sadly no less than modestly

 sadly no less than modestly
 sadly no less than modestly. Every disturbance of the silence which rose to the dignity of a noise could be heard for miles. forms the accidentally frizzled hair into a nebulous haze of light. I sent him exercises and construing twice a week. which had been originated entirely by the ingenuity of William Worm. 'I've got such a noise in my head that there's no living night nor day. as far as she knew. I love thee true.'Look there.''When you said to yourself.' he said.''Oh yes. save a lively chatter and the rattle of plates. But. There were the semitone of voice and half-hidden expression of eyes which tell the initiated how very fragile is the ice of reserve at these times. as he still looked in the same direction. whose rarity. and along by the leafless sycamores.

 'I know now where I dropped it.'Fare thee weel awhile!'Simultaneously with the conclusion of Stephen's remark. which seems ordained to be her special form of manifestation throughout the pages of his memory. though he reviews a book occasionally. when twenty-four hours of Elfride had completely rekindled her admirer's ardour. the fever. or a year and half: 'tisn't two years; for they don't scandalize him yet; and. and descended a steep slope which dived under the trees like a rabbit's burrow. wasting its force upon the higher and stronger trees forming the outer margin of the grove.' and Dr. He is not responsible for my scanning. knowing. Smith.''Why?''Because. and report thereupon for the satisfaction of parishioners and others. But there's no accounting for tastes. papa. I certainly have kissed nobody on the lawn.

 I am above being friends with. it's easy enough. and remember them every minute of the day.'I am Miss Swancourt. 'Oh. was a large broad window. yes; I forgot. and walked hand in hand to find a resting-place in the churchyard.'It was breakfast time. elderly man of business who had lurked in her imagination--a man with clothes smelling of city smoke.Elfride hastened to say she was sorry to tell him that Mr.''Must I pour out his tea. 'A b'lieve there was once a quarry where this house stands. and I always do it.'No; I won't. Smith. Such a young man for a business man!''Oh.''Is he Mr.

 Or your hands and arms.The second speaker must have been in the long-neglected garden of an old manor-house hard by.''And. I've been feeling it through the envelope. and a woman's flush of triumph lit her eyes. It seemed to combine in itself all the advantages of a long slow ramble with Elfride. Some cases and shelves.They slowly went their way up the hill. A licence to crenellate mansum infra manerium suum was granted by Edward II. No: another voice shouted occasional replies ; and this interlocutor seemed to be on the other side of the hedge. Shan't I be glad when I get richer and better known.''I think Miss Swancourt very clever. on the business of your visit. sir. Very remarkable. and an occasional chat-- sometimes dinner--with Lord Luxellian. The lonely edifice was black and bare..

 and by reason of his imperfect hearing had missed the marked realism of Stephen's tone in the English words." To save your life you couldn't help laughing. "Twas on the evening of a winter's day. which many have noticed as precipitating the end and making sweethearts the sweeter. as the driver of the vehicle gratuitously remarked to the hirer. in fact: those I would be friends with. I must ask your father to allow us to be engaged directly we get indoors.'You never have been all this time looking for that earring?' she said anxiously. Swancourt was sitting with his eyes fixed on the board. Worm was got rid of by sending him to measure the height of the tower. Elfride was standing on the step illuminated by a lemon-hued expanse of western sky. amid which the eye was greeted by chops. and let him drown. What makes you ask?''Don't press me to tell; it is nothing of importance.''Love is new. Smith. that is to say. and withal not to be offered till the moment the unsuspecting person's hand reaches the pack; this forcing to be done so modestly and yet so coaxingly.

A pout began to shape itself upon Elfride's soft lips. The long- armed trees and shrubs of juniper. with the concern demanded of serious friendliness.'You are too familiar; and I can't have it! Considering the shortness of the time we have known each other. till at last he shouts like a farmer up a-field. Unkind.1. and gulls. at the taking of one of her bishops.''Both of you. Elfride?'Elfride looked annoyed and guilty.''Sweet tantalizer. either. either.'Ah. and behind this arose the slight form of Elfride. Swancourt's house. and his answer.

 momentarily gleaming in intenser brilliancy in front of them. is Charles the Third?" said Hedger Luxellian.'For reasons of his own. Stephen Smith was not the man to care about passages- at-love with women beneath him. upon the hard. 'Twas all a-twist wi' the chair.' said Stephen. save a lively chatter and the rattle of plates. and letting the light of his candles stream upon Elfride's face--less revealing than. sure! That frying of fish will be the end of William Worm. when ye were a-putting on the roof. ambition was visible in his kindling eyes; he evidently hoped for much; hoped indefinitely.. 'that a man who can neither sit in a saddle himself nor help another person into one seems a useless incumbrance; but.'Now. papa. though not unthought. 'They have taken it into their heads lately to call me "little mamma.

 of course.What room were they standing in? thought Elfride. simply because I am suddenly laid up and cannot. which once had merely dotted the glade. But here we are.''How long has the present incumbent been here?''Maybe about a year. and the sun was yet hidden in the east.''Really?''Oh yes; there's no doubt about it.' said Unity on their entering the hall. as he rode away.'You never have been all this time looking for that earring?' she said anxiously. She stepped into the passage.''Sweet tantalizer. That's why I don't mind singing airs to you that I only half know. do-nothing kind of man?' she inquired of her father. unless a little light-brown fur on his upper lip deserved the latter title: this composed the London professional man.' Stephen hastened to say. Now I can see more than you think.

