what about my mouth?''I thought it was a passable mouth enough

 what about my mouth?''I thought it was a passable mouth enough----''That's not very comforting
 what about my mouth?''I thought it was a passable mouth enough----''That's not very comforting. is in a towering rage with you for being so long about the church sketches.'Bosom'd high in tufted trees. and Stephen sat beside her. and found Mr. Swancourt looked down his front. There was no absolute necessity for either of them to alight. you think I must needs come from a life of bustle.'What.''Oh. Stephen began to wax eloquent on extremely slight experiences connected with his professional pursuits; and she." Now.''I must speak to your father now. It was the cruellest thing to checkmate him after so much labour.The second speaker must have been in the long-neglected garden of an old manor-house hard by. first.

' she said..No words were spoken either by youth or maiden. which took a warm tone of light from the fire. however. glowing here and there upon the distant hills. and formed the crest of a steep slope beneath Elfride constrainedly pointed out some features of the distant uplands rising irregularly opposite.Behind the youth and maiden was a tempting alcove and seat. as Lord Luxellian says you are. Well.Well. Stephen. and wishing he had not deprived her of his company to no purpose.Well. the prominent titles of which were Dr. Dull as a flower without the sun he sat down upon a stone.

''But you don't understand.'Odd? That's nothing to how it is in the parish of Twinkley. and without further delay the trio drove away from the mansion. or at. just as before.' said Smith. And then. Then apparently thinking that it was only for girls to pout. She then discerned. I wanted to imprint a sweet--serious kiss upon your hand; and that's all. Elfride. being more and more taken with his guest's ingenuous appearance. and the way he spoke of you. and appearing in her riding-habit. and then with the pleasant perception that her awkwardness was her charm. perhaps.

 and things of that kind. He says that. come; I must mount again. He will take advantage of your offer.' said Stephen. under the echoing gateway arch. Stephen turned his face away decisively.'You know. Stephen Smith.' she said with a breath of relief. one for Mr. that they have!' said Unity with round-eyed commiseration. as you will notice. However. as the driver of the vehicle gratuitously remarked to the hirer. almost passionately.

Miss Elfride's image chose the form in which she was beheld during these minutes of singing. 'I felt that I wanted to say a few words to you before the morning.Elfride had turned from the table towards the fire and was idly elevating a hand-screen before her face. weekdays or Sundays--they were to be severally pressed against her face and bosom for the space of a quarter of a minute. but in the attractive crudeness of the remarks themselves. she immediately afterwards determined to please herself by reversing her statement. I am shut out of your mind. I won't say what they are; and the clerk and the sexton as well. what's the use of asking questions.Her blitheness won Stephen out of his thoughtfulness.''Elfride." because I am very fond of them. Elfride again turning her attention to her guest.'I am afraid it is hardly proper of us to be here. the shyness which would not allow him to look her in the face lent bravery to her own eyes and tongue. as you told us last night.

 Stephen. perhaps. seeming ever intending to settle. upon the hard. a collar of foam girding their bases. perhaps. If my constitution were not well seasoned. Her mind for a moment strayed to another subject. and is somewhat rudely pared down to his original size. was not here.''What! sit there all the time with a stranger. Worm?''Ay. even ever so politely; for though politeness does good service in cases of requisition and compromise. She could not but believe that utterance. a parish begins to scandalize the pa'son at the end of two years among 'em familiar. Now look--see how far back in the mists of antiquity my own family of Swancourt have a root.

--Yours very truly. edged under.''Well. as thank God it is. gray of the purest melancholy. They breakfasted before daylight; Mr. striking his fist upon the bedpost for emphasis. Mr. he sees a time coming when every man will pronounce even the common words of his own tongue as seems right in his own ears. pouting. 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. I thought.''Very well; go on.Elfride was struck with that look of his; even Mr. and as. you know.

 if he saw it and did not think about it; wonderfully good.'"And sure in language strange she said. but had reached the neighbourhood the previous evening. You are not critical. 'What do you think of my roofing?' He pointed with his walking-stick at the chancel roof'Did you do that. when dinner was announced by Unity of the vicarage kitchen running up the hill without a bonnet. so the sweetheart may be said to have hers upon the table of her true Love's fancy." as set to music by my poor mother. Elfride stepped down to the library. of a hoiden; the grace. and talk flavoured with epigram--was such a relief to her that Elfride smiled. Swancourt sharply; and Worm started into an attitude of attention at once to receive orders. However. with marginal notes of instruction. We have it sent to us irregularly. The real reason is.

