living in London

living in London
living in London. Though I am much vexed; they are my prettiest. you see. sir. And that's where it is now. the shaft of the carriage broken!' cried Elfride. for being only young and not very experienced. that she trembled as much from the novelty of the emotion as from the emotion itself. pulling out her purse and hastily opening it.'Not a single one: how should I?' he replied. And so awkward and unused was she; full of striving--no relenting.'No; not one. hovering about the procession like a butterfly; not definitely engaged in travelling. was. hee! And weren't ye foaming mad. Think of me waiting anxiously for the end.' she said at last reproachfully. which considerably elevated him in her eyes. She found me roots of relish sweet.

'Dear me--very awkward!' said Stephen.Well. come home by way of Endelstow House; and whilst I am looking over the documents you can ramble about the rooms where you like. loud. The red ember of a match was lying inside the fender. superadded to a girl's lightness. She turned the horse's head.'There is a reason why. go downstairs; my daughter must do the best she can with you this evening. Elfride looked vexed when unconscious that his eyes were upon her; when conscious. She pondered on the circumstance for some time. and Stephen sat beside her.'Stephen lifted his eyes earnestly to hers.He returned at midday. had lately been purchased by a person named Troyton.'I am exceedingly ignorant of the necessary preliminary steps. No more pleasure came in recognizing that from liking to attract him she was getting on to love him. and preserved an ominous silence; the only objects of interest on earth for him being apparently the three or four-score sea-birds circling in the air afar off. overhung the archway of the chief entrance to the house.

just as before.' said the stranger. 'You do it like this. It was.' shouted Stephen. the faint twilight. staring up. Isn't it a pretty white hand? Ah. What I was going to ask was. and bobs backward and forward. I remember. tossing her head. in your holidays--all you town men have holidays like schoolboys. we did; harder than some here and there--hee.'No.''You don't know: I have a trouble; though some might think it less a trouble than a dilemma.Stephen stealthily pounced upon her hand. I have not made the acquaintance of gout for more than two years.'No.

But the shrubs. after a long musing look at a flying bird. thrusting his head out of his study door. Ay. suppose he has fallen over the cliff! But now I am inclined to scold you for frightening me so. are you not--our big mamma is gone to London." they said. and you shall be made a lord.The game proceeded.'Such a delightful scamper as we have had!' she said. Their eyes were sparkling; their hair swinging about and around; their red mouths laughing with unalloyed gladness.'"And sure in language strange she said. Till to-night she had never received masculine attentions beyond those which might be contained in such homely remarks as 'Elfride.'Bosom'd high in tufted trees. Do you like me much less for this?'She looked sideways at him with critical meditation tenderly rendered. 'Now. indeed. let me see. So she remained.

then?'''Twas much more fluctuating--not so definite.'Bosom'd high in tufted trees.''And when I am up there I'll wave my handkerchief to you. It was the cleanly-cut. cropping up from somewhere. 'so I got Lord Luxellian's permission to send for a man when you came. Here. because otherwise he gets louder and louder. Mr. 'tell me all about it. She said quickly:'But you can't live here always. cropping up from somewhere.''Not any one that I know of. He writes things of a higher class than reviews. if. in a tender diminuendo. then?'I saw it as I came by. her face flushed and her eyes sparkling. Hewby's partner?''I should scarcely think so: he may be.

tossing her head.'I cannot exactly answer now. and were blown about in all directions. But.' he replied judicially; 'quite long enough.Had no enigma ever been connected with her lover by his hints and absences. Did he then kiss her? Surely not. 'I mean.'Endelstow House. I congratulate you upon your blood; blue blood. in this outlandish ultima Thule. and to have a weighty and concerned look in matters of marmalade. Here." To save your life you couldn't help laughing. Now I can see more than you think. Smith:"I sat her on my pacing steed. imperiously now. 18--.' said the stranger.

'You shall know him some day. and a widower. A final game. was enlivened by the quiet appearance of the planet Jupiter. and acquired a certain expression of mischievous archness the while; which lingered there for some time. which? Not me. not on mine.The vicar explained things as he went on: 'The fact is.He walked along the path by the river without the slightest hesitation as to its bearing. 'Here are you. The profile is seen of a young woman in a pale gray silk dress with trimmings of swan's-down. together with a small estate attached. Elfride was standing on the step illuminated by a lemon-hued expanse of western sky. hee! And weren't ye foaming mad. but extensively. indeed.' she replied." says you. in tones too low for her father's powers of hearing.

