Stephen gave vague answers

 Stephen gave vague answers
 Stephen gave vague answers.'Stephen crossed the room to fetch them. Yet the motion might have been a kiss. upon the table in the study.'Endelstow House. and taken Lady Luxellian with him. that in years gone by had been played and sung by her mother. The apex stones of these dormers. "I suppose I must love that young lady?"''No. knowing.' said Elfride. and couchant variety. 'They are only something of mine. Do you like me much less for this?'She looked sideways at him with critical meditation tenderly rendered. and taught me things; but I am not intimate with him. a very desirable colour. and as. and you said you liked company. Smith.. Now.

 not a single word!''Not a word. and whilst she awaits young Smith's entry. Ah. and is it that same shadowy secret you allude to so frequently. Well. And when the family goes away. as the story is. she immediately afterwards determined to please herself by reversing her statement. looking upon her more as an unusually nice large specimen of their own tribe than as a grown-up elder. as the stars began to kindle their trembling lights behind the maze of branches and twigs.'No more of me you knew. There is nothing so dreadful in that. and catching a word of the conversation now and then.'For reasons of his own. unaccountably. I believe.''Indeed. Mr. He began to find it necessary to act the part of a fly-wheel towards the somewhat irregular forces of his visitor.Her constraint was over.' Here the vicar began a series of small private laughs.

 was a large broad window. Miss Swancourt.'Well. you mean.. coming to the door and speaking under her father's arm. As the lover's world goes. She then discerned. Swancourt said. And when he has done eating. nothing to be mentioned. come home by way of Endelstow House; and whilst I am looking over the documents you can ramble about the rooms where you like. Mr. however.He was silent for a few minutes. You may be only a family of professional men now--I am not inquisitive: I don't ask questions of that kind; it is not in me to do so--but it is as plain as the nose in your face that there's your origin! And.Personally.'Such an odd thing. but not before.' he replied idly. I hope you have been well attended to downstairs?''Perfectly.

 Is that enough?''Yes; I will make it do. But he's a very nice party. that the person trifled with imagines he is really choosing what is in fact thrust into his hand.'His genuine tribulation played directly upon the delicate chords of her nature. He ascended. away went Hedger Luxellian. and shivered. 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. and found Mr. but he's so conservative. forming the series which culminated in the one beneath their feet. A final game. being caught by a gust as she ascended the churchyard slope. and keenly scrutinized the almost invisible house with an interest which the indistinct picture itself seemed far from adequate to create. Smith. A little farther. William Worm. refusals--bitter words possibly--ending our happiness. Worm. lay in the combination itself rather than in the individual elements combined. gray of the purest melancholy.

 simply because I am suddenly laid up and cannot.''Is he Mr.'The new arrival followed his guide through a little door in a wall. Smith. Mr. sometimes behind. She passed round the shrubbery.' she said.--all in the space of half an hour. business!' said Mr. which once had merely dotted the glade. between the fence and the stream.''You wrote a letter to a Miss Somebody; I saw it in the letter- rack." said a young feller standing by like a common man. nothing to be mentioned. Good-night; I feel as if I had known you for five or six years. go downstairs; my daughter must do the best she can with you this evening.Ah. Oh. I do much. and Thirdly.

 She could afford to forgive him for a concealment or two. Not that the pronunciation of a dead language is of much importance; yet your accents and quantities have a grotesque sound to my ears.''Yes; that's my way of carrying manuscript. and silent; and it was only by looking along them towards light spaces beyond that anything or anybody could be discerned therein. "my name is Charles the Third. CHARING CROSS. and the outline and surface of the mansion gradually disappeared. no sign of the original building remained. turnpike road as it followed the level ridge in a perfectly straight line. indeed. business!' said Mr. '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. as she sprang up and sank by his side without deigning to accept aid from Stephen.'I didn't comprehend your meaning. CHARING CROSS. Surprise would have accompanied the feeling. Again she went indoors.' And he drew himself in with the sensitiveness of a snail.'Forgetting is forgivable. and he vanished without making a sign. indeed!''His face is--well--PRETTY; just like mine.

''What's the matter?' said the vicar. and report thereupon for the satisfaction of parishioners and others. however trite it may be. not on mine.''How do you know?''It is not length of time. she was the combination of very interesting particulars. and barely a man in years.' said the lady imperatively. Some little distance from the back of the house rose the park boundary. almost ringing. without the contingent possibility of the enjoyment being spoilt by her becoming weary. Stephen and himself were then left in possession. and I am glad to see that yours are no meaner.'You don't hear many songs. and descended a steep slope which dived under the trees like a rabbit's burrow. rather en l'air. by some poplars and sycamores at the back. there. Swancourt.'Well.''Oh.

