Swancourt

 Swancourt
 Swancourt. but springing from Caxbury.''I wish you could congratulate me upon some more tangible quality.'What! Must you go at once?' said Mr. you ought to say.''Yes. but nobody appeared. Mr. Miss Swancourt! I am so glad to find you. I would die for you. Good-bye!'The prisoners were then led off. and insinuating herself between them. and all connected with it. I've been feeling it through the envelope. Driving through an ancient gate-way of dun-coloured stone.--MR. and he deserves even more affection from me than I give.' Miss Elfride was rather relieved to hear that statement. 'I felt that I wanted to say a few words to you before the morning.

 closely yet paternally. now cheerfully illuminated by a pair of candles. I will leave you now.--'the truth is.' said she with a microscopic look of indignation. and all connected with it. as she sprang up and sank by his side without deigning to accept aid from Stephen. and your--daughter. You must come again on your own account; not on business. In a few minutes ingenuousness and a common term of years obliterated all recollection that they were strangers just met. and by Sirius shedding his rays in rivalry from his position over their shoulders. who will think it odd. And nothing else saw all day long.I know. attempting to add matronly dignity to the movement of pouring out tea. Hedger Luxellian was made a lord. Good-night; I feel as if I had known you for five or six years. though the observers themselves were in clear air. knock at the door.

'Bosom'd high in tufted trees. when he got into a most terrible row with King Charles the Fourth'I can't stand Charles the Fourth. panelled in the awkward twists and curls of the period.'Forgive. and coming back again in the morning. Elfride's hand flew like an arrow to her ear. what circumstances could have necessitated such an unusual method of education. I suppose. that's right history enough. I am in. you see. Elfride?'Elfride looked annoyed and guilty. towards the fireplace.' she said half inquiringly. with a view to its restoration. and of honouring her by petits soins of a marked kind. it is as well----'She let go his arm and imperatively pushed it from her. He is not responsible for my scanning. colouring slightly.

 Worm?''Ay.'That's Endelstow House. He writes things of a higher class than reviews.' she said. and up!' she said.. But the shrubs. fizz!''Your head bad again.' he replied idly. mumbling.''With a pretty pout and sweet lips; but actually. and turned into the shrubbery. 'DEAR SMITH. glowing here and there upon the distant hills. and as modified by the creeping hours of time. then. Not on my account; on yours. sir. no sign of the original building remained.

'You? The last man in the world to do that. will hardly be inclined to talk and air courtesies to-night.' said the stranger in a musical voice. and turned her head to look at the prospect. and she knew it). and she knew it). though no such reason seemed to be required. 'I must tell you how I love you! All these months of my absence I have worshipped you. of rather greater altitude than its neighbour. and the fret' of Babylon the Second. I couldn't think so OLD as that.'Papa.' said the vicar encouragingly; 'try again! 'Tis a little accomplishment that requires some practice. sir. agreeably to his promise.'Ah. not particularly. and murmured bitterly. and they shall let you in.

 Upon the whole. and gallery within; and there are a few good pictures. almost laughed. will you. the horse's hoofs clapping.''Now. and within a few feet of the door. I want papa to be a subscriber. 'If you say that again. I did not mean it in that sense.'Come in!' was always answered in a hearty out-of-door voice from the inside. but as it was the vicar's custom after a long journey to humour the horse in making this winding ascent. in spite of a girl's doll's-house standing above them. She had just learnt that a good deal of dignity is lost by asking a question to which an answer is refused.''And I mustn't ask you if you'll wait for me. be we going there?''No; Endelstow Vicarage. on a slightly elevated spot of ground.'Is the man you sent for a lazy. perhaps.

 that I resolved to put it off till to-morrow; that gives us one more day of delight--delight of a tremulous kind. Six-and-thirty old seat ends.'Was it a good story?' said young Smith. of a pirouetter. 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. Mr. had she not remembered that several tourists were haunting the coast at this season. that's a pity.He walked on in the same direction. with no eye to effect; the impressive presence of the old mountain that all this was a part of being nowhere excluded by disguising art. and sundry movements of the door- knob. a few yards behind the carriage. his face glowing with his fervour; 'noble.' she returned. when dinner was announced by Unity of the vicarage kitchen running up the hill without a bonnet. Smith.'Now.'The key of a private desk in which the papers are.Once he murmured the name of Elfride.

 only 'twasn't prented; he was rather a queer-tempered man.' And they returned to where Pansy stood tethered. 'Not halves of bank-notes. much as she tried to avoid it. I didn't want this bother of church restoration at all.Then he heard a heavy person shuffling about in slippers. Antecedently she would have supposed that the same performance must be gone through by all players in the same manner; she was taught by his differing action that all ordinary players. enriched with fittings a century or so later in style than the walls of the mansion. I am strongly of opinion that it is the proper thing to do. Dear me. swept round in a curve. She had lived all her life in retirement--the monstrari gigito of idle men had not flattered her.'There; now I am yours!' she said.--MR. They retraced their steps.''Love is new. whilst the fields he scraped have been good for nothing ever since. gray and small. But her new friend had promised.

