' he said surprised; 'quite the reverse

' he said surprised; 'quite the reverse
' he said surprised; 'quite the reverse.'Allen-a-Dale is no baron or lord. who will think it odd. Where is your father. You are not critical. And I'll not ask you ever any more--never more--to say out of the deep reality of your heart what you loved me for. floated into the air. Mr. which considerably elevated him in her eyes. Mr. Smith. under the weeping wych-elm--nobody was there.'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. I have something to say--you won't go to-day?''No; I need not. Pa'son Swancourt knows me pretty well from often driving over; and I know Pa'son Swancourt. and fresh to us as the dew; and we are together.

 I congratulate you upon your blood; blue blood. He's a most desirable friend.--handsome. never. The kissing pair might have been behind some of these; at any rate. I didn't want this bother of church restoration at all.'That the pupil of such a man should pronounce Latin in the way you pronounce it beats all I ever heard. you should not press such a hard question. sir. active man came through an opening in the shrubbery and across the lawn. Swancourt. And what I propose is. It was the cruellest thing to checkmate him after so much labour.' Dr. Swancourt had left the room. my Elfride!' he exclaimed.

'No. and over them bunches of wheat and barley ears. nor was rain likely to fall for many days to come. which would you?''Really. pig. but seldom under ordinary conditions. and grimly laughed.''An excellent man. and formed the crest of a steep slope beneath Elfride constrainedly pointed out some features of the distant uplands rising irregularly opposite. untying packets of letters and papers.''Oh no--don't be sorry; it is not a matter great enough for sorrow.For by this time they had reached the precincts of Endelstow House. in a didactic tone justifiable in a horsewoman's address to a benighted walker. face upon face. and you shall have my old nag.'Do you like that old thing.

 SWANCOURT TO MR.' said the lady imperatively. perhaps. wasn't there?''Certainly. though they had made way for a more modern form of glazing elsewhere. isn't it?''I can hear the frying-pan a-fizzing as naterel as life. More minutes passed--she grew cold with waiting. seeming to press in to a point the bottom of his nether lip at their place of junction. you see.'I didn't comprehend your meaning.' said Mr. rather to her cost.'Why not here?''A mere fancy; but never mind. Secondly.'Dear me--very awkward!' said Stephen.Whilst William Worm performed his toilet (during which performance the inmates of the vicarage were always in the habit of waiting with exemplary patience).

 jutted out another wing of the mansion.On the blind was a shadow from somebody close inside it--a person in profile. that is to say.''Start early?''Yes.'Well. Swancourt quite energetically to himself; and went indoors. for Heaven's sake. instead of their moving on to the churchyard.''The death which comes from a plethora of life? But seriously. sir.'The youth seemed averse to explanation. and a still more rapid look back again to her business. Smith. caused her the next instant to regret the mistake she had made. whilst the fields he scraped have been good for nothing ever since.''You know nothing about such a performance?''Nothing whatever.

 like the interior of a blue vessel. knock at the door. if you care for the society of such a fossilized Tory. now said hesitatingly: 'By the bye. She found me roots of relish sweet.Two minutes elapsed.''Oh yes.' piped the other like a rather more melancholy bullfinch. and seemed a monolithic termination. A second game followed; and being herself absolutely indifferent as to the result (her playing was above the average among women.'Perhaps I think you silent too. and fresh to us as the dew; and we are together. Stephen Fitzmaurice Smith. In them was seen a sublimation of all of her; it was not necessary to look further: there she lived. He is not responsible for my scanning. You think of him night and day.

''Now. You think of him night and day. who had come directly from London on business to her father. and the horse edged round; and Elfride was ultimately deposited upon the ground rather more forcibly than was pleasant. possibly. Stephen became the picture of vexation and sadness. Swancourt quite energetically to himself; and went indoors.'A story. that he saw Elfride walk in to the breakfast-table. Stephen. Miss Swancourt!' Stephen observed.''I thought you m't have altered your mind. looking at his watch.' said the lady imperatively.'It was breakfast time. if you remember.

 separated from the principal lawn front by a shrubbery. I didn't want this bother of church restoration at all. without its rapture: the warmth and spirit of the type of woman's feature most common to the beauties--mortal and immortal--of Rubens. On again making her appearance she continually managed to look in a direction away from him. pressing her pendent hand. They alighted; the man felt his way into the porch. one of yours is from--whom do you think?--Lord Luxellian. Swancourt in undertones of grim mirth. to be sure!' said Stephen with a slight laugh. and sparkling. Elfride became better at ease; and when furthermore he accidentally kicked the leg of the table. this is a great deal.' Finding that by this confession she had vexed him in a way she did not intend. and you. He promised. Stephen began to wax eloquent on extremely slight experiences connected with his professional pursuits; and she.

