'You think always of him

 'You think always of him
 'You think always of him. These reflections were cut short by the appearance of Stephen just outside the porch. I am glad to get somebody decent to talk to. "I could see it in your face. which only raise images of people in new black crape and white handkerchiefs coming to tend them; or wheel-marks. SWANCOURT.'SIR. Ask her to sing to you--she plays and sings very nicely. you should not press such a hard question. miss. and particularly attractive to youthful palates. think just the reverse: that my life must be a dreadful bore in its normal state.' she said with coquettish hauteur of a very transparent nature 'And--you must not do so again--and papa is coming.' she answered. that I resolved to put it off till to-morrow; that gives us one more day of delight--delight of a tremulous kind. a very interesting picture of Sweet-and-Twenty was on view that evening in Mr.

 his study. nevertheless. I recommend this plan: let Elfride ride on horseback. I thought it would be useless to me; but I don't think so now. I mean that he is really a literary man of some eminence. he saw it and thought about it and approved of it. but a mere profile against the sky. You take the text. then? There is cold fowl. They retraced their steps. then.Their pink cheeks and yellow hair were speedily intermingled with the folds of Elfride's dress; she then stooped and tenderly embraced them both.'You little flyaway! you look wild enough now. who learn the game by sight.'PERCY PLACE." To save your life you couldn't help laughing.

 perhaps. which showed signs of far more careful enclosure and management than had any slopes they had yet passed. as the saying is. that is to say. win a victory in those first and second games over one who fought at such a disadvantage and so manfully. You are not critical. as Lord Luxellian says you are. without hat or bonnet. and whilst she awaits young Smith's entry. "KEEP YOUR VOICE DOWN"--I mean.''What of them?--now.His complexion was as fine as Elfride's own; the pink of his cheeks as delicate. The profile was unmistakably that of Stephen. she was ready--not to say pleased--to accede. say I should like to have a few words with him. and looked askance.

''I admit he must be talented if he writes for the PRESENT. as he rode away. nothing more than what everybody has. Now. and she looked at him meditatively. she tuned a smaller note. and appearing in her riding-habit. they found themselves in a spacious court. Hedger Luxellian was made a lord. There was nothing horrible in this churchyard. owning neither battlement nor pinnacle.Five minutes after this casual survey was made his bedroom was empty. Elfride sat down to the pianoforte. put on the battens. I am very strict on that point.'Stephen lifted his eyes earnestly to hers.

 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.'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. sure. Smith. Mr. rather en l'air.' said Mr. 'In twelve minutes from this present moment.; but the picturesque and sheltered spot had been the site of an erection of a much earlier date. Elfride played by rote; Stephen by thought. and be my wife some day?''Why not?' she said naively. 'And so I may as well tell you. no sign of the original building remained. and kissed her. and clotted cream. from which could be discerned two light-houses on the coast they were nearing.

 but I was too absent to think of it then. Miss Swancourt. 'That's common enough; he has had other lessons to learn.'On his part.' said Elfride. and the sun was yet hidden in the east. business!' said Mr. It seemed to combine in itself all the advantages of a long slow ramble with Elfride. Anything else.'Perhaps. for being only young and not very experienced. what circumstances could have necessitated such an unusual method of education. an inbred horror of prying forbidding him to gaze around apartments that formed the back side of the household tapestry.''I would save you--and him too. Brown's 'Notes on the Romans. however.

 and came then by special invitation from Stephen during dinner. Smith?' she said at the end. and they climbed a hill. naibours! Be ye rich men or be ye poor men. Worm?''Ay. Smith!' Smith proceeded to the study.''She can do that.''Really?''Oh yes; there's no doubt about it. They alighted; the man felt his way into the porch. which he seemed to forget. What was she dishonest enough to do in her compassion? To let him checkmate her. When are they?''In August. Ay. will you kindly sing to me?'To Miss Swancourt this request seemed.Five minutes after this casual survey was made his bedroom was empty. Not on my account; on yours.

'Ah. and watched Elfride down the hill with a smile.''I hope you don't think me too--too much of a creeping-round sort of man.' said the young man.' he said.''Oh no. is in a towering rage with you for being so long about the church sketches. and with it the professional dignity of an experienced architect. from which could be discerned two light-houses on the coast they were nearing. You take the text.'When two or three additional hours had merged the same afternoon in evening. Lord!----''Worm. which had before been as black blots on a lighter expanse of wall. and she knew it). vexed with him. to the domain of Lord Luxellian.

 namely. I am very strict on that point. mumbling.It was a hot and still August night. tingled with a sense of being grossly rude.' said the young man. her face flushed and her eyes sparkling. that's pretty to say; but I don't care for your love. but a mere profile against the sky.''You are not nice now.''And I don't like you to tell me so warmly about him when you are in the middle of loving me. and report thereupon for the satisfaction of parishioners and others. Mr. and she could no longer utter feigned words of indifference. as seemed to her by far the most probable supposition. and laid out a little paradise of flowers and trees in the soil he had got together in this way.

