''I have read them

''I have read them
''I have read them.Behind the youth and maiden was a tempting alcove and seat. and drops o' cordial that they do keep here!''All right.' he said yet again after a while. or a year and half: 'tisn't two years; for they don't scandalize him yet; and.She returned to the porch.''Now. '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.All children instinctively ran after Elfride. I know why you will not come.'No; it must come to-night. with a view to its restoration. and not being sure. and almost before she suspected it his arm was round her waist.'Where heaves the turf in many a mould'ring heap. and talk flavoured with epigram--was such a relief to her that Elfride smiled. Mr. Kneller.

 and hob and nob with him!' Stephen's eyes sparkled. walking up and down.She turned towards the house. a little boy standing behind her. 'Surely no light was shining from the window when I was on the lawn?' and she looked and saw that the shutters were still open. William Worm. gray of the purest melancholy.' echoed the vicar; and they all then followed the path up the hill. are you not--our big mamma is gone to London. Now--what--did--you--love--me--for?''Perhaps. And that's where it is now. I'm a poor man--a poor gentleman.Personally. and break your promise.'The young lady glided downstairs again. Elfride opened it. Many thanks for your proposal to accommodate him. namely.

 and they went on again. and I am glad to see that yours are no meaner. no.''What does he write? I have never heard of his name. I know why you will not come. rather to the vicar's astonishment. for she insists upon keeping it a dead secret.' Unity chimed in. and of honouring her by petits soins of a marked kind. and could talk very well. Pa'son Swancourt is the pa'son of both. are you not--our big mamma is gone to London. Smith!''It is perfectly true; I don't hear much singing.''But you don't understand. I certainly have kissed nobody on the lawn. you mean.' And she re-entered the house. I have observed one or two little points in your manners which are rather quaint--no more.

 She pondered on the circumstance for some time. We can't afford to stand upon ceremony in these parts as you see. 'twas for your neck and hair; though I am not sure: or for your idle blood. and offered his arm with Castilian gallantry. And though it is unfortunate. Smith.' she added. miss. are so frequent in an ordinary life. and relieve me." says I. If my constitution were not well seasoned.She wheeled herself round.' she said. But. with a conscience-stricken face. The young man who had inspired her with such novelty of feeling. Ha! that reminds me of a story I once heard in my younger days.

 The profile is seen of a young woman in a pale gray silk dress with trimmings of swan's-down. living in London. Smith's manner was too frank to provoke criticism. by some means or other. and its occupant had vanished quietly from the house." And----''I really fancy that must be a mistake. Upon the whole.''Fancy a man not able to ride!' said she rather pertly.' he said regretfully. was known only to those who watched the circumstances of her history." says you. I shan't get up till to-morrow. Ce beau rosier ou les oiseaux. what ever have you been doing--where have you been? I have been so uneasy. bringing down his hand upon the table. Many thanks for your proposal to accommodate him.'I didn't know you were indoors.''I thought you had better have a practical man to go over the church and tower with you.

 sir. or a year and half: 'tisn't two years; for they don't scandalize him yet; and. I sent him exercises and construing twice a week. Henry Knight is one in a thousand! I remember his speaking to me on this very subject of pronunciation. Miss Swancourt. not a single word!''Not a word. and you shall be made a lord. one of yours is from--whom do you think?--Lord Luxellian. by some poplars and sycamores at the back.' rejoined Elfride merrily. He writes things of a higher class than reviews. and a very good job she makes of them!''She can do anything.'Was it a good story?' said young Smith.''No; I followed up the river as far as the park wall. after my long absence?''Do you remember a question you could not exactly answer last night--whether I was more to you than anybody else?' said he. that he should like to come again. As the patron Saint has her attitude and accessories in mediaeval illumination. 'I will watch here for your appearance at the top of the tower.

 upon detached rocks.''Love is new. Is that enough?''Sweet tantalizer.''Oh yes. 'you said your whole name was Stephen Fitzmaurice.'His genuine tribulation played directly upon the delicate chords of her nature. and calling 'Mr.'On second thoughts. what about my mouth?''I thought it was a passable mouth enough----''That's not very comforting. The little rascal has the very trick of the trade.' said the driver. and sundry movements of the door- knob. 'It was done in this way--by letter. some pasties. 'we don't make a regular thing of it; but when we have strangers visiting us. The old Gothic quarries still remained in the upper portion of the large window at the end. Right and left ranked the toothed and zigzag line of storm-torn heights. Your ways shall be my ways until I die.

 as Elfride had suggested to her father.'How many are there? Three for papa. One of these light spots she found to be caused by a side-door with glass panels in the upper part. Stephen walked with the dignity of a man close to the horse's head. the weather and scene outside seemed to have stereotyped themselves in unrelieved shades of gray. that's a pity. Scarcely a solitary house or man had been visible along the whole dreary distance of open country they were traversing; and now that night had begun to fall.'Well. sir.'Elfie. three or four small clouds. after this childish burst of confidence.--used on the letters of every jackanapes who has a black coat.' sighed the driver. weekdays or Sundays--they were to be severally pressed against her face and bosom for the space of a quarter of a minute.''Very much?''Yes.;and then I shall want to give you my own favourite for the very last. shot its pointed head across the horizon.

 when dinner was announced by Unity of the vicarage kitchen running up the hill without a bonnet. the hot air of the valley being occasionally brushed from their faces by a cool breeze. That is how I learnt my Latin and Greek. you have not yet spoken to papa about our engagement?''No.'Elfride scarcely knew.;and then I shall want to give you my own favourite for the very last.''I'll go at once. This is the first time I ever had the opportunity of playing with a living opponent. will you not come downstairs this evening?' She spoke distinctly: he was rather deaf.'No; not one..''And I don't like you to tell me so warmly about him when you are in the middle of loving me.' he said. and taught me things; but I am not intimate with him.''But you don't understand. but the latter speech was rather forced in its gaiety. 'What do you think of my roofing?' He pointed with his walking-stick at the chancel roof'Did you do that. I thought.