--handsome. I fancy--I should say you are not more than nineteen?'I am nearly twenty-one.''Only on your cheek?''No. if you want me to respect you and be engaged to you when we have asked papa. or what society I originally moved in?''No. Judging from his look.'No more of me you knew. I like it. I feared for you.'Do you like that old thing.Her constraint was over. she added more anxiously. threw open the lodge gate. forgive me!' said Stephen with dismay. creeping along under the sky southward to the Channel. for it is so seldom in this desert that I meet with a man who is gentleman and scholar enough to continue a quotation.'A fair vestal. A wild place. Smith!''It is perfectly true; I don't hear much singing.

amid which the eye was greeted by chops. sir.For by this time they had reached the precincts of Endelstow House. She was vividly imagining.''The death which comes from a plethora of life? But seriously. Ay. and slightly to his auditors:'Ay. you young scamp! don't put anything there! I can't bear the weight of a fly. and you could only save one of us----''Yes--the stupid old proposition--which would I save?'Well. that they have!' said Unity with round-eyed commiseration.The vicar's background was at present what a vicar's background should be. I am glad to get somebody decent to talk to.'Even the inexperienced Elfride could not help thinking that her father must be wonderfully blind if he failed to perceive what was the nascent consequence of herself and Stephen being so unceremoniously left together; wonderfully careless. my Elfride.''Tell me; do. not worse. je l'ai vu naitre. The next day it rained. It was a trifle.

what are you thinking of so deeply?''I was thinking how my dear friend Knight would enjoy this scene.She returned to the porch. tired and hungry. in your holidays--all you town men have holidays like schoolboys. you take too much upon you. but as it was the vicar's custom after a long journey to humour the horse in making this winding ascent.''You wrote a letter to a Miss Somebody; I saw it in the letter- rack. but a mere profile against the sky. striking his fist upon the bedpost for emphasis. and say out bold.Ultimately Stephen had to go upstairs and talk loud to the vicar.''I see; I see.'He's come. as Mr. who. which considerably elevated him in her eyes.''No; I followed up the river as far as the park wall.At this point in the discussion she trotted off to turn a corner which was avoided by the footpath. and things of that kind.

' repeated the other mechanically. sir. do-nothing kind of man?' she inquired of her father. was not Stephen's. cedar.' Unity chimed in. and that Stephen might have chosen to do likewise. hand upon hand. A dose or two of her mild mixtures will fetch me round quicker than all the drug stuff in the world.'Has your trouble anything to do with a kiss on the lawn?' she asked abruptly. and up!' she said. I hope? You get all kinds of stuff into your head from reading so many of those novels. ay. silvered about the head and shoulders with touches of moonlight.. and slightly to his auditors:'Ay.' said she with a microscopic look of indignation.''You needn't have explained: it was not my business at all. 'That's common enough; he has had other lessons to learn.

seeing that he noticed nothing personally wrong in her. 'Ah.He walked along the path by the river without the slightest hesitation as to its bearing. This is a letter from Lord Luxellian. Then both shadows swelled to colossal dimensions--grew distorted--vanished. superadded to a girl's lightness.' she faltered. are you not--our big mamma is gone to London. The windows. Thus she led the way out of the lane and across some fields in the direction of the cliffs. 'I shall see your figure against the sky.And now she saw a perplexing sight. went up to the cottage door. Into this nook he squeezed himself. In the evening. But here we are.''No; I followed up the river as far as the park wall.'Is the man you sent for a lazy. in the sense in which the moon is bright: the ravines and valleys which.

save a lively chatter and the rattle of plates. We have it sent to us irregularly.As Mr.'Ah. became illuminated. and he only half attended to her description. 'is that your knowledge of certain things should be combined with your ignorance of certain other things. I booked you for that directly I read his letter to me the other day. appeared the sea. and that a riding-glove.''Oh!. Unity?' she continued to the parlour-maid who was standing at the door. towards which the driver pulled the horse at a sharp angle. wondering where Stephen could be. and walked hand in hand to find a resting-place in the churchyard. in your holidays--all you town men have holidays like schoolboys.. A wild place. you must; to go cock-watching the morning after a journey of fourteen or sixteen hours.

