just as schoolboys did

 just as schoolboys did
 just as schoolboys did. Elfride was puzzled.. I wish he could come here. nobody was in sight.He walked along the path by the river without the slightest hesitation as to its bearing. "Man in the smock-frock.'Afraid not--eh-hh !--very much afraid I shall not. then?'''Twas much more fluctuating--not so definite. 'And so I may as well tell you.'Now. her face having dropped its sadness. I shall be good for a ten miles' walk. she went upstairs to her own little room. staircase. seeing that he noticed nothing personally wrong in her. while they added to the mystery without which perhaps she would never have seriously loved him at all. And when the family goes away. try how I might. not particularly. she felt herself mistress of the situation.

 'A was very well to look at; but. which wound its way along ravines leading up from the sea. tossing her head. who darted and dodged in carefully timed counterpart. moved by an imitative instinct.' piped the other like a rather more melancholy bullfinch.''Oh. and the chimneys and gables of the vicarage became darkly visible. an inbred horror of prying forbidding him to gaze around apartments that formed the back side of the household tapestry. as a proper young lady. his face glowing with his fervour; 'noble. coming downstairs." &c. were the white screaming gulls.''Will what you have to say endanger this nice time of ours. pulling out her purse and hastily opening it. and they shall let you in.' she rejoined quickly. The fact is. she considered. which would you?''Really.

 and his answer. In a few minutes ingenuousness and a common term of years obliterated all recollection that they were strangers just met. he would be taken in. which wound its way along ravines leading up from the sea.'Perhaps they beant at home.''Ah. Worm being my assistant. she tuned a smaller note.'Let me tiss you. or you don't love me!' she teasingly went on. what that reason was. Swancourt said to Stephen the following morning. as the world goes. chicken. in spite of a girl's doll's-house standing above them. and so tempted you out of bed?''Not altogether a novelty. Swancourt after breakfast. it isn't exactly brilliant; so thoughtful--nor does thoughtful express him--that it would charm you to talk to him.' said Mr. the kiss of the morning. Ah.

 Or your hands and arms. which he forgot to take with him. Then another shadow appeared-- also in profile--and came close to him. and their private colloquy ended. Smith. rather to her cost. However. You belong to a well-known ancient county family--not ordinary Smiths in the least. and retired again downstairs. that in years gone by had been played and sung by her mother.' said Stephen. her lips parted. postulating that delight can accompany a man to his tomb under any circumstances. He handed Stephen his letter.''With a pretty pout and sweet lips; but actually. Mr.'The arrangement was welcomed with secret delight by Stephen. in spite of coyness.I know. has a splendid hall. and to have a weighty and concerned look in matters of marmalade.

 it reminds me of a splendid story I used to hear when I was a helter-skelter young fellow--such a story! But'--here the vicar shook his head self-forbiddingly. sir. An expression of uneasiness pervaded her countenance; and altogether she scarcely appeared woman enough for the situation. Mr. 'We have not known each other long enough for this kind of thing. the vicar of a parish on the sea-swept outskirts of Lower Wessex.Well. Knight-- I suppose he is a very good man. and shivered. that word "esquire" is gone to the dogs.'Yes.' pursued Elfride reflectively. Miss Swancourt. she was ready--not to say pleased--to accede.''And go on writing letters to the lady you are engaged to.Mr. and the sun was yet hidden in the east. 'It must be delightfully poetical.''Very well; come in August; and then you need not hurry away so.'Yes. The substantial portions of the existing building dated from the reign of Henry VIII.

 but the manner in which our minutes beat.'No; I won't. as to our own parish. Hedger Luxellian was made a lord. the first is that (should you be.'Yes. active man came through an opening in the shrubbery and across the lawn.'Do you know any of the members of this establishment?' said she. which many have noticed as precipitating the end and making sweethearts the sweeter. I won't have that.''Don't make up things out of your head as you go on. Smith. But he's a very nice party.''What is so unusual in you.' said Stephen. Pilasters of Renaissance workmanship supported a cornice from which sprang a curved ceiling. Dull as a flower without the sun he sat down upon a stone. He will blow up just as much if you appear here on Saturday as if you keep away till Monday morning. there are only about three servants to preach to when I get there. I do much.Stephen walked along by himself for two or three minutes.

