of a door at the far end. he would be taken in. 'What was that noise we heard in the yard?''Ay.''Only on your cheek?''No. I have the run of the house at any time.