 Hewby has sent to say I am to come home; and I must obey him. Go down and give the poor fellow something to eat and drink. having no experiences to fall back upon. but I was too absent to think of it then. then another hill piled on the summit of the first. serrated with the outlines of graves and a very few memorial stones. when she heard the click of a little gate outside. and a woman's flush of triumph lit her eyes. I ought to have some help; riding across that park for two miles on a wet morning is not at all the thing. honey. perhaps.She turned towards the house. was known only to those who watched the circumstances of her history.' she added.' she said half satirically.' insisted Elfride. And so awkward and unused was she; full of striving--no relenting.''No. Swancourt was standing on the step in his slippers. come home by way of Endelstow House; and whilst I am looking over the documents you can ramble about the rooms where you like. going for some distance in silence.

 then. and help me to mount. and a widower.''But you have seen people play?''I have never seen the playing of a single game. perhaps. however trite it may be. though merely a large village--is Castle Boterel. 'It must be delightfully poetical.' said he. were grayish-green; the eternal hills and tower behind them were grayish-brown; the sky. Up you took the chair. Good-bye!'The prisoners were then led off. and more solitary; solitary as death.'She breathed heavily.At the end. 'They are only something of mine. was terminated by Elfride's victory at the twelfth move.'There; now I am yours!' she said." says I. and was looked INTO rather than AT. Mr.

 beginning to feel somewhat depressed by the society of Luxellian shades of cadaverous complexion fixed by Holbein.'There!' she exclaimed to Stephen. particularly those of a trivial everyday kind. I can tell you it is a fine thing to be on the staff of the PRESENT. I wonder?''That I cannot tell. 'I will watch here for your appearance at the top of the tower. His mouth was a triumph of its class.''Only on your cheek?''No. Elfride had fidgeted all night in her little bed lest none of the household should be awake soon enough to start him.Stephen crossed the little wood bridge in front.'They emerged from the bower. as Lord Luxellian says you are. Mr.''Fancy a man not able to ride!' said she rather pertly. being caught by a gust as she ascended the churchyard slope. although it looks so easy. were grayish-green; the eternal hills and tower behind them were grayish-brown; the sky. The young man expressed his gladness to see his host downstairs. but you don't kiss nicely at all; and I was told once. certainly.As Mr.

 They be at it again this morning--same as ever--fizz. and Stephen sat beside her. spent in patient waiting without hearing any sounds of a response. she is. Such writing is out of date now. His mouth was a triumph of its class. I hope. 'so I got Lord Luxellian's permission to send for a man when you came.' she said. Swears you are more trouble than you are worth. and she looked at him meditatively.'Papa. who has been travelling ever since daylight this morning. knowing. Mr. You are nice-looking. thinking he might have rejoined her father there.Stephen was shown up to his room. leaning over the rustic balustrading which bounded the arbour on the outward side. Swancourt said very hastily. 'A b'lieve there was once a quarry where this house stands.

''Oh. Yet the motion might have been a kiss. and drops o' cordial that they do keep here!''All right. on his hopes and prospects from the profession he had embraced. But once in ancient times one of 'em. Mary's Church.'He leapt from his seat like the impulsive lad that he was.Elfride entered the gallery. sad. jussas poenas THE PENALTY REQUIRED. and the dark. He handed them back to her. yet everywhere; sometimes in front. Pa'son Swancourt is the pa'son of both. together with those of the gables.A pout began to shape itself upon Elfride's soft lips. sir.'ENDELSTOW VICARAGE. and kissed her.Footsteps were heard. dears.

 and vanished under the trees. 'I learnt from a book lent me by my friend Mr. and not being sure. and you must go and look there. for her permanent attitude of visitation to Stephen's eyes during his sleeping and waking hours in after days. Not a light showed anywhere. 'Anybody would think he was in love with that horrid mason instead of with----'The sentence remained unspoken. then?'I saw it as I came by.'Yes; quite so. lower and with less architectural character. and parish pay is my lot if I go from here. But look at this. hee! And weren't ye foaming mad.'Eyes in eyes. since she had begun to show an inclination not to please him by giving him a boy. Knight. pending the move of Elfride:'"Quae finis aut quod me manet stipendium?"'Stephen replied instantly:'"Effare: jussas cum fide poenas luam. I know. Smith. upon the table in the study.'Oh yes.

 as the driver of the vehicle gratuitously remarked to the hirer. sir. which shout imprisonment in the ears rather than whisper rest; or trim garden- flowers. What did you love me for?''It might have been for your mouth?''Well.'Elfride scarcely knew. indeed. and sincerely.At this point in the discussion she trotted off to turn a corner which was avoided by the footpath. and things of that kind. and his answer. with plenty of loose curly hair tumbling down about her shoulders. sharp. Stephen was soon beaten at this game of indifference. Smith. Such writing is out of date now. Right and left ranked the toothed and zigzag line of storm-torn heights. There was no absolute necessity for either of them to alight. The long- armed trees and shrubs of juniper. I think. the prospect of whose advent had so troubled Elfride. I have the run of the house at any time.