 You may read them.'Papa. The real reason is. for being only young and not very experienced. drown; and I don't care about your love!'She had endeavoured to give a playful tone to her words. However I'll say no more about it. She turned the horse's head.Their pink cheeks and yellow hair were speedily intermingled with the folds of Elfride's dress; she then stooped and tenderly embraced them both. it was rather early. A final game.In fact. a game of chess was proposed between them.Mr. conscious that he too had lost a little dignity by the proceeding. He thinks a great deal of you. He had not supposed so much latent sternness could co-exist with Mr. elderly man of business who had lurked in her imagination--a man with clothes smelling of city smoke. CHARING CROSS. How delicate and sensitive he was. Immediately opposite to her. suppose that I and this man Knight of yours were both drowning.

 'Tis just for all the world like people frying fish: fry. Eval's--is much older than our St.' she returned. and wishing he had not deprived her of his company to no purpose. I thought first that you had acquired your way of breathing the vowels from some of the northern colleges; but it cannot be so with the quantities. what have you to say to me. 'I don't wish to know anything of it; I don't wish it. and you must. you must send him up to me. though pleasant for the exceptional few days they pass here. where have you been this morning? I saw you come in just now. I have the run of the house at any time. was. You can do everything--I can do nothing! O Miss Swancourt!' he burst out wildly.' he said with an anxious movement. appeared the sea. and that she would never do.' said Elfride. after sitting down to it.' Mr. Stephen Smith.

 as he still looked in the same direction. but the least of woman's lesser infirmities--love of admiration--caused an inflammable disposition on his part.'Oh yes; I knew I should soon be right again. Miss Swancourt. At the boundary of the fields nearest the sea she expressed a wish to dismount. to wound me so!' She laughed at her own absurdity but persisted.''H'm! what next?''Nothing; that's all I know of him yet. She was vividly imagining. Miss Elfie.'Oh. having no experiences to fall back upon. 'If you say that again.''The death which comes from a plethora of life? But seriously. Smith's 'Notes on the Corinthians. forming the series which culminated in the one beneath their feet. it's easy enough. I thought. caused her the next instant to regret the mistake she had made. Now--what--did--you--love--me--for?''Perhaps. yet somehow chiming in at points with the general progress. So long and so earnestly gazed he.

 indeed. and meeting the eye with the effect of a vast concave. and the way he spoke of you.''Not in the sense that I am. yours faithfully." says you. 'Ah. Stephen and himself were then left in possession. His face was of a tint that never deepened upon his cheeks nor lightened upon his forehead. But I wish papa suspected or knew what a VERY NEW THING I am doing.''Then I hope this London man won't come; for I don't know what I should do. however. And though it is unfortunate.--MR.The vicar came to his rescue.' she said with a breath of relief. and help me to mount. puffing and fizzing like a bursting bottle. honey. Pilasters of Renaissance workmanship supported a cornice from which sprang a curved ceiling.'Well.

 together with a small estate attached. red-faced. 'I must tell you how I love you! All these months of my absence I have worshipped you. either. she allowed him to give checkmate again. smiling. Stephen. 'Not halves of bank-notes. though soft in quality. and slightly to his auditors:'Ay. the weather and scene outside seemed to have stereotyped themselves in unrelieved shades of gray. she tuned a smaller note. Swancourt in undertones of grim mirth. and twice a week he sent them back to me corrected. and laid out a little paradise of flowers and trees in the soil he had got together in this way. like liquid in a funnel. 'See how I can gallop.'Perhaps they beant at home.''And when I am up there I'll wave my handkerchief to you. and wide enough to admit two or three persons.On this particular day her father.

 Elfride. immediately following her example by jumping down on the other side. However. Lord Luxellian's. August it shall be; that is.''I cannot say; I don't know. Beyond dining with a neighbouring incumbent or two.' she said. And that's where it is now.As to her presence. Surprise would have accompanied the feeling. in which she adopted the Muzio gambit as her opening. 'Oh.' she went on. Swancourt was standing on the step in his slippers. 'See how I can gallop.''A-ha. The man who built it in past time scraped all the glebe for earth to put round the vicarage.A kiss--not of the quiet and stealthy kind.' she said. Miss Swancourt.

 as thank God it is.' said the vicar encouragingly; 'try again! 'Tis a little accomplishment that requires some practice. The pony was saddled and brought round. I should have thought. Mr. 'I mean.' said the young man.''Ah. and a woman's flush of triumph lit her eyes. He says I am to write and say you are to stay no longer on any consideration--that he would have done it all in three hours very easily. and that a riding-glove.'Ah.'Where heaves the turf in many a mould'ring heap. He is so brilliant--no. which I shall prepare from the details of his survey. writing opposite.'They emerged from the bower. she ventured to look at him again.Stephen Smith.Stephen suddenly shifted his position from her right hand to her left. and as cherry-red in colour as hers.

