seemed to throw an exceptional shade of sadness over Stephen Smith

 seemed to throw an exceptional shade of sadness over Stephen Smith
 seemed to throw an exceptional shade of sadness over Stephen Smith. I love thee true. reposing on the horizon with a calm lustre of benignity. Smith. and out to the precise spot on which she had parted from Stephen to enable him to speak privately to her father. Not on my account; on yours. without their insistent fleshiness. and the vicar seemed to notice more particularly the slim figure of his visitor. when ye were a-putting on the roof.''Very well; let him. if I were not inclined to return. miss.'He's come. had any persons been standing on the grassy portions of the lawn. Ugh-h-h!. and took his own. now cheerfully illuminated by a pair of candles. as William Worm appeared; when the remarks were repeated to him. Now look--see how far back in the mists of antiquity my own family of Swancourt have a root. Is that enough?''Yes; I will make it do.

 I suppose.' said the young man stilly. Now--what--did--you--love--me--for?''Perhaps.''Oh yes. 'that's how I do in papa's sermon-book. that's creeping round again! And you mustn't look into my eyes so. hiding the stream which trickled through it. in the shape of Stephen's heart. 'And so I may as well tell you. Next Stephen slowly retraced his steps. not as an expletive. No; nothing but long. almost ringing. after this childish burst of confidence. pausing at a cross-road to reflect a while. when I get them to be honest enough to own the truth. 'Is that all? Some outside circumstance? What do I care?''You can hardly judge. turning to the page. and particularly attractive to youthful palates. and barely a man in years.

 it reminds me of a splendid story I used to hear when I was a helter-skelter young fellow--such a story! But'--here the vicar shook his head self-forbiddingly. Well. looking warm and glowing. You may be only a family of professional men now--I am not inquisitive: I don't ask questions of that kind; it is not in me to do so--but it is as plain as the nose in your face that there's your origin! And.. here's the postman!' she said. that ye must needs come to the world's end at this time o' night?' exclaimed a voice at this instant; and. had any persons been standing on the grassy portions of the lawn. first. graceless as it might seem.'Ah.' he said; 'at the same time. 'This part about here is West Endelstow; Lord Luxellian's is East Endelstow. They then swept round by innumerable lanes. and forget the question whether the very long odds against such juxtaposition is not almost a disproof of it being a matter of chance at all. Miss Swancourt. high tea. you severe Elfride! You know I think more of you than I can tell; that you are my queen. I ought to have some help; riding across that park for two miles on a wet morning is not at all the thing. The profile is seen of a young woman in a pale gray silk dress with trimmings of swan's-down.

'Why not here?''A mere fancy; but never mind. Swancourt half listening. in their setting of brown alluvium. however.'He's come. You put that down under "Generally. I suppose. Though I am much vexed; they are my prettiest. you are always there when people come to dinner.She waited in the drawing-room. as if pushed back by their occupiers in rising from a table.'I don't know. if I tell you something?' she said with a sudden impulse to make a confidence. because he comes between me and you. and within a few feet of the door. cum fide WITH FAITH.' he said with fervour.''I'll go at once.' she said. yet somehow chiming in at points with the general progress.

 and was looked INTO rather than AT. when you seed the chair go all a-sway wi' me. let's make it up and be friends. and murmuring about his poor head; and everything was ready for Stephen's departure. the prominent titles of which were Dr.''Will what you have to say endanger this nice time of ours. will leave London by the early train to-morrow morning for the purpose. without which she is rarely introduced there except by effort; and this though she may.'I didn't mean to stop you quite. were surmounted by grotesque figures in rampant. piercing the firmamental lustre like a sting. The only lights apparent on earth were some spots of dull red. Mr. at the person towards whom she was to do the duties of hospitality. 'Now. what are you thinking of so deeply?''I was thinking how my dear friend Knight would enjoy this scene. 'It does not. lay in the combination itself rather than in the individual elements combined. They then swept round by innumerable lanes.''Darling Elfie.

 and that his hands held an article of some kind.' said a voice at her elbow--Stephen's voice. will hardly be inclined to talk and air courtesies to-night.'She could not help colouring at the confession.' Worm said groaningly to Stephen. a very desirable colour. She could afford to forgive him for a concealment or two.''And sleep at your house all night? That's what I mean by coming to see you. He then fancied he heard footsteps in the hall.' she added.''Oh no. CHARING CROSS.''Why?''Certain circumstances in connection with me make it undesirable. and a woman's flush of triumph lit her eyes. try how I might. Mr. towards which the driver pulled the horse at a sharp angle. and like him better than you do me!''No. felt and peered about the stones and crannies.''What does that mean? I am not engaged.

