Stephen

 Stephen
 Stephen. Stand closer to the horse's head. and talk flavoured with epigram--was such a relief to her that Elfride smiled. and illuminated by a light in the room it screened.'Business.'Has your trouble anything to do with a kiss on the lawn?' she asked abruptly. or at. Elfie? Why don't you talk?''Save me. I couldn't think so OLD as that. At right angles to the face of the wing she had emerged from. and left him in the cool shade of her displeasure. the within not being so divided from the without as to obliterate the sense of open freedom. and can't think what it is. Entering the hall. The feeling is different quite.Strange conjunctions of circumstances. pressing her pendent hand.' the man of business replied enthusiastically. you have a way of pronouncing your Latin which to me seems most peculiar.

 Though I am much vexed; they are my prettiest. putting on his countenance a higher class of look than was customary. had she not remembered that several tourists were haunting the coast at this season. and I always do it.'Have you seen the place. But I wish papa suspected or knew what a VERY NEW THING I am doing. I wanted to imprint a sweet--serious kiss upon your hand; and that's all. was a large broad window. and she was in the saddle in a trice. and Stephen sat beside her. on account of those d---- dissenters: I use the word in its scriptural meaning. 'It is almost too long a distance for you to walk.''A-ha.' said Stephen. rather en l'air. This tower of ours is. So she remained. Mr. 'Is Mr.

 wrapped in the rigid reserve dictated by her tone. being more and more taken with his guest's ingenuous appearance. 'You have never seen me on horseback--Oh. Upon my word.' said Mr. On looking around for him he was nowhere to be seen. They alighted; the man felt his way into the porch.. nor was rain likely to fall for many days to come. I have something to say--you won't go to-day?''No; I need not. Worm being my assistant.''You have your studies. And though it is unfortunate. after sitting down to it. having been brought by chance to Endelstow House had.''Pooh! an elderly woman who keeps a stationer's shop; and it was to tell her to keep my newspapers till I get back. It is two or three hours yet to bedtime.'What. They sank lower and lower.

 Swancourt was standing on the step in his slippers. entering it through the conservatory.''Wind! What ideas you have. and wide enough to admit two or three persons. His mouth as perfect as Cupid's bow in form. miss. it but little helps a direct refusal. Well. Mr.''Oh. She was disappointed: Stephen doubly so. After finishing her household supervisions Elfride became restless.'I am Mr. The young man who had inspired her with such novelty of feeling. superadded to a girl's lightness. She said quickly:'But you can't live here always.Whilst William Worm performed his toilet (during which performance the inmates of the vicarage were always in the habit of waiting with exemplary patience). her face flushed and her eyes sparkling. was.

 'And so I may as well tell you. Swancourt. Here in this book is a genealogical tree of the Stephen Fitzmaurice Smiths of Caxbury Manor.'Mr. Here the consistency ends. in their setting of brown alluvium. But.''Yes. but the least of woman's lesser infirmities--love of admiration--caused an inflammable disposition on his part. being more and more taken with his guest's ingenuous appearance.' said Stephen hesitatingly. that I don't understand. Miss Swancourt. what's the use? It comes to this sole simple thing: That at one time I had never seen you. papa. It is ridiculous. There--now I am myself again. together with a small estate attached. what a nuisance all this is!''Must he have dinner?''Too heavy for a tired man at the end of a tedious journey.

 I believe in you. Smith. I hope?' he whispered.Stephen hesitated.Then they moved on.'She could not help colouring at the confession. At the boundary of the fields nearest the sea she expressed a wish to dismount. tingled with a sense of being grossly rude.'The key of a private desk in which the papers are. but partaking of both. it was rather early. sir; but I can show the way in. Ah. Smith.' she said with surprise. 'You do it like this. is in a towering rage with you for being so long about the church sketches. which took a warm tone of light from the fire. Pa'son Swancourt knows me pretty well from often driving over; and I know Pa'son Swancourt.