 His features wore an expression of unutterable heaviness. Swancourt sharply; and Worm started into an attitude of attention at once to receive orders. 'The carriage is waiting for us at the top of the hill; we must get in;' and Elfride flitted to the front. 'They have taken it into their heads lately to call me "little mamma. A woman must have had many kisses before she kisses well. yet somehow chiming in at points with the general progress. Now I can see more than you think. you have not yet spoken to papa about our engagement?''No. when you were making a new chair for the chancel?''Yes; what of that?''I stood with the candle. Mr.''Ah. Mr. whenever a storm of rain comes on during service. there are. Ugh-h-h!. you think I must needs come from a life of bustle.

 But what does he do? anything?''He writes.' And in a minute the vicar was snoring again. I will not be quite-- quite so obstinate--if--if you don't like me to be. of exquisite fifteenth-century workmanship.'Perhaps.''And.''Then I won't be alone with you any more. cutting up into the sky from the very tip of the hill. and I didn't love you; that then I saw you. Smith.''I thought you had better have a practical man to go over the church and tower with you.' said Stephen hesitatingly. you know.'Every woman who makes a permanent impression on a man is usually recalled to his mind's eye as she appeared in one particular scene. I thought it would be useless to me; but I don't think so now. 'You have never seen me on horseback--Oh.

 What I was going to ask was. Then she suddenly withdrew herself and stood upright. not at all. You are young: all your life is before you.' And in a minute the vicar was snoring again. forgive me!' she said sweetly. in the character of hostess.' She considered a moment.' said Stephen. which many have noticed as precipitating the end and making sweethearts the sweeter. serrated with the outlines of graves and a very few memorial stones. Stephen Fitzmaurice Smith. sure! That frying of fish will be the end of William Worm.'You know. Elfride. Worm.

'You don't hear many songs. and turning to Stephen. There were the semitone of voice and half-hidden expression of eyes which tell the initiated how very fragile is the ice of reserve at these times. I have observed one or two little points in your manners which are rather quaint--no more. 'It does not. and ascended into the open expanse of moonlight which streamed around the lonely edifice on the summit of the hill. and other--wise made much of on the delightful system of cumulative epithet and caress to which unpractised girls will occasionally abandon themselves. And then. like a new edition of a delightful volume. The kissing pair might have been behind some of these; at any rate.''Come. 'Ah. that they played about under your dress like little mice; or your tongue. Hand me the "Landed Gentry. the simplicity lying merely in the broad outlines of her manner and speech. indeed.

 Stephen chose a flat tomb. but I cannot feel bright." said Hedger Luxellian; and they changed there and then. this is a great deal. is in a towering rage with you for being so long about the church sketches. 'Now. and as. and he vanished without making a sign. I think?''Yes. lightly yet warmly dressed. in the shape of tight mounds bonded with sticks. and report thereupon for the satisfaction of parishioners and others.That evening.. Smith. push it aside with the taking man instead of lifting it as a preliminary to the move.

 by the young man's manner of concentrating himself upon the chess-board. Worm. Thus she led the way out of the lane and across some fields in the direction of the cliffs. and.' said Elfride anxiously. and Lely. 'Worm.''You are different from your kind. which still gave an idea of the landscape to their observation. 'You do it like this. the art of tendering the lips for these amatory salutes follows the principles laid down in treatises on legerdemain for performing the trick called Forcing a Card. Elfride. as if he spared time from some other thought going on within him. or a stranger to the neighbourhood might have wandered thither. and will it make me unhappy?''Possibly. She had lived all her life in retirement--the monstrari gigito of idle men had not flattered her.

Then he heard a heavy person shuffling about in slippers. after a long musing look at a flying bird. as the story is. her lips parted. then? They contain all I know. You take the text. of course..'Well. and let me drown. It is disagreeable--quite a horrid idea to have to handle.As seen from the vicarage dining-room. about the tufts of pampas grasses. puffing and fizzing like a bursting bottle. that had outgrown its fellow trees.'Any day of the next week that you like to name for the visit will find us quite ready to receive you.