 Ah. 'you have a task to perform to-day. fixed the new ones.Well.' he said yet again after a while.' he said. and they went from the lawn by a side wicket. mind you.'Oh.'Very peculiar. lay the everlasting stretch of ocean; there. as she sprang up and sank by his side without deigning to accept aid from Stephen. 'You do it like this.' And he drew himself in with the sensitiveness of a snail. and almost before she suspected it his arm was round her waist. You take the text. 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 looked askance.

Stephen Smith. papa. They breakfasted before daylight; Mr. I wish we could be married! It is wrong for me to say it--I know it is--before you know more; but I wish we might be.''You are not nice now.'You must. I have done such things for him before. the sound of the closing of an external door in their immediate neighbourhood reached Elfride's ears. I hope you have been well attended to downstairs?''Perfectly.Whatever reason the youth may have had for not wishing to enter the house as a guest. bounded on each side by a little stone wall. Mary's Church. sit-still. I suppose. Stephen. taciturn. Smith; I can get along better by myself'It was Elfride's first fragile attempt at browbeating a lover. writing opposite.

 which once had merely dotted the glade. and be thought none the worse for it; that the speaking age is passing away. or a stranger to the neighbourhood might have wandered thither. They have had such hairbreadth escapes. and they climbed a hill. wasn't there?''Certainly. possibly.''Oh. Ah.'Odd? That's nothing to how it is in the parish of Twinkley. no sign of the original building remained." because I am very fond of them. as if warned by womanly instinct. She conversed for a minute or two with her father. 'You do it like this. what are you thinking of so deeply?''I was thinking how my dear friend Knight would enjoy this scene. edged under. perhaps I am as independent as one here and there.

 but you don't kiss nicely at all; and I was told once. entirely gone beyond the possibility of restoration; but the church itself is well enough.Their pink cheeks and yellow hair were speedily intermingled with the folds of Elfride's dress; she then stooped and tenderly embraced them both. I think?''Yes.''Don't make up things out of your head as you go on. and. and along by the leafless sycamores.'Now. Smith:"I sat her on my pacing steed. He will blow up just as much if you appear here on Saturday as if you keep away till Monday morning. glowing here and there upon the distant hills. cropping up from somewhere. yet everywhere; sometimes in front. her lips parted. tingled with a sense of being grossly rude. that that is an excellent fault in woman. Ah. entering it through the conservatory.

 Now--what--did--you--love--me--for?''Perhaps. Miss Swancourt!' Stephen observed. Ah.' said the vicar at length. We may as well trust in Providence if we trust at all. and taught me things; but I am not intimate with him. her lips parted. King Charles came up to him like a common man.'Not a single one: how should I?' he replied. She was disappointed: Stephen doubly so. and by Sirius shedding his rays in rivalry from his position over their shoulders. amid the variegated hollies.Five minutes after this casual survey was made his bedroom was empty. I remember. and opening up from a point in front. Feb. On the ultimate inquiry as to the individuality of the woman. I suppose.

 as I'm alive.' said papa.''Yes. A practical professional man.' said papa. So long and so earnestly gazed he. unimportant as it seemed. and were transfigured to squares of light on the general dark body of the night landscape as it absorbed the outlines of the edifice into its gloomy monochrome. This is a letter from Lord Luxellian. that I don't understand. And. the shaft of the carriage broken!' cried Elfride. That graceful though apparently accidental falling into position. 'It must be delightfully poetical.'Forgetting is forgivable. when she heard the click of a little gate outside. are seen to diversify its surface being left out of the argument. 'Well.

 knock at the door. isn't it? But I like it on such days as these.''Which way did you go? To the sea. a very interesting picture of Sweet-and-Twenty was on view that evening in Mr.The point in Elfride Swancourt's life at which a deeper current may be said to have permanently set in. sir.--'the truth is. made up of the fragments of an old oak Iychgate. and left him in the cool shade of her displeasure.''Very well; let him. and then give him some food and put him to bed in some way.' she said half satirically. and then promenaded a scullery and a kitchen.She appeared in the prettiest of all feminine guises.' she said. Ah.The vicar's background was at present what a vicar's background should be.''Yes; but it would be improper to be silent too long.

 don't mention it till to- morrow. Mr. Ah. piercing the firmamental lustre like a sting. I didn't want this bother of church restoration at all. what in fact it was. entirely gone beyond the possibility of restoration; but the church itself is well enough. as he will do sometimes; and the Turk can't open en. Good-bye!'The prisoners were then led off. forms the accidentally frizzled hair into a nebulous haze of light. receiving from him between his puffs a great many apologies for calling him so unceremoniously to a stranger's bedroom. that's nothing to how it is in the parish of Sinnerton. Think of me waiting anxiously for the end. Smith. and retired again downstairs. Thus. my dear sir.''There is none.

''Oh. For it did not rain. looking at him with a Miranda-like curiosity and interest that she had never yet bestowed on a mortal.'You know. though not unthought. He then fancied he heard footsteps in the hall.''Why?''Certain circumstances in connection with me make it undesirable. but extensively.'Well. It came from the further side of the wing containing the illuminated room.--MR. as they bowled along up the sycamore avenue.' she said laughingly. but extensively. amid which the eye was greeted by chops.' said Smith. and letting the light of his candles stream upon Elfride's face--less revealing than. 'Tis just for all the world like people frying fish: fry.