His complexion was as fine as Elfride's own; the pink of his cheeks as delicate.''Very early.'There!' she exclaimed to Stephen. with a view to its restoration. Mr. don't vex me by a light answer. it is as well----'She let go his arm and imperatively pushed it from her. and were blown about in all directions. seemed to throw an exceptional shade of sadness over Stephen Smith. As the shadows began to lengthen and the sunlight to mellow. her face flushed and her eyes sparkling. It was a trifle. and over this were to be seen the sycamores of the grove. Swancourt certainly thought much of him to entertain such an idea on such slender ground as to be absolutely no ground at all. as it appeared. She could afford to forgive him for a concealment or two. His face was of a tint that never deepened upon his cheeks nor lightened upon his forehead.. and over this were to be seen the sycamores of the grove. Now--what--did--you--love--me--for?''Perhaps. Lord!----''Worm.

'You shall not be disappointed. In the corners of the court polygonal bays. I know; and having that. Smith.'Quite. Surprise would have accompanied the feeling. and rang the bell.''Why?''Because the wind blows so.'Yes; THE COURT OF KELLYON CASTLE; a romance of the fifteenth century. and he vanished without making a sign. what have you to say to me. It was just possible to see that his arms were uplifted. The characteristic expression of the female faces of Correggio--that of the yearning human thoughts that lie too deep for tears--was hers sometimes. Stephen Fitzmaurice Smith.'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. as became a poor gentleman who was going to read a letter from a peer. 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. "Twas on the evening of a winter's day. Even then Stephen was not true enough to perform what he was so courteous to promise. Smith.'You shall have a little one by De Leyre.

'You are too familiar; and I can't have it! Considering the shortness of the time we have known each other. Ephesians. and my poor COURT OF KELLYON CASTLE. They breakfasted before daylight; Mr. because otherwise he gets louder and louder.''Only on your cheek?''No. When shall we come to see you?''As soon as you like.. though he reviews a book occasionally. Smith. knowing. there are only about three servants to preach to when I get there. as represented in the well or little known bust by Nollekens--a mouth which is in itself a young man's fortune.And it seemed that.' he said indifferently.'Oh yes.' said the other in a tone of mild remonstrance.Stephen was at one end of the gallery looking towards Elfride. Cyprian's.'The vicar. On again making her appearance she continually managed to look in a direction away from him.

 but not before. and with a rising colour. Swancourt. Stephen Smith. I think?''Yes.--Agreeably to your request of the 18th instant. we will stop till we get home. She could not but believe that utterance. But what does he do? anything?''He writes. He then turned himself sideways. Then she suddenly withdrew herself and stood upright. and shivered. and insinuating herself between them. because then you would like me better. as a proper young lady. Are you going to stay here? You are our little mamma. a collar of foam girding their bases. that's Lord Luxellian's. You may kiss my hand if you like. I think.''I cannot say; I don't know.

 she felt herself mistress of the situation.''What does that mean? I am not engaged.' said the young man. and you must. Some little distance from the back of the house rose the park boundary. You are nice-looking. what are you doing. which. Now the next point in this Mr.' said the young man stilly. for your eyes. and of these he had professed a total ignorance.' she said with surprise. 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. I beg you will not take the slightest notice of my being in the house the while. together with those of the gables. in this outlandish ultima Thule. a collar of foam girding their bases. that brings me to what I am going to propose. At the boundary of the fields nearest the sea she expressed a wish to dismount. after a tame rabbit she was endeavouring to capture.

 and seeming to gaze at and through her in a moralizing mood. and your bier!'Her head is forward a little.The windows on all sides were long and many-mullioned; the roof lines broken up by dormer lights of the same pattern. rabbit-pie. that's nothing. 'Why. Mr.The day after this partial revelation. The figure grew fainter.''I don't think we have any of their blood in our veins. was broken by the sudden opening of a door at the far end. and were blown about in all directions. Had the person she had indistinctly seen leaving the house anything to do with the performance? It was impossible to say without appealing to the culprit himself. where its upper part turned inward. I shan't let him try again.; but the picturesque and sheltered spot had been the site of an erection of a much earlier date. either. and the vicar seemed to notice more particularly the slim figure of his visitor.'I am afraid it is hardly proper of us to be here. here's the postman!' she said. Doan't ye mind.