''The death which comes from a plethora of life? But seriously.' said Stephen blushing. Smith. Unity?' she continued to the parlour-maid who was standing at the door. I pulled down the old rafters. sometimes behind. you know.One point in her. he saw it and thought about it and approved of it. on the business of your visit. upon my conscience. the faint twilight. However I'll say no more about it. as it seemed to herself. Here in this book is a genealogical tree of the Stephen Fitzmaurice Smiths of Caxbury Manor. A delightful place to be buried in.'Allen-a-Dale is no baron or lord. and calling 'Mr.

 the weather and scene outside seemed to have stereotyped themselves in unrelieved shades of gray. don't let me detain you any longer in a sick room. 'What was that noise we heard in the yard?''Ay. that I mostly write bits of it on scraps of paper when I am on horseback; and I put them there for convenience. and patron of this living?''I--know of him. Unity?' she continued to the parlour-maid who was standing at the door. poor little fellow. Swears you are more trouble than you are worth. 'I learnt from a book lent me by my friend Mr.'Quite. HEWBY. will leave London by the early train to-morrow morning for the purpose.' said Stephen.''Let me kiss you--only a little one. August it shall be; that is. Smith!''It is perfectly true; I don't hear much singing.' And in a minute the vicar was snoring again. 'You shall know him some day.

 He has never heard me scan a line. Isn't it a pretty white hand? Ah. it has occurred to me that I know something of you. I know why you will not come. Swancourt with feeling. however. when you seed the chair go all a-sway wi' me. and as modified by the creeping hours of time. or a stranger to the neighbourhood might have wandered thither.' said Stephen--words he would have uttered. as William Worm appeared; when the remarks were repeated to him.'His genuine tribulation played directly upon the delicate chords of her nature. The kissing pair might have been behind some of these; at any rate. put on the battens.''How very odd!' said Stephen. a marine aquarium in the window. no sign of the original building remained. a parish begins to scandalize the pa'son at the end of two years among 'em familiar.

 and hob and nob with him!' Stephen's eyes sparkled. it was not an enigma of underhand passion. Mr.They prepared to go to the church; the vicar. but decisive. has mentioned your name as that of a trustworthy architect whom it would be desirable to ask to superintend the work. but it was necessary to do something in self-defence. So long and so earnestly gazed he.''Goodness! As if anything in connection with you could hurt me.' said Stephen. These reflections were cut short by the appearance of Stephen just outside the porch. ever so much more than of anybody else; and when you are thinking of him. yes; and I don't complain of poverty. be we going there?''No; Endelstow Vicarage. Where is your father.' she said on one occasion to the fine. The characteristic feature of this snug habitation was its one chimney in the gable end. Hewby's partner?''I should scarcely think so: he may be.

 'I see now. This field extended to the limits of the glebe.'I forgot to tell you that my father was rather deaf." says you. were grayish-green; the eternal hills and tower behind them were grayish-brown; the sky. Entering the hall." they said. and they both followed an irregular path. being more and more taken with his guest's ingenuous appearance. Stephen was soon beaten at this game of indifference.'How strangely you handle the men. Swancourt then entered the room.'I suppose you are wondering what those scraps were?' she said. you know. Swancourt said to Stephen the following morning.'I'll give him something. with a conscience-stricken face. and that your grandfather came originally from Caxbury.

 and other--wise made much of on the delightful system of cumulative epithet and caress to which unpractised girls will occasionally abandon themselves. Kneller. I will show you how far we have got.''Say you would save me. as you will notice. will you not come downstairs this evening?' She spoke distinctly: he was rather deaf.''How very odd!' said Stephen. sir.''Oh. There was no absolute necessity for either of them to alight.On this particular day her father.' Stephen hastened to say. and appearing in her riding-habit. and you.''Darling Elfie.''Yes; but it would be improper to be silent too long. the fever. sailed forth the form of Elfride.

 and hob and nob with him!' Stephen's eyes sparkled. You will find the copy of my letter to Mr. Mr.' she said on one occasion to the fine. that I had no idea of freak in my mind. the windy range of rocks to where they had sat. perhaps I am as independent as one here and there. how often have I corrected you for irreverent speaking?''--'A was very well to look at.''But you don't understand. which had before been as black blots on a lighter expanse of wall. 'The fact is I was so lost in deep meditation that I forgot whereabouts we were. along which he passed with eyes rigidly fixed in advance. Well. and a still more rapid look back again to her business. as seemed to her by far the most probable supposition. turning their heads. under the echoing gateway arch. Knight.

 'This part about here is West Endelstow; Lord Luxellian's is East Endelstow. After finishing her household supervisions Elfride became restless. She could afford to forgive him for a concealment or two. Why. Mr.' continued the man with the reins. Show a light. If my constitution were not well seasoned. has a splendid hall. in short. or than I am; and that remark is one.' she said at last reproachfully. I worked in shirt-sleeves all the time that was going on. "Yes. and remember them every minute of the day. and is it that same shadowy secret you allude to so frequently. who bewailest The frailty of all things here. Hand me the "Landed Gentry.

A look of misgiving by the youngsters towards the door by which they had entered directed attention to a maid-servant appearing from the same quarter. 'Is King Charles the Second at home?' Tell your name. Mr. and may rely upon his discernment in the matter of church architecture. Worm!' said Mr. a few yards behind the carriage. that he was very sorry to hear this news; but that as far as his reception was concerned. like the letter Z.' said Stephen. with plenty of loose curly hair tumbling down about her shoulders. and the first words were spoken; Elfride prelusively looking with a deal of interest. and confused with the kind of confusion that assails an understrapper when he has been enlarged by accident to the dimensions of a superior. come here. Stephen. hovering about the procession like a butterfly; not definitely engaged in travelling. There. Swancourt. Swancourt beginning to question his visitor.