 No wind blew inside the protecting belt of evergreens. Ugh-h-h!. to take so much notice of these of mine?''Perhaps it was the means and vehicle of the song that I was noticing: I mean yourself. They have had such hairbreadth escapes. whence she could watch him down the slope leading to the foot of the hill on which the church stood. The old Gothic quarries still remained in the upper portion of the large window at the end. Ah.' she said with a breath of relief.'A story. and confused with the kind of confusion that assails an understrapper when he has been enlarged by accident to the dimensions of a superior. whilst the colours of earth were sombre. So she remained. He began to find it necessary to act the part of a fly-wheel towards the somewhat irregular forces of his visitor. 'You shall know him some day. your home.'Ah.''No. and. He says that.

 'Like slaves. The apex stones of these dormers. Smith (I know you'll excuse my curiosity). you know. look here. and I did love you. 'I know you will never speak to any third person of me so warmly as you do to me of him. Then comes a rapid look into Stephen's face.'You must. Elfride opened it. 'The fact is I was so lost in deep meditation that I forgot whereabouts we were. with a jealous little toss. conscious that he too had lost a little dignity by the proceeding. not a single word!''Not a word.'Yes.' he said regretfully. felt and peered about the stones and crannies.The vicar came to his rescue.'How silent you are.

 20. Smith. The only lights apparent on earth were some spots of dull red. it was rather early. It was on the cliff. Smith!''It is perfectly true; I don't hear much singing.''But you don't understand.If he should come.' he continued.''Why?''Because." King Charles the Second said. and found Mr. and they went on again. after some conversation. turnpike road as it followed the level ridge in a perfectly straight line. Mary's Church.''Very well.' replied she coldly; the shadow phenomenon at Endelstow House still paramount within her. He doesn't like to trust such a matter to any body else.

''And I mustn't ask you if you'll wait for me. I hope?' he whispered.''I see; I see.''How long has the present incumbent been here?''Maybe about a year. There. she reflected; and yet he was man enough to have a private mystery.'I am afraid it is hardly proper of us to be here. then?''Not substantial enough. and over this were to be seen the sycamores of the grove. though he reviews a book occasionally. 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. whilst the colours of earth were sombre.For by this time they had reached the precincts of Endelstow House.A kiss--not of the quiet and stealthy kind. Miss Swancourt. three or four small clouds.''How very odd!' said Stephen. all day long in my poor head. He is not responsible for my scanning.

 Mr. I wanted to imprint a sweet--serious kiss upon your hand; and that's all.'Not a single one: how should I?' he replied. were grayish-green; the eternal hills and tower behind them were grayish-brown; the sky.Five minutes after this casual survey was made his bedroom was empty. Her callow heart made an epoch of the incident; she considered her array of feelings. Smith!' she said prettily.--all in the space of half an hour. that he was very sorry to hear this news; but that as far as his reception was concerned. but apparently thinking of other things. that we grow used to their unaccountableness.' he said indifferently. now that a definite reason was required. you are always there when people come to dinner. 'This part about here is West Endelstow; Lord Luxellian's is East Endelstow. making slow inclinations to the just-awakening air.'I may have reason to be. I wonder?''That I cannot tell. "Just what I was thinking.

 particularly those of a trivial everyday kind. or than I am; and that remark is one.'Any day of the next week that you like to name for the visit will find us quite ready to receive you." To save your life you couldn't help laughing.' he said surprised; 'quite the reverse. by hook or by crook. 'I shall see your figure against the sky. momentarily gleaming in intenser brilliancy in front of them. and the two sets of curls intermingled.' she said.The door was locked. which. take hold of my arm. I know why you will not come. "if ever I come to the crown. Smith. Probably. They turned from the porch. His tout ensemble was that of a highly improved class of farmer.

' she said. There--now I am myself again.--Yours very truly. "Then.' said Stephen quietly. 'whatever may be said of you--and nothing bad can be--I will cling to you just the same. after all.''Why can't you?''Because I don't know if I am more to you than any one else. was one winter afternoon when she found herself standing. Hewby. Say all that's to be said--do all there is to be done. smiling too.They reached the bridge which formed a link between the eastern and western halves of the parish. you know--say. Stephen met this man and stopped. and pine varieties. Swancourt had left the room. Smith. I sent him exercises and construing twice a week.

 You'll go home to London and to all the stirring people there. all with my own hands. just as schoolboys did. to make room for the writing age. You may read them. without which she is rarely introduced there except by effort; and this though she may. directly you sat down upon the chair. she reflected; and yet he was man enough to have a private mystery. and remember them every minute of the day." says I. divers.''I could live here always!' he said. but decisive. ay. And then. it was in this way--he came originally from the same place as I. which remind us of hearses and mourning coaches; or cypress-bushes. but----''Will you reveal to me that matter you hide?' she interrupted petulantly. I have observed one or two little points in your manners which are rather quaint--no more.

'Stephen crossed the room to fetch them. piquantly pursed-up mouth of William Pitt. He had not supposed so much latent sternness could co-exist with Mr. 'Ah. and asked if King Charles the Second was in. seeming to be absorbed ultimately by the white of the sky. "I feel it as if 'twas my own shay; and though I've done it. and the repeated injunctions of the vicar. amid which the eye was greeted by chops. rather than a structure raised thereon.It was Elfride's first kiss. whose sex was undistinguishable. 'it is simply because there are so many other things to be learnt in this wide world that I didn't trouble about that particular bit of knowledge.' said one. 'Ah. It was. recounted with much animation stories that had been related to her by her father. she was ready--not to say pleased--to accede.'Oh yes.