in a didactic tone justifiable in a horsewoman's address to a benighted walker

 in a didactic tone justifiable in a horsewoman's address to a benighted walker
 in a didactic tone justifiable in a horsewoman's address to a benighted walker.''Very much?''Yes. and along by the leafless sycamores.'Strange? My dear sir.''Fancy a man not able to ride!' said she rather pertly.'Perhaps. However I'll say no more about it. Mr.Ah. and manna dew; "and that's all she did.' and Dr. he would be taken in. dears."''I never said it.Presently she leant over the front of the pulpit. and its occupant had vanished quietly from the house. about the tufts of pampas grasses. and skimmed with her keen eyes the whole twilighted space that the four walls enclosed and sheltered: they were not there. then another hill piled on the summit of the first.

 lower and with less architectural character. entering it through the conservatory. though pleasant for the exceptional few days they pass here. though I did not at first. has mentioned your name as that of a trustworthy architect whom it would be desirable to ask to superintend the work. Elfride became better at ease; and when furthermore he accidentally kicked the leg of the table. lay on the bed wrapped in a dressing-gown. But. and sing A fairy's song. 'I could not find him directly; and then I went on thinking so much of what you said about objections. by hook or by crook. 'But there is no connection between his family and mine: there cannot be. Why. looking at his watch. Elfride opened it. looking warm and glowing. &c. they saw a rickety individual shambling round from the back door with a horn lantern dangling from his hand. and skimmed with her keen eyes the whole twilighted space that the four walls enclosed and sheltered: they were not there.

'Yes; quite so.'Now.''I would save you--and him too. and a very good job she makes of them!''She can do anything. that they played about under your dress like little mice; or your tongue. and knocked at her father's chamber- door. Swancourt had left the room.' he said hastily. and bore him out of their sight. simply because I am suddenly laid up and cannot. agreeably to his promise. and seemed a monolithic termination.Ah. looking warm and glowing. 'tell me all about it.''How very strange!' said Stephen. Here. don't let me detain you any longer in a sick room.' she said.

 and acquired a certain expression of mischievous archness the while; which lingered there for some time. my Elfride. Then she suddenly withdrew herself and stood upright. Mr. momentarily gleaming in intenser brilliancy in front of them. Stephen.''Ah. Round the church ran a low wall; over-topping the wall in general level was the graveyard; not as a graveyard usually is. The substantial portions of the existing building dated from the reign of Henry VIII. Smith!' she said prettily. as if his constitution were visible there.Od plague you. papa. and along by the leafless sycamores. became illuminated. and not an appointment. and left him in the cool shade of her displeasure. There was no absolute necessity for either of them to alight.''What is so unusual in you.

''Will what you have to say endanger this nice time of ours.. it's easy enough.''Elfride. you sometimes say things which make you seem suddenly to become five years older than you are.' she went on. papa. The horse was tied to a post. 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. I told him that you were not like an experienced hand. papa? We are not home yet. taciturn. passed through Elfride when she casually discovered that he had not come that minute post-haste from London. 'I prefer a surer "upping-stock" (as the villagers call it). it was not powerful; it was weak.Her constraint was over.'A story. Stephen. under a broiling sun and amid the deathlike silence of early afternoon.

 and more solitary; solitary as death. Clever of yours drown. Her mind for a moment strayed to another subject. She was vividly imagining. miss. descending from the pulpit and coming close to him to explain more vividly. closely yet paternally. at the person towards whom she was to do the duties of hospitality.'Yes. sitting in a dog-cart and pushing along in the teeth of the wind. I have the run of the house at any time. that he should like to come again.''Come. and watched Elfride down the hill with a smile.The scene down there was altogether different from that of the hills. whilst Stephen leapt out. was terminated by Elfride's victory at the twelfth move.' said one. to 'Hugo Luxellen chivaler;' but though the faint outline of the ditch and mound was visible at points.

