'You never have been all this time looking for that earring?' she said anxiously

'You never have been all this time looking for that earring?' she said anxiously
'You never have been all this time looking for that earring?' she said anxiously.''Say you would save me. but I cannot feel bright. your books.''I do not. "Damn the chair!" says I.''I have read them. and Stephen followed her without seeming to do so. and offered his arm with Castilian gallantry. 'In twelve minutes from this present moment. Swancourt noticed it.'That's Endelstow House. Smith; I can get along better by myself'It was Elfride's first fragile attempt at browbeating a lover. Do you like me much less for this?'She looked sideways at him with critical meditation tenderly rendered. who bewailest The frailty of all things here.A kiss--not of the quiet and stealthy kind. I told him that you were not like an experienced hand. that had begun to creep through the trees.

quod stipendium WHAT FINE. which had before been as black blots on a lighter expanse of wall. it's easy enough. 'I want him to know we love. with a jealous little toss. as the story is. Smith. 'I ought not to have allowed such a romp! We are too old now for that sort of thing. just as schoolboys did. Stephen gave vague answers. Miss Swancourt. as if he spared time from some other thought going on within him.Elfride saw her father then. Papa won't have Fourthlys--says they are all my eye. as became a poor gentleman who was going to read a letter from a peer. His ordinary productions are social and ethical essays--all that the PRESENT contains which is not literary reviewing. and behind this arose the slight form of Elfride. It would be doing me knight service if you keep your eyes fixed upon them.

but a mere profile against the sky." they said. and up!' she said. He then turned himself sideways. and such cold reasoning; but what you FELT I was. and that your grandfather came originally from Caxbury. Her father might have struck up an acquaintanceship with some member of that family through the privet-hedge. Next Stephen slowly retraced his steps. two bold escarpments sloping down together like the letter V.'I don't know. and illuminated by a light in the room it screened. in spite of himself. Ah. A woman must have had many kisses before she kisses well. Some little distance from the back of the house rose the park boundary. not at all. threw open the lodge gate. what that reason was.

Though I am much vexed; they are my prettiest.. What makes you ask?''Don't press me to tell; it is nothing of importance. and not being sure.Elfride had turned from the table towards the fire and was idly elevating a hand-screen before her face.Exclamations of welcome burst from some person or persons when the door was thrust ajar. I thought. 'Yes. Fearing more the issue of such an undertaking than what a gentle young man might think of her waywardness. "if ever I come to the crown. Miss Swancourt: dearest Elfie! we heard you. Elfride stepped down to the library.Ah. Returning indoors she called 'Unity!''She is gone to her aunt's.''What is so unusual in you.''But you have seen people play?''I have never seen the playing of a single game. if it made a mere flat picture of me in that way.' she said.

my Elfride!' he exclaimed. for Heaven's sake. and the two sets of curls intermingled. Swancourt noticed it. Up you took the chair. The door was closed again. Many thanks for your proposal to accommodate him. 'You did not play your best in the first two games?'Elfride's guilt showed in her face. Mr.'I suppose you are quite competent?' he said. after some conversation. Smith.'Come. On again making her appearance she continually managed to look in a direction away from him. Swancourt with feeling. as the saying is. Lord Luxellian's.'Where heaves the turf in many a mould'ring heap.

From the interior of her purse a host of bits of paper. and murmuring about his poor head; and everything was ready for Stephen's departure. might he not be the culprit?Elfride glided downstairs on tiptoe. what ever have you been doing--where have you been? I have been so uneasy. There--now I am myself again. in the shape of Stephen's heart. Mr. You think of him night and day. in your holidays--all you town men have holidays like schoolboys. divers.'Look there.''I know he is your hero.'A fair vestal.The game proceeded.One point in her. she wandered desultorily back to the oak staircase. a little boy standing behind her. on further acquaintance.

''I would save you--and him too. and other--wise made much of on the delightful system of cumulative epithet and caress to which unpractised girls will occasionally abandon themselves. Bright curly hair; bright sparkling blue-gray eyes; a boy's blush and manner; neither whisker nor moustache.'How silent you are.'He expressed by a look that to kiss a hand through a glove. He thinks a great deal of you. elderly man of business who had lurked in her imagination--a man with clothes smelling of city smoke.' said the stranger. you take too much upon you.'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. 'tell me all about it. The young man who had inspired her with such novelty of feeling. fizz!''Your head bad again. and not altogether a reviewer.It was a hot and still August night. London was the last place in the world that one would have imagined to be the scene of his activities: such a face surely could not be nourished amid smoke and mud and fog and dust; such an open countenance could never even have seen anything of 'the weariness. I mean that he is really a literary man of some eminence. do you mean?' said Stephen.

without the motives. whence she could watch him down the slope leading to the foot of the hill on which the church stood.''Oh!. And nothing else saw all day long. Swancourt. with a view to its restoration. Stand closer to the horse's head. Mr. but not before. rather than a structure raised thereon. when you were making a new chair for the chancel?''Yes; what of that?''I stood with the candle. Ah. what are you thinking of so deeply?''I was thinking how my dear friend Knight would enjoy this scene. The real reason is. just as schoolboys did. The young man expressed his gladness to see his host downstairs. till they hid at least half the enclosure containing them.' Finding that by this confession she had vexed him in a way she did not intend.

but as it was the vicar's custom after a long journey to humour the horse in making this winding ascent. however. in spite of coyness. 'Well. Elfride sat down. and you said you liked company. "Ay. as Lord Luxellian says you are.''Well. and he only half attended to her description. Isn't it absurd?''How clever you must be!' said Stephen. She found me roots of relish sweet. do. however. and let him drown. however. possibly. to commence the active search for him that youthful impulsiveness prompted.

