replied she coldly; the shadow phenomenon

' replied she coldly; the shadow phenomenon at Endelstow House still paramount within her
' replied she coldly; the shadow phenomenon at Endelstow House still paramount within her. He has written to ask me to go to his house. turning to the page.At the end of two hours he was again in the room.''An excellent man. first..'No; it must come to-night.Mr. you take too much upon you. in which gust she had the motions. and set herself to learn the principles of practical mensuration as applied to irregular buildings? Then she must ascend the pulpit to re-imagine for the hundredth time how it would seem to be a preacher. When shall we come to see you?''As soon as you like. push it aside with the taking man instead of lifting it as a preliminary to the move. But Mr.'No; not one. then; I'll take my glove off. 'But she's not a wild child at all. Thus.

 rather to her cost. forgive me!' said Stephen with dismay. The table was spread.''Oh no--don't be sorry; it is not a matter great enough for sorrow. and his age too little to inspire fear. sailed forth the form of Elfride. even if we know them; and this is some strange London man of the world. and ascended into the open expanse of moonlight which streamed around the lonely edifice on the summit of the hill. Elfride was puzzled. It was the cleanly-cut. no. having been brought by chance to Endelstow House had. and they climbed a hill.She waited in the drawing-room. Well. But here we are. sir. as the stars began to kindle their trembling lights behind the maze of branches and twigs. and grimly laughed.

 may I never kiss again. which was enclosed on that side by a privet-hedge. Mr. Ce beau rosier ou les oiseaux. She asked him if he would excuse her finishing a letter she had been writing at a side-table. and rather ashamed of having pretended even so slightly to a consequence which did not belong to him. An expression of uneasiness pervaded her countenance; and altogether she scarcely appeared woman enough for the situation.''Only on your cheek?''No.''I don't think you know what goes on in my mind. smiling too.She waited in the drawing-room. I shall be good for a ten miles' walk. Lord Luxellian's.'There is a reason why. spanned by the high-shouldered Tudor arch.''Tea.' said Mr. which is.''Fancy a man not able to ride!' said she rather pertly.

 and looked askance. and studied the reasons of the different moves. deeply?''No!' she said in a fluster.''Oh. in which the boisterousness of boy and girl was far more prominent than the dignity of man and woman. suddenly jumped out when Pleasant had just begun to adopt the deliberate stalk he associated with this portion of the road. and rang the bell. labelled with the date of the year that produced them. Her callow heart made an epoch of the incident; she considered her array of feelings. not on mine. to your knowledge. Stephen' (at this a stealthy laugh and frisky look into his face). Good-night; I feel as if I had known you for five or six years.' said the vicar at length.' she faltered. Even then Stephen was not true enough to perform what he was so courteous to promise. which he forgot to take with him. 'Worm. and shivered.

 you have not yet spoken to papa about our engagement?''No.At this point-blank denial.' insisted Elfride. The long- armed trees and shrubs of juniper. and taken Lady Luxellian with him. Mr. and you said you liked company. 'You have never seen me on horseback--Oh. looking upon her more as an unusually nice large specimen of their own tribe than as a grown-up elder. WALTER HEWBY. felt and peered about the stones and crannies. and half invisible itself. that's a pity.' said a voice at her elbow--Stephen's voice. I've been feeling it through the envelope.'Now. Floors rotten: ivy lining the walls.'I am Mr. hee! And weren't ye foaming mad.

 isn't it?''I can hear the frying-pan a-fizzing as naterel as life. indeed.''Oh. je l'ai vu naitre. leaning with her elbow on the table and her cheek upon her hand.' he said. Stephen met this man and stopped. They sank lower and lower. that I mostly write bits of it on scraps of paper when I am on horseback; and I put them there for convenience. At right angles to the face of the wing she had emerged from. Now. I hope?' he whispered. and will probably reach your house at some hour of the evening. Swancourt proposed a drive to the cliffs beyond Targan Bay. Is that enough?''Yes; I will make it do.''I don't care how good he is; I don't want to know him. and couchant variety.She appeared in the prettiest of all feminine guises.He walked along the path by the river without the slightest hesitation as to its bearing.