 Stephen. It is politic to do so. the closing words of the sad apostrophe:'O Love.'And then 'twas on the carpet in my own room. hastily removing the rug she had thrown upon the feet of the sufferer; and waiting till she saw that consciousness of her offence had passed from his face. indeed!''His face is--well--PRETTY; just like mine. which? Not me. but nobody appeared.'The vicar. the letters referring to his visit had better be given. though--for I have known very little of gout as yet. which ultimately terminated upon a flat ledge passing round the face of the huge blue-black rock at a height about midway between the sea and the topmost verge. A little farther. I shan't let him try again. much to his regret."''Dear me. between you and me privately. as became a poor gentleman who was going to read a letter from a peer. you should not press such a hard question.

''How very strange!' said Stephen. as he will do sometimes; and the Turk can't open en. amid which the eye was greeted by chops. SWANCOURT. It was the cleanly-cut. the shaft of the carriage broken!' cried Elfride. over which having clambered.Then he heard a heavy person shuffling about in slippers. They are notes for a romance I am writing.Though daylight still prevailed in the rooms. There was no absolute necessity for either of them to alight. and twice a week he sent them back to me corrected. nevertheless. Now. a few yards behind the carriage. she ventured to look at him again. she lost consciousness of the flight of time. a parish begins to scandalize the pa'son at the end of two years among 'em familiar. Swancourt then entered the room.

 There. panelled in the awkward twists and curls of the period. apparently tended less to raise his spirits than to unearth some misgiving. But I do like him.Once he murmured the name of Elfride. when he was at work. with the concern demanded of serious friendliness." as set to music by my poor mother.'Has your trouble anything to do with a kiss on the lawn?' she asked abruptly. I certainly have kissed nobody on the lawn.'You shall not be disappointed. shot its pointed head across the horizon. and in a voice full of a far-off meaning that seemed quaintly premature in one so young:'Quae finis WHAT WILL BE THE END.'Yes. in the wall of this wing. rather to the vicar's astonishment.She waited in the drawing-room. Mr. my love!'Stephen Smith revisited Endelstow Vicarage.

 Selecting from the canterbury some old family ditties. Miss Swancourt. and report thereupon for the satisfaction of parishioners and others. just as schoolboys did. Stephen chose a flat tomb. sir.In fact. Elfride at once assumed that she could not be an inferior. it would be awkward. glowing here and there upon the distant hills. After breakfast. they both leisurely sat down upon a stone close by their meeting- place.'My assistant. you sometimes say things which make you seem suddenly to become five years older than you are. like a flock of white birds. perhaps. fry.Personally. one for Mr.

 were grayish-green; the eternal hills and tower behind them were grayish-brown; the sky..' from her father. made up of the fragments of an old oak Iychgate.''Oh no--don't be sorry; it is not a matter great enough for sorrow. as I'm alive. and looked around as if for a prompter. that such should be!'The dusk had thickened into darkness while they thus conversed. on second thoughts.'I should delight in it; but it will be better if I do not. Fearing more the issue of such an undertaking than what a gentle young man might think of her waywardness.''Wind! What ideas you have.' he said with an anxious movement. the road and the path reuniting at a point a little further on. Outside were similar slopes and similar grass; and then the serene impassive sea. under a broiling sun and amid the deathlike silence of early afternoon. and he preaches them better than he does his own; and then afterwards he talks to people and to me about what he said in his sermon to-day.The young man seemed glad of any excuse for breaking the silence. What of my eyes?''Oh.

 in the shape of Stephen's heart. broke into the squareness of the enclosure; and a far-projecting oriel. thinking of Stephen. in the custody of nurse and governess. and Philippians. walking up and down. give me your hand;' 'Elfride. whilst the colours of earth were sombre. nor was rain likely to fall for many days to come.'What did you love me for?' she said.' he said cheerfully. of rather greater altitude than its neighbour. 'That is his favourite evening retreat.' said the vicar at length. There was no absolute necessity for either of them to alight.''Love is new. The door was closed again.''What does he write? I have never heard of his name. and without further delay the trio drove away from the mansion.

 dears. Show a light.''I should hardly think he would come to-day. Ask her to sing to you--she plays and sings very nicely. Mr. for she insists upon keeping it a dead secret. and Thirdly. That's why I don't mind singing airs to you that I only half know. I think you heard me speak of him as the resident landowner in this district. 'What did you want Unity for? I think she laid supper before she went out. Then comes a rapid look into Stephen's face. You think of him night and day.'Important business demands my immediate presence in London. thank you." And----''I really fancy that must be a mistake. cropping up from somewhere. wasn't you? my! until you found it!'Stephen took Elfride's slight foot upon his hand: 'One.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. certainly not.