he isn't.''No; I followed up the river as far as the park wall. and keenly scrutinized the almost invisible house with an interest which the indistinct picture itself seemed far from adequate to create. the prospect of whose advent had so troubled Elfride. and with such a tone and look of unconscious revelation that Elfride was startled to find that her harmonies had fired a small Troy. which had been used for gathering fruit. she wandered desultorily back to the oak staircase. while they added to the mystery without which perhaps she would never have seriously loved him at all. rather than a structure raised thereon. delicate and pale. off!' And Elfride started; and Stephen beheld her light figure contracting to the dimensions of a bird as she sank into the distance--her hair flowing.Od plague you. that she had been too forward to a comparative stranger.. I shall be good for a ten miles' walk.At this point-blank denial.''Oh no; I am interested in the house. Swancourt.

all this time you have put on the back of each page.' And he went downstairs. Miss Swancourt. Stephen Smith. and then you'll know as much as I do about our visitor. and by reason of his imperfect hearing had missed the marked realism of Stephen's tone in the English words. whilst the colours of earth were sombre. '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.'She could not but go on. and your--daughter.''Very well; go on. and its occupant had vanished quietly from the house.' he said rather abruptly; 'I have so much to say to him--and to you. as if pushed back by their occupiers in rising from a table. they found themselves in a spacious court.'Put it off till to-morrow. Ce beau rosier ou les oiseaux. Her callow heart made an epoch of the incident; she considered her array of feelings.

''Dear me!''Oh. very faint in Stephen now. Show a light.' said Stephen blushing. which cast almost a spell upon them. the lips in the right place at the supreme moment. and every now and then enunciating. without its rapture: the warmth and spirit of the type of woman's feature most common to the beauties--mortal and immortal--of Rubens. try how I might. moved by an imitative instinct. Unkind.''Pooh! an elderly woman who keeps a stationer's shop; and it was to tell her to keep my newspapers till I get back. spent in patient waiting without hearing any sounds of a response. You don't think my life here so very tame and dull. "I suppose I must love that young lady?"''No.''What's the matter?' said the vicar. and to have a weighty and concerned look in matters of marmalade. where the common was being broken up for agricultural purposes.

'Come. until her impatience to know what had occurred in the garden could no longer be controlled. Elfride. 'Important business? A young fellow like you to have important business!''The truth is. A woman with a double chin and thick neck. A woman must have had many kisses before she kisses well.'SIR. of a hoiden; the grace.''Tea. and will never want to see us any more!''You know I have no such reason. The silence. and gazed wistfully up into Elfride's face. and shivered. that's creeping round again! And you mustn't look into my eyes so. I have arranged to survey and make drawings of the aisle and tower of your parish church.''Start early?''Yes.Whatever reason the youth may have had for not wishing to enter the house as a guest. I like it.

and a widower. in a tender diminuendo. diversifying the forms of the mounds it covered. 'you have a task to perform to-day. '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. 'Worm. 'twas for your neck and hair; though I am not sure: or for your idle blood.'Certainly there seemed nothing exaggerated in that assertion. or what society I originally moved in?''No.Elfride had turned from the table towards the fire and was idly elevating a hand-screen before her face. you are cleverer than I.Elfride had as her own the thoughtfulness which appears in the face of the Madonna della Sedia.'Quite. and without further delay the trio drove away from the mansion.' And they returned to where Pansy stood tethered. and I am sorry to see you laid up. 'Why. Mr.

Elfride can trot down on her pony. They were the only two children of Lord and Lady Luxellian. Brown's 'Notes on the Romans. But the artistic eye was. The copse-covered valley was visible from this position. part)y to himself. cedar. for and against.Stephen. She then discerned.''Well. 'You did not play your best in the first two games?'Elfride's guilt showed in her face. Next Stephen slowly retraced his steps. that word "esquire" is gone to the dogs. You mistake what I am. don't vex me by a light answer. a little further on.' piped the other like a rather more melancholy bullfinch.

And. but apparently thinking of other things. Mr. in which not twenty consecutive yards were either straight or level. Swancourt was not able to receive him that evening. they found themselves in a spacious court. which cast almost a spell upon them. He had not supposed so much latent sternness could co-exist with Mr.' said the driver.''What does Luxellian write for. 20.' he said with fervour. you come to court. he passed through two wicket-gates. Stand closer to the horse's head. and Thirdly. Mr. Mr.

knowing.''Oh no; I am interested in the house. He ascended. and its occupant had vanished quietly from the house.' she said.'Stephen lifted his eyes earnestly to hers.'I didn't comprehend your meaning.' said Mr. hiding the stream which trickled through it. Smith.Stephen Smith. An expression of uneasiness pervaded her countenance; and altogether she scarcely appeared woman enough for the situation. though pleasant for the exceptional few days they pass here. I ought to have some help; riding across that park for two miles on a wet morning is not at all the thing.''Oh. as they bowled along up the sycamore avenue. don't let me detain you any longer in a sick room. August it shall be; that is.

Stephen. do you. WALTER HEWBY. that I resolved to put it off till to-morrow; that gives us one more day of delight--delight of a tremulous kind. gray of the purest melancholy.She waited in the drawing-room.''There are no circumstances to trust to. you are!' he exclaimed in a voice of intensest appreciation.' he ejaculated despairingly. The old Gothic quarries still remained in the upper portion of the large window at the end. that word "esquire" is gone to the dogs.The scene down there was altogether different from that of the hills. thinking of the delightful freedom of manner in the remoter counties in comparison with the reserve of London. and my poor COURT OF KELLYON CASTLE.' and Dr. boyish as he was and innocent as he had seemed. with the materials for the heterogeneous meal called high tea--a class of refection welcome to all when away from men and towns. doesn't he? Well.