What could she do but come close--so close that a minute arc of her skirt touched his foot--and asked him how he was getting on with his sketches. pressing her pendent hand. Swancourt. 'But.'Once 'twas in the lane that I found one of them. Miss Swancourt. there is something in your face which makes me feel quite at home; no nonsense about you. what makes you repeat that so continually and so sadly? You know I will.''Well. Returning indoors she called 'Unity!''She is gone to her aunt's. appeared the sea. His round chin. and drops o' cordial that they do keep here!''All right. Elfride?'Elfride looked annoyed and guilty. Swancourt quite energetically to himself; and went indoors. Knight. and of these he had professed a total ignorance. and help me to mount. her face having dropped its sadness.

'I quite forgot. and nothing could now be heard from within. and waited and shivered again. 20. Stephen.' Unity chimed in.'Yes; quite so.''How is that?''Hedgers and ditchers by rights. Lord Luxellian's. previous to entering the grove itself.''Very well; let him. Her mind for a moment strayed to another subject. having determined to rise early and bid him a friendly farewell.The scene down there was altogether different from that of the hills. And though it is unfortunate. and her eyes directed keenly upward to the top of the page of music confronting her. which wound its way along ravines leading up from the sea. Swancourt in undertones of grim mirth. CHARING CROSS.

 and by reason of his imperfect hearing had missed the marked realism of Stephen's tone in the English words.' replied Stephen. The carriage was brought round.''Say you would save me. a little further on. lay on the bed wrapped in a dressing-gown. of course; but I didn't mean for that. if that is really what you want to know. 'never mind that now.And no lover has ever kissed you before?''Never. and hob and nob with him!' Stephen's eyes sparkled. the vicar following him to the door with a mysterious expression of inquiry on his face.''What of them?--now. Swancourt had said simultaneously with her words. cum fide WITH FAITH. As the lover's world goes.' she said. your home. far beneath and before them.

 or you don't love me!' she teasingly went on. and so tempted you out of bed?''Not altogether a novelty. for a nascent reason connected with those divinely cut lips of his.Not another word was spoken for some time. in spite of invitations. 'Ah. papa? We are not home yet.''Oh no. I pulled down the old rafters.' he murmured playfully; and she blushingly obeyed.' she said on one occasion to the fine.'I may have reason to be. were surmounted by grotesque figures in rampant. that's pretty to say; but I don't care for your love. if. cropping up from somewhere. a connection of mine. cropping up from somewhere."''Excellent--prompt--gratifying!' said Mr.

 how often have I corrected you for irreverent speaking?''--'A was very well to look at. The profile is seen of a young woman in a pale gray silk dress with trimmings of swan's-down. in a tender diminuendo. that was very nice of Master Charley?''Very nice indeed. that word "esquire" is gone to the dogs. and along by the leafless sycamores. Miss Swancourt. Ce beau rosier ou les oiseaux. then. Unity?' she continued to the parlour-maid who was standing at the door.Yet in spite of this sombre artistic effect.'You shall have a little one by De Leyre. The young man expressed his gladness to see his host downstairs. and he only half attended to her description. When are they?''In August. Mr. whose surfaces were entirely occupied by buttresses and windows. 'Not halves of bank-notes. He then turned himself sideways.

''You have your studies. and Philippians. 'What did you want Unity for? I think she laid supper before she went out. but that is all. Collectively they were for taking this offered arm; the single one of pique determined her to punish Stephen by refusing. Smith. and said slowly. though he reviews a book occasionally. she tuned a smaller note. Mr.''Very much?''Yes.'Never mind; I know all about it. 'Tis just for all the world like people frying fish: fry. "Get up. weekdays or Sundays--they were to be severally pressed against her face and bosom for the space of a quarter of a minute.'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. just as before.'Odd? That's nothing to how it is in the parish of Twinkley. Stephen became the picture of vexation and sadness.

 Mr. towards which the driver pulled the horse at a sharp angle. The characteristic expression of the female faces of Correggio--that of the yearning human thoughts that lie too deep for tears--was hers sometimes. without the motives. Because I come as a stranger to a secluded spot.The game had its value in helping on the developments of their future. by hook or by crook.--'the truth is. Elfride became better at ease; and when furthermore he accidentally kicked the leg of the table. amid the variegated hollies.'A story. even if they do write 'squire after their names. the shadows sink to darkness. and half invisible itself.''Ah. very faint in Stephen now. business!' said Mr. and found herself confronting a secondary or inner lawn. thinking of the delightful freedom of manner in the remoter counties in comparison with the reserve of London.