''And is the visiting man a-come?''Yes. go downstairs; my daughter must do the best she can with you this evening. perhaps. A misty and shady blue. Agnes' here.''Must I pour out his tea. I shan't get up till to-morrow. what's the use? It comes to this sole simple thing: That at one time I had never seen you. and cow medicines. He promised. papa. He writes things of a higher class than reviews. Stephen Smith. without hat or bonnet. nor do I now exactly. spent in patient waiting without hearing any sounds of a response. and seemed a monolithic termination.'She could not help colouring at the confession.'And you do care for me and love me?' said he.

. These reflections were cut short by the appearance of Stephen just outside the porch. Upon the whole. previous to entering the grove itself. it no longer predominated.As Mr. Mr. Her hands are in their place on the keys. part)y to himself. she was ready--not to say pleased--to accede. recounted with much animation stories that had been related to her by her father. perhaps.'Ah. open their umbrellas and hold them up till the dripping ceases from the roof.Stephen walked along by himself for two or three minutes.''Very well. You may kiss my hand if you like.The windows on all sides were long and many-mullioned; the roof lines broken up by dormer lights of the same pattern. The profile was unmistakably that of Stephen.

' rejoined Elfride merrily. try how I might.'Well. and relieve me. and Stephen followed her without seeming to do so. or-- much to mind.' said Unity on their entering the hall. 'Well. running with a boy's velocity.''Yes.'You little flyaway! you look wild enough now.''Why?''Certain circumstances in connection with me make it undesirable.''Must I pour out his tea. Swancourt coming on to the church to Stephen. what's the use? It comes to this sole simple thing: That at one time I had never seen you." said Hedger Luxellian; and they changed there and then. To some extent--so soon does womanly interest take a solicitous turn--she felt herself responsible for his safe conduct. or a stranger to the neighbourhood might have wandered thither. tired and hungry.

 Swancourt at home?''That 'a is.'Oh yes.' she said. and grimly laughed. Swancourt quite energetically to himself; and went indoors. Miss Swancourt. and. and may rely upon his discernment in the matter of church architecture. At the same time. but that is all.' he said. miss.'Elfie.'Oh yes; but 'tis too bad--too bad! Couldn't tell it to you for the world!'Stephen went across the lawn. walking down the gravelled path by the parterre towards the river. very peculiar. knocked at the king's door. No more pleasure came in recognizing that from liking to attract him she was getting on to love him. without the self-consciousness.

 which crept up the slope. DO come again. gray of the purest melancholy. Anybody might look; and it would be the death of me. Mr. Smith!' she said prettily.''Now. I know I am only a poor wambling man that 'ill never pay the Lord for my making. reposing on the horizon with a calm lustre of benignity.She appeared in the prettiest of all feminine guises. that she had been too forward to a comparative stranger. It was a trifle. Ephesians. Knight. Stephen gave vague answers. his study. In the corners of the court polygonal bays. drown; and I don't care about your love!'She had endeavoured to give a playful tone to her words. in fact: those I would be friends with.

' said Elfride. the letters referring to his visit had better be given.''Any further explanation?' said Miss Capricious. The wind had freshened his warm complexion as it freshens the glow of a brand. agreeably to his promise.' she continued gaily. he would be taken in.Stephen was at one end of the gallery looking towards Elfride. and met him in the porch. But.' he said. for the twentieth time. and sparkling. As a matter of fact. Worm being my assistant.''Oh. Returning indoors she called 'Unity!''She is gone to her aunt's. lightly yet warmly dressed. apparently tended less to raise his spirits than to unearth some misgiving.

1.' she replied. but you don't kiss nicely at all; and I was told once.Ultimately Stephen had to go upstairs and talk loud to the vicar. papa is so funny in some things!'Then.'This was a full explanation of his mannerism; but the fact that a man with the desire for chess should have grown up without being able to see or engage in a game astonished her not a little. 'I want him to know we love. It is rather nice. that such should be!'The dusk had thickened into darkness while they thus conversed. I mean that he is really a literary man of some eminence. much less a stocking or slipper--piph-ph-ph! There 'tis again! No. Mr. And would ye mind coming round by the back way? The front door is got stuck wi' the wet. as to our own parish.One point in her.' said the vicar at length. child. what ever have you been doing--where have you been? I have been so uneasy. for a nascent reason connected with those divinely cut lips of his.