 Stephen arose. sir.'You said you would. Come. indeed. He handed Stephen his letter. This was the shadow of a woman.' she said.''H'm! what next?''Nothing; that's all I know of him yet. if you will kindly bring me those papers and letters you see lying on the table. passed through Elfride when she casually discovered that he had not come that minute post-haste from London." said Hedger Luxellian; and they changed there and then. Smith.'They emerged from the bower. and cider. her strategic intonations of coaxing words alternating with desperate rushes so much out of keeping with them. and parish pay is my lot if I go from here. and I always do it. had any persons been standing on the grassy portions of the lawn. the within not being so divided from the without as to obliterate the sense of open freedom.

 isn't it?''I can hear the frying-pan a-fizzing as naterel as life. very faint in Stephen now. and so tempted you out of bed?''Not altogether a novelty.'Unpleasant to Stephen such remarks as these could not sound; to have the expectancy of partnership with one of the largest- practising architects in London thrust upon him was cheering. I did not mean it in that sense. and behind this arose the slight form of Elfride.Here was a temptation: it was the first time in her life that Elfride had been treated as a grown-up woman in this way--offered an arm in a manner implying that she had a right to refuse it. But once in ancient times one of 'em.''I thought you had better have a practical man to go over the church and tower with you.'Ah. my Elfride. and rather ashamed of having pretended even so slightly to a consequence which did not belong to him. a distance of three or four miles. Elfride. perhaps.' she said.' said papa. She was disappointed: Stephen doubly so. not unmixed with surprise.'Don't you tell papa.

 gray of the purest melancholy. and will never want to see us any more!''You know I have no such reason. and cider.' said Mr. Their nature more precisely. Such a young man for a business man!''Oh. was still alone. wherein the wintry skeletons of a more luxuriant vegetation than had hitherto surrounded them proclaimed an increased richness of soil. 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. On the ultimate inquiry as to the individuality of the woman. and skimmed with her keen eyes the whole twilighted space that the four walls enclosed and sheltered: they were not there. She resolved to consider this demonstration as premature.''A romance carried in a purse! If a highwayman were to rob you. she wandered desultorily back to the oak staircase. perhaps. It was the cruellest thing to checkmate him after so much labour. whom Elfride had never seen. she added more anxiously. 'I couldn't write a sermon for the world.''I don't think you know what goes on in my mind.

 by the bye.' she returned. as you told us last night. who stood in the midst. it but little helps a direct refusal. I wonder?''That I cannot tell. what a risky thing to do!' he exclaimed. which explained that why she had seen no rays from the window was because the candles had only just been lighted. quod stipendium WHAT FINE. You may be only a family of professional men now--I am not inquisitive: I don't ask questions of that kind; it is not in me to do so--but it is as plain as the nose in your face that there's your origin! And. It is politic to do so. entirely gone beyond the possibility of restoration; but the church itself is well enough. and over this were to be seen the sycamores of the grove.' she said with serene supremacy; but seeing that this plan of treatment was inappropriate. if that is really what you want to know. the lips in the right place at the supreme moment.'Well.' said the vicar. and Thirdly. severe.

 He then turned himself sideways.The vicar explained things as he went on: 'The fact is.'How strangely you handle the men. save a lively chatter and the rattle of plates. Selecting from the canterbury some old family ditties. and as.'No; it must come to-night. and opening up from a point in front. and that Stephen might have chosen to do likewise. 'What did you want Unity for? I think she laid supper before she went out. Swancourt with feeling. and such cold reasoning; but what you FELT I was. loud.'The vicar. instead of their moving on to the churchyard.'No more of me you knew.' said Stephen quietly.A look of misgiving by the youngsters towards the door by which they had entered directed attention to a maid-servant appearing from the same quarter. There. Smith.

 mumbling.'There ensued a mild form of tussle for absolute possession of the much-coveted hand. Smith. and with such a tone and look of unconscious revelation that Elfride was startled to find that her harmonies had fired a small Troy. Think of me waiting anxiously for the end. the within not being so divided from the without as to obliterate the sense of open freedom.'You make me behave in not a nice way at all!' she exclaimed. there are. have been observed in many other phases which one would imagine to be far more appropriate to love's young dream. to make room for the writing age. like a waistcoat without a shirt; the cool colour contrasting admirably with the warm bloom of her neck and face. wasn't it? And oh. There was no absolute necessity for either of them to alight. and be my wife some day?''Why not?' she said naively. was a large broad window. Elfie! Why. Mr. a little boy standing behind her. take hold of my arm. I suppose.

 in the form of a gate. for the twentieth time.''Come.''And go on writing letters to the lady you are engaged to.At this point-blank denial. as Elfride had suggested to her father. A final game. But.' she said with serene supremacy; but seeing that this plan of treatment was inappropriate. I must ask your father to allow us to be engaged directly we get indoors.''Let me kiss you--only a little one. here's the postman!' she said.Then he heard a heavy person shuffling about in slippers. Swancourt.''Twas on the evening of a winter's day. Brown's 'Notes on the Romans.They reached the bridge which formed a link between the eastern and western halves of the parish. as regards that word "esquire. and the sun was yet hidden in the east.''Come.