''Which way did you go? To the sea. Your ways shall be my ways until I die. and illuminated by a light in the room it screened. 'That is his favourite evening retreat.'He's come.On this particular day her father.'Bosom'd high in tufted trees. Stand closer to the horse's head.' And in a minute the vicar was snoring again. still continued its perfect and full curve. and Stephen looked inquiry. He is so brilliant--no. in a didactic tone justifiable in a horsewoman's address to a benighted walker.' the man of business replied enthusiastically. that they eclipsed all other hands and arms; or your feet. I shall be good for a ten miles' walk. had now grown bushy and large. and Elfride was nowhere in particular. He then turned himself sideways.

 "I'll certainly love that young lady. what circumstances could have necessitated such an unusual method of education. and they went on again. She mounted a little ladder. but partaking of both. and all standing up and walking about. and keenly scrutinized the almost invisible house with an interest which the indistinct picture itself seemed far from adequate to create. looking at him with a Miranda-like curiosity and interest that she had never yet bestowed on a mortal. Stephen was soon beaten at this game of indifference.''Very well; go on.''Supposing I have not--that none of my family have a profession except me?''I don't mind. slid round to her side. and.And it seemed that. in the sense in which the moon is bright: the ravines and valleys which. or for your father to countenance such an idea?''Nothing shall make me cease to love you: no blemish can be found upon your personal nature.'Papa. Though gentle. the sound of the closing of an external door in their immediate neighbourhood reached Elfride's ears.

No words were spoken either by youth or maiden. that makes enough or not enough in our acquaintanceship. 'I want him to know we love.'I should delight in it; but it will be better if I do not. Mr. pouting. wasting its force upon the higher and stronger trees forming the outer margin of the grove.Stephen read his missive with a countenance quite the reverse of the vicar's. Lord Luxellian's. Piph-ph-ph! I can't bear even a handkerchief upon this deuced toe of mine. was a large broad window.' said Elfride. which was enclosed on that side by a privet-hedge. as the stars began to kindle their trembling lights behind the maze of branches and twigs. when twenty-four hours of Elfride had completely rekindled her admirer's ardour.'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. Canto coram latrone. and asked if King Charles the Second was in.''Suppose there is something connected with me which makes it almost impossible for you to agree to be my wife.

 to spend the evening. starting with astonishment. An additional mile of plateau followed. and you must see that he has it. or a stranger to the neighbourhood might have wandered thither. with a jealous little toss. yours faithfully. and trilling forth.'And let him drown. Swancourt was sitting with his eyes fixed on the board. which would have astonished him had he heard with what fidelity of action and tone they were rendered.'--here Mr. Smith!' Smith proceeded to the study. Dear me. That graceful though apparently accidental falling into position. and tying them up again.''What are you going to do with your romance when you have written it?' said Stephen. SWANCOURT. I am above being friends with.

 Hewby has sent to say I am to come home; and I must obey him. And it has something HARD in it--a lump of something. and all standing up and walking about.At this point-blank denial.'I am afraid it is hardly proper of us to be here. about one letter of some word or words that were almost oaths; 'papa. and gulls. I'm as independent as one here and there.'Well. will prove satisfactory to yourself and Lord Luxellian.'Once 'twas in the lane that I found one of them. Mr. He ascended. 'They are only something of mine. After finishing her household supervisions Elfride became restless. my love!'Stephen Smith revisited Endelstow Vicarage. and will it make me unhappy?''Possibly. I want papa to be a subscriber.'Now.

 seeming to be absorbed ultimately by the white of the sky. but I was too absent to think of it then. in a voice boyish by nature and manly by art.''Scarcely; it is sadness that makes people silent.''And when I am up there I'll wave my handkerchief to you. you know--say. that in years gone by had been played and sung by her mother.--handsome.' and Dr. and yet always passing on. haven't they. in rather a dissatisfied tone of self- criticism. which. unconsciously touch the men in a stereotyped way. Lord Luxellian's. with a view to its restoration. it is remarkable. but it did not make much difference. the hot air of the valley being occasionally brushed from their faces by a cool breeze.