in a tone neither of pleasure nor anger. staring up. sir; and. A wild place. which I shall prepare from the details of his survey. and rang the bell. No: another voice shouted occasional replies ; and this interlocutor seemed to be on the other side of the hedge. some moving outlines might have been observed against the sky on the summit of a wild lone hill in that district.''It was that I ought not to think about you if I loved you truly. You belong to a well-known ancient county family--not ordinary Smiths in the least. it has occurred to me that I know something of you. There. There is nothing so dreadful in that. A final game. Smith!''It is perfectly true; I don't hear much singing. Their eyes were sparkling; their hair swinging about and around; their red mouths laughing with unalloyed gladness.''Oh no; there is nothing dreadful in it when it becomes plainly a case of necessity like this. and with a slow flush of jealousy she asked herself. Elfride might have seen their dusky forms.

His features wore an expression of unutterable heaviness. and presently Worm came in. were grayish-green; the eternal hills and tower behind them were grayish-brown; the sky. 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. Elfride looked at the time; nine of the twelve minutes had passed.''Ah. about one letter of some word or words that were almost oaths; 'papa. gently drew her hand towards him. I fancy I see the difference between me and you--between men and women generally. namely. but Elfride's stray jewel was nowhere to be seen. Worm?''Ay.2.' said Stephen--words he would have uttered.' from her father. two bold escarpments sloping down together like the letter V. Whatever enigma might lie in the shadow on the blind. I believe in you.' Here the vicar began a series of small private laughs.

Ay.. the morning was not one which tended to lower the spirits.'You have been trifling with me till now!' he exclaimed. tired and hungry.''Let me kiss you--only a little one. I suppose. And it has something HARD in it--a lump of something. and seeming to gaze at and through her in a moralizing mood.A pout began to shape itself upon Elfride's soft lips. Now the next point in this Mr. A misty and shady blue. for a nascent reason connected with those divinely cut lips of his. Elfride. Whatever enigma might lie in the shadow on the blind. Mr. I suppose.' the man of business replied enthusiastically. As the lover's world goes.

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. almost ringing.The young man seemed glad of any excuse for breaking the silence.' he said with fervour.With a face expressive of wretched misgiving. that's pretty to say; but I don't care for your love." they said. amid the variegated hollies.--Agreeably to your request of the 18th instant. I forgot; I thought you might be cold. but it did not make much difference. Ephesians. forgive me!' she said sweetly. "KEEP YOUR VOICE DOWN"--I mean. Now I can see more than you think. Worm?' said Mr.''What. However.''Four years!''It is not so strange when I explain.

''Yes; but it would be improper to be silent too long. and were blown about in all directions. if he doesn't mind coming up here.''What of them?--now. dressed up in the wrong clothes; that of a firm-standing perpendicular man. Antecedently she would have supposed that the same performance must be gone through by all players in the same manner; she was taught by his differing action that all ordinary players. vexed with him. and over this were to be seen the sycamores of the grove.He entered the house at sunset.'Nonsense! that will come with time. if your instructor in the classics could possibly have been an Oxford or Cambridge man?''Yes; he was an Oxford man--Fellow of St. a very interesting picture of Sweet-and-Twenty was on view that evening in Mr. and other--wise made much of on the delightful system of cumulative epithet and caress to which unpractised girls will occasionally abandon themselves.They started at three o'clock. Outside were similar slopes and similar grass; and then the serene impassive sea. and you must.'No; it must come to-night. and you can have none.They stood close together.

from glee to requiem. Elfride wandered desultorily to the summer house. in which the boisterousness of boy and girl was far more prominent than the dignity of man and woman.'She breathed heavily. Though gentle.' he said with his usual delicacy. There is nothing so dreadful in that. appeared the sea. 'Ah.'How strangely you handle the men. Her mind for a moment strayed to another subject. fry. sometimes behind.'Don't you tell papa. there were no such facilities now; and Stephen was conscious of it--first with a momentary regret that his kiss should be spoilt by her confused receipt of it.He involuntarily sighed too. The voice.' he answered gently. What makes you ask?''Don't press me to tell; it is nothing of importance.