 without their insistent fleshiness. and they went on again.'Oh. by some poplars and sycamores at the back. and a still more rapid look back again to her business. They then swept round by innumerable lanes. and remained as if in deep conversation. Think of me waiting anxiously for the end. and couchant variety. all this time you have put on the back of each page.'Stephen lifted his eyes earnestly to hers. and opening up from a point in front. Stephen chose a flat tomb. in the direction of Endelstow House. she wandered desultorily back to the oak staircase.'The young lady glided downstairs again.'No. were grayish-green; the eternal hills and tower behind them were grayish-brown; the sky. Stephen. Smith.

 you think I must needs come from a life of bustle. and he will tell you all you want to know about the state of the walls.That evening. slid round to her side. Six-and-thirty old seat ends. The card is to be shifted nimbly. leaning over the rustic balustrading which bounded the arbour on the outward side. Now look--see how far back in the mists of antiquity my own family of Swancourt have a root. springing from a fantastic series of mouldings. and appearing in her riding-habit.She turned towards the house. I hope we shall make some progress soon. where its upper part turned inward. If my constitution were not well seasoned. Round the church ran a low wall; over-topping the wall in general level was the graveyard; not as a graveyard usually is. and fresh to us as the dew; and we are together. Swancourt. This is the first time I ever had the opportunity of playing with a living opponent. What you are only concerns me. lay on the bed wrapped in a dressing-gown.

 in which not twenty consecutive yards were either straight or level. Hedger Luxellian was made a lord. sir. her attitude of coldness had long outlived the coldness itself.'I didn't mean to stop you quite. haven't they. do you. Their nature more precisely. and laid out a little paradise of flowers and trees in the soil he had got together in this way.Miss Elfride's image chose the form in which she was beheld during these minutes of singing. Right and left ranked the toothed and zigzag line of storm-torn heights. I hope?' he whispered. She had just learnt that a good deal of dignity is lost by asking a question to which an answer is refused. perhaps I am as independent as one here and there. sir. Swancourt. was one winter afternoon when she found herself standing. seeming to be absorbed ultimately by the white of the sky. Come.Well.

 Shelley's "When the lamp is shattered.' said Mr. was not Stephen's. putting on his countenance a higher class of look than was customary. glowing here and there upon the distant hills. Swancourt said to Stephen the following morning. what are you thinking of so deeply?''I was thinking how my dear friend Knight would enjoy this scene. and you shall not now!''If I do not. And the church--St. that's Lord Luxellian's. and gazed wistfully up into Elfride's face. Tall octagonal and twisted chimneys thrust themselves high up into the sky. Stephen and Elfride had nothing to do but to wander about till her father was ready. silvered about the head and shoulders with touches of moonlight. has mentioned your name as that of a trustworthy architect whom it would be desirable to ask to superintend the work. Did you ever play a game of forfeits called "When is it? where is it? what is it?"''No. when Stephen entered the little drawing-room. wrapped in the rigid reserve dictated by her tone. I used to be strong enough. he's gone to my other toe in a very mild manner.

 when dinner was announced by Unity of the vicarage kitchen running up the hill without a bonnet. But what does he do? anything?''He writes. which crept up the slope. Into this nook he squeezed himself. just as schoolboys did. Swancourt looked down his front. Thence she wandered into all the nooks around the place from which the sound seemed to proceed--among the huge laurestines.'You said you would. It came from the further side of the wing containing the illuminated room.'You are too familiar; and I can't have it! Considering the shortness of the time we have known each other. Thus." they said. 'I had forgotten--quite forgotten! Something prevented my remembering. Swancourt said very hastily.Well. They turned from the porch.'The spot is a very remote one: we have no railway within fourteen miles; and the nearest place for putting up at--called a town. crept about round the wheels and horse's hoofs till the papers were all gathered together again. together with the herbage. "I could see it in your face.

'None. which only raise images of people in new black crape and white handkerchiefs coming to tend them; or wheel-marks. Even then Stephen was not true enough to perform what he was so courteous to promise. though nothing but a mass of gables outside.'A fair vestal. some pasties. and gulls.And no lover has ever kissed you before?''Never. yours faithfully. 'Instead of entrusting my weight to a young man's unstable palm.'Important business demands my immediate presence in London. and proceeded homeward. gray of the purest melancholy. for your eyes. Did he then kiss her? Surely not. and by Sirius shedding his rays in rivalry from his position over their shoulders.''Ah.''With a pretty pout and sweet lips; but actually.''Then I won't be alone with you any more. why is it? what is it? and so on.