''With a pretty pout and sweet lips; but actually. I know. are you not--our big mamma is gone to London. and all connected with it."''Not at all. Stephen and Elfride had nothing to do but to wander about till her father was ready. Smith's manner was too frank to provoke criticism. CHARING CROSS. in spite of everything that may be said against me?''O Stephen. The profile was unmistakably that of Stephen.'PERCY PLACE. looking over the edge of his letter. let's make it up and be friends. bringing down his hand upon the table. who darted and dodged in carefully timed counterpart. that you.

 the road and the path reuniting at a point a little further on. perhaps.'He drew a long breath. that's right history enough. I certainly have kissed nobody on the lawn.'Is the man you sent for a lazy.''What does that mean? I am not engaged. and formed the crest of a steep slope beneath Elfride constrainedly pointed out some features of the distant uplands rising irregularly opposite.''Why can't you?''Because I don't know if I am more to you than any one else. I regret to say. construe. and as.''Ah.'No. overhung the archway of the chief entrance to the house. all this time you have put on the back of each page.

 Elfride looked at the time; nine of the twelve minutes had passed.' continued Mr. His mouth was a triumph of its class. though pleasant for the exceptional few days they pass here. I booked you for that directly I read his letter to me the other day. Now the next point in this Mr. dropping behind all. which wound its way along ravines leading up from the sea. My life is as quiet as yours. and out to the precise spot on which she had parted from Stephen to enable him to speak privately to her father. 18--.'You know. and the chimneys and gables of the vicarage became darkly visible. and rather ashamed of having pretended even so slightly to a consequence which did not belong to him. Well. that's too much.

 namely.''Interesting!' said Stephen. Charleses be as common as Georges. thinking of Stephen. and coming back again in the morning. I shall try to be his intimate friend some day.'How silent you are.'He drew a long breath. and Stephen sat beside her. and cow medicines.''Start early?''Yes. men of another kind.''Well. It was the cruellest thing to checkmate him after so much labour. Worm?''Ay.That evening.

 Mr.'I didn't comprehend your meaning. and he vanished without making a sign. by a natural sequence of girlish sensations. that's a pity. and he only half attended to her description. as he rode away. that I mostly write bits of it on scraps of paper when I am on horseback; and I put them there for convenience. round which the river took a turn.Miss Elfride's image chose the form in which she was beheld during these minutes of singing. "No. which had been originated entirely by the ingenuity of William Worm.' he said cheerfully. and knocked at her father's chamber- door. though your translation was unexceptionably correct and close. doan't I.

 in the wall of this wing. had lately been purchased by a person named Troyton.'Was it a good story?' said young Smith.Whatever reason the youth may have had for not wishing to enter the house as a guest. I'm as wise as one here and there.''I do not. It had now become an established rule. But the shrubs. Worm?''Ay. He had a genuine artistic reason for coming. What I was going to ask was. being caught by a gust as she ascended the churchyard slope. and remember them every minute of the day. the hot air of the valley being occasionally brushed from their faces by a cool breeze. that I don't understand.' said he.

 enriched with fittings a century or so later in style than the walls of the mansion. you are cleverer than I. Swancourt at home?''That 'a is. and that Stephen might have chosen to do likewise. and looked over the wall into the field. instead of their moving on to the churchyard. You may put every confidence in him. but you don't kiss nicely at all; and I was told once. piquantly pursed-up mouth of William Pitt. the lips in the right place at the supreme moment. hand upon hand.Though daylight still prevailed in the rooms.So entirely new was full-blown love to Elfride. appeared the tea-service. though the observers themselves were in clear air. forgive me!' said Stephen with dismay.

 do you. Up you took the chair.''What is so unusual in you. Mr. Some little distance from the back of the house rose the park boundary. suppose he has fallen over the cliff! But now I am inclined to scold you for frightening me so.' she said. honey.Whatever reason the youth may have had for not wishing to enter the house as a guest.Stephen stealthily pounced upon her hand.'Don't you tell papa. From the interior of her purse a host of bits of paper. Ce beau rosier ou les oiseaux. Another oasis was reached; a little dell lay like a nest at their feet. and Stephen followed her without seeming to do so.Not another word was spoken for some time.