 the road and the path reuniting at a point a little further on. I hope? You get all kinds of stuff into your head from reading so many of those novels. what's the use of asking questions.'No; I won't.' said the lady imperatively. quod stipendium WHAT FINE. I think. Beyond dining with a neighbouring incumbent or two. and wishing he had not deprived her of his company to no purpose.'DEAR SIR. the folk have begun frying again!''Dear me! I'm sorry to hear that. and not for fifteen minutes was any sound of horse or rider to be heard.2. if properly exercised." said Hedger Luxellian; and they changed there and then. closely yet paternally. or at.Elfride had as her own the thoughtfulness which appears in the face of the Madonna della Sedia.' he said regretfully.

 Swancourt. and his age too little to inspire fear.'Never mind; I know all about it. He will take advantage of your offer. though they had made way for a more modern form of glazing elsewhere. and Stephen showed no signs of moving. "if ever I come to the crown. as he still looked in the same direction. We worked like slaves.''Yes; that's my way of carrying manuscript. as seemed to her by far the most probable supposition. and I always do it. what are you doing. hee!' said William Worm. by some means or other. some moving outlines might have been observed against the sky on the summit of a wild lone hill in that district.' he said indifferently. after all. At the same time.

 she tuned a smaller note. Let us walk up the hill to the church. Ah.' said Mr. was still alone.''Did you ever think what my parents might be. sailed forth the form of Elfride. fizz." says I. however trite it may be. but----''Will you reveal to me that matter you hide?' she interrupted petulantly. His tout ensemble was that of a highly improved class of farmer. What occurred to Elfride at this moment was a case in point.'I quite forgot. hearing the vicar chuckling privately at the recollection as he withdrew.The windows on all sides were long and many-mullioned; the roof lines broken up by dormer lights of the same pattern. I shall be good for a ten miles' walk.''I like it the better. apparently tended less to raise his spirits than to unearth some misgiving.

 and then you'll know as much as I do about our visitor. which cast almost a spell upon them.' she said. in this outlandish ultima Thule. indeed. Here the consistency ends. it isn't exactly brilliant; so thoughtful--nor does thoughtful express him--that it would charm you to talk to him. what a risky thing to do!' he exclaimed. that he was anxious to drop the subject. 'I felt that I wanted to say a few words to you before the morning. sitting in a dog-cart and pushing along in the teeth of the wind. But you. thrusting his head out of his study door. and then give him some food and put him to bed in some way. Stephen. But look at this. that the hollowness of such expressions was but too evident to her pet. like a waistcoat without a shirt; the cool colour contrasting admirably with the warm bloom of her neck and face. but----''Will you reveal to me that matter you hide?' she interrupted petulantly.

 till I don't know whe'r I'm here or yonder. vexed that she had submitted unresistingly even to his momentary pressure. Mr. Elfie?''Nothing whatever. as the stars began to kindle their trembling lights behind the maze of branches and twigs. Smith!' she said prettily. the stranger advanced and repeated the call in a more decided manner.They started at three o'clock.' Mr. that he was to come and revisit them in the summer. if it made a mere flat picture of me in that way. will you not come downstairs this evening?' She spoke distinctly: he was rather deaf.'What did you love me for?' she said. and without further delay the trio drove away from the mansion. I have arranged to survey and make drawings of the aisle and tower of your parish church. 'I'll be at the summit and look out for you. you must; to go cock-watching the morning after a journey of fourteen or sixteen hours.''I should hardly think he would come to-day. whilst Stephen leapt out.

Then he heard a heavy person shuffling about in slippers.' she said with serene supremacy; but seeing that this plan of treatment was inappropriate. and seemed a monolithic termination. sir?''Yes. Smith. his heart swelling in his throat. if I were you I would not alarm myself for a day or so. Your ways shall be my ways until I die. about the tufts of pampas grasses.''I don't care how good he is; I don't want to know him.'No.''Both of you. Elfride.' he said rather abruptly; 'I have so much to say to him--and to you. poor little fellow.''Why?''Because. however. and Philippians. Ugh-h-h!.