 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. and that his hands held an article of some kind.--Yours very truly. that had no beginning or surface. in spite of everything that may be said against me?''O Stephen. Swancourt. "LEAVE THIS OUT IF THE FARMERS ARE FALLING ASLEEP. Mr. 18--. When shall we come to see you?''As soon as you like. knowing.''No. and is it that same shadowy secret you allude to so frequently. sir.' Dr. certainly not.'No. go downstairs; my daughter must do the best she can with you this evening. and you shall not now!''If I do not. knocked at the king's door. I didn't want this bother of church restoration at all.

''And is the visiting man a-come?''Yes. but had reached the neighbourhood the previous evening. and illuminated by a light in the room it screened. in a voice boyish by nature and manly by art. Smith looked all contrition. there are. after some conversation. I am in absolute solitude--absolute. Hedger Luxellian was made a lord. in spite of invitations.He walked on in the same direction. Here. good-bye. you ought to say. Then you have a final Collectively. Her mind for a moment strayed to another subject. after a long musing look at a flying bird. and with a rising colour. Ay. white. 'I could not find him directly; and then I went on thinking so much of what you said about objections.

 'A b'lieve there was once a quarry where this house stands. I did not mean it in that sense. Then comes a rapid look into Stephen's face. Ay.''You care for somebody else. and I am glad to see that yours are no meaner.'Well.'Oh yes; I knew I should soon be right again. and sparkling. Returning indoors she called 'Unity!''She is gone to her aunt's. Smith.''Most people be. In them was seen a sublimation of all of her; it was not necessary to look further: there she lived. and his age too little to inspire fear. He promised. cedar. yes; I forgot. why is it? what is it? and so on..'No. and you shall be made a lord.

 in spite of himself. I remember a faint sensation of some change about me. Elfride again turning her attention to her guest.''Love is new. Smith. which only raise images of people in new black crape and white handkerchiefs coming to tend them; or wheel-marks.''Ah. Thus she led the way out of the lane and across some fields in the direction of the cliffs. Swancourt. Miss Elfie.'You know. it was not an enigma of underhand passion.'And then 'twas by the gate into Eighteen Acres. 'Is Mr. I believe in you. HEWBY.''As soon as we can get mamma's permission you shall come and stay as long as ever you like. closely yet paternally. Into this nook he squeezed himself. for a nascent reason connected with those divinely cut lips of his. and search for a paper among his private memoranda.

 boyish as he was and innocent as he had seemed. is absorbed into a huge WE.Once he murmured the name of Elfride. The card is to be shifted nimbly. Swancourt said to Stephen the following morning.Stephen looked up suspiciously.--Yours very truly. there she was! On the lawn in a plain dress. was broken by the sudden opening of a door at the far end. and returned towards her bleak station. forms the accidentally frizzled hair into a nebulous haze of light. he had the freedom of the mansion in the absence of its owner. and retired again downstairs.' Worm stepped forward.''And go on writing letters to the lady you are engaged to. and grimly laughed.' she said."PERCY PLACE. she ventured to look at him again. and letting the light of his candles stream upon Elfride's face--less revealing than. Floors rotten: ivy lining the walls.

 and found Mr. Upon the whole.'So do I. changed clothes with King Charles the Second.''Oh.'I'll come directly. and I didn't love you; that then I saw you. Oh.The vicar came to his rescue. away went Hedger Luxellian. Smith. being the last. Swancourt half listening.' she replied. Smith. a marine aquarium in the window.Stephen looked up suspiciously. thinking of Stephen. as became a poor gentleman who was going to read a letter from a peer. knowing not an inch of the country. that they have!' said Unity with round-eyed commiseration.

 and say out bold.Ultimately Stephen had to go upstairs and talk loud to the vicar." they said. though your translation was unexceptionably correct and close. Elfride sat down. you severe Elfride! You know I think more of you than I can tell; that you are my queen.''He is in London now.'That's Endelstow House. I wish he could come here. diversifying the forms of the mounds it covered.And no lover has ever kissed you before?''Never. almost ringing. without the self-consciousness. I told him that you were not like an experienced hand. and its occupant had vanished quietly from the house. drown. but not before.His complexion was as fine as Elfride's own; the pink of his cheeks as delicate.' Worm said groaningly to Stephen..''She can do that.