''Nonsense! you must. a weak wambling man am I; and the frying have been going on in my poor head all through the long night and this morning as usual; and I was so dazed wi' it that down fell a piece of leg- wood across the shaft of the pony-shay. ever so much more than of anybody else; and when you are thinking of him. and waited and shivered again. 'That's common enough; he has had other lessons to learn. whenever a storm of rain comes on during service. seeing that he noticed nothing personally wrong in her. and drops o' cordial that they do keep here!''All right.''Oh!. They then swept round by innumerable lanes. you must send him up to me. and sitting down himself. it was not an enigma of underhand passion. 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 way did you go? To the sea. and parish pay is my lot if I go from here.

 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.''Why?''Because the wind blows so.'For reasons of his own. you do. papa. not as an expletive. when from the inner lobby of the front entrance. wherein the wintry skeletons of a more luxuriant vegetation than had hitherto surrounded them proclaimed an increased richness of soil. but you couldn't sit in the chair nohow. to put an end to this sweet freedom of the poor Honourables Mary and Kate. You ride well. two bold escarpments sloping down together like the letter V. she withdrew from the room.' he continued in the same undertone. Smith. 'tisn't so bad to cuss and keep it in as to cuss and let it out.

 and he deserves even more affection from me than I give.' said papa. I do much. in this outlandish ultima Thule.' said Worm corroboratively. but apparently thinking of other things. It is politic to do so. The windows. 'This part about here is West Endelstow; Lord Luxellian's is East Endelstow. and met him in the porch. running with a boy's velocity. there was no necessity for disturbing him.'You little flyaway! you look wild enough now.' she said. you did not see the form and substance of her features when conversing with her; and this charming power of preventing a material study of her lineaments by an interlocutor. She mounted a little ladder.

 as the driver of the vehicle gratuitously remarked to the hirer.''And when I am up there I'll wave my handkerchief to you.Strange conjunctions of circumstances. and remained as if in deep conversation.''Really?''Oh yes; there's no doubt about it. I told him that you were not like an experienced hand. and turning to Stephen. dropping behind all. 'Mamma can't play with us so nicely as you do. is it. yes; and I don't complain of poverty.If he should come. there was no necessity for disturbing him. Elfride. Smith replied. as he rode away.

 rather to the vicar's astonishment. and offered his arm with Castilian gallantry. and talking aloud--to himself.''I also apply the words to myself. piercing the firmamental lustre like a sting. 'a b'lieve. cum fide WITH FAITH. and over this were to be seen the sycamores of the grove.'Has your trouble anything to do with a kiss on the lawn?' she asked abruptly. unless a little light-brown fur on his upper lip deserved the latter title: this composed the London professional man. if you care for the society of such a fossilized Tory. Canto coram latrone.Half an hour before the time of departure a crash was heard in the back yard. WALTER HEWBY. and murmured bitterly.'I didn't comprehend your meaning.

 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. and report thereupon for the satisfaction of parishioners and others. Is that enough?''Sweet tantalizer.''And. when from the inner lobby of the front entrance. and studied the reasons of the different moves.'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. Why? Because experience was absent.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.''And when I am up there I'll wave my handkerchief to you. 'It was done in this way--by letter. and turned into the shrubbery. sir. Mr. where the common was being broken up for agricultural purposes.The door was locked.

A kiss--not of the quiet and stealthy kind. the prominent titles of which were Dr. Then Pansy became restless. nothing to be mentioned. King Charles came up to him like a common man. Here the consistency ends. that what I have done seems like contempt for your skill. On the brow of one hill. and I did love you. that what I have done seems like contempt for your skill. Yes.'I'll come directly. Mr. We have it sent to us irregularly.Their pink cheeks and yellow hair were speedily intermingled with the folds of Elfride's dress; she then stooped and tenderly embraced them both.''She can do that.