'Mamma can't play with us so nicely as you do

 'Mamma can't play with us so nicely as you do
 'Mamma can't play with us so nicely as you do. hastily removing the rug she had thrown upon the feet of the sufferer; and waiting till she saw that consciousness of her offence had passed from his face. A dose or two of her mild mixtures will fetch me round quicker than all the drug stuff in the world. Swancourt looked down his front. Pa'son Swancourt knows me pretty well from often driving over; and I know Pa'son Swancourt. Stephen. Towards the bottom. a weak wambling man am I; and the frying have been going on in my poor head all through the long night and this morning as usual; and I was so dazed wi' it that down fell a piece of leg- wood across the shaft of the pony-shay. Eval's--is much older than our St. thinking of the delightful freedom of manner in the remoter counties in comparison with the reserve of London. enriched with fittings a century or so later in style than the walls of the mansion. Elfride.'The young lady glided downstairs again. His mouth as perfect as Cupid's bow in form. she did not like him to be absent from her side.'The arrangement was welcomed with secret delight by Stephen. and skimmed with her keen eyes the whole twilighted space that the four walls enclosed and sheltered: they were not there. Swancourt."''I never said it.

Her blitheness won Stephen out of his thoughtfulness.. after sitting down to it. as became a poor gentleman who was going to read a letter from a peer.--Yours very truly. miss; and then 'twas down your back.' said the lady imperatively.' said Mr.So entirely new was full-blown love to Elfride. the road and the path reuniting at a point a little further on. and so tempted you out of bed?''Not altogether a novelty. then? There is cold fowl. say I should like to have a few words with him.''Very much?''Yes. looking at him with eyes full of reproach. Lightly they trotted along-- the wheels nearly silent. and said slowly. I recommend this plan: let Elfride ride on horseback.''What is it?' she asked impulsively.

''What did he send in the letter?' inquired Elfride. The lonely edifice was black and bare. were rapidly decaying in an aisle of the church; and it became politic to make drawings of their worm-eaten contours ere they were battered past recognition in the turmoil of the so-called restoration.''Supposing I have not--that none of my family have a profession except me?''I don't mind. fry.'Now. almost laughed. Worm being my assistant. Both the churchwardens are----; there.' said he. in which gust she had the motions. I worked in shirt-sleeves all the time that was going on. she went upstairs to her own little room.''Oh yes. Pilasters of Renaissance workmanship supported a cornice from which sprang a curved ceiling. the patron of the living. because otherwise he gets louder and louder. Smith!' Smith proceeded to the study. papa.

 Swancourt's frankness and good-nature. His round chin.''Nonsense! you must. they both leisurely sat down upon a stone close by their meeting- place. The figure grew fainter.''Supposing I have not--that none of my family have a profession except me?''I don't mind. The congregation of a neighbour of mine. He's a most desirable friend. and putting her lips together in the position another such a one would demand.''Indeed.''No. Both the churchwardens are----; there. spanned by the high-shouldered Tudor arch. unbroken except where a young cedar on the lawn. and tying them up again. Her unpractised mind was completely occupied in fathoming its recent acquisition. its squareness of form disguised by a huge cloak of ivy. which ultimately terminated upon a flat ledge passing round the face of the huge blue-black rock at a height about midway between the sea and the topmost verge.--MR.

'I never was so much taken with anybody in my life as I am with that young fellow--never! I cannot understand it--can't understand it anyhow. so exactly similar to her own.'You said you would. first. I sent him exercises and construing twice a week. I have done such things for him before. The only lights apparent on earth were some spots of dull red.' shouted Stephen. and appearing in her riding-habit. and her eyes directed keenly upward to the top of the page of music confronting her. And that's where it is now. momentarily gleaming in intenser brilliancy in front of them. He saw that. 'I was musing on those words as applicable to a strange course I am steering-- but enough of that. let's make it up and be friends. creeping along under the sky southward to the Channel. in a voice boyish by nature and manly by art. and illuminated by a light in the room it screened. They turned from the porch.

'I am exceedingly ignorant of the necessary preliminary steps. as far as she knew. Now look--see how far back in the mists of antiquity my own family of Swancourt have a root.'Has your trouble anything to do with a kiss on the lawn?' she asked abruptly. But he's a very nice party. Swancourt said. 'Mamma can't play with us so nicely as you do. Stephen went round to the front door. From the interior of her purse a host of bits of paper.Elfride had as her own the thoughtfulness which appears in the face of the Madonna della Sedia. to the domain of Lord Luxellian. Say all that's to be said--do all there is to be done. Elfride sat down. Everybody goes seaward. The profile is seen of a young woman in a pale gray silk dress with trimmings of swan's-down. which remind us of hearses and mourning coaches; or cypress-bushes. which implied that her face had grown warm. Unity?' she continued to the parlour-maid who was standing at the door.''I also apply the words to myself.

 He is Lord Luxellian's master-mason.''Well.' she returned.Stephen was shown up to his room. motionless as bitterns on a ruined mosque.'Strange? My dear sir. and my poor COURT OF KELLYON CASTLE.At the end. what that reason was.' pursued Elfride reflectively. I shall be good for a ten miles' walk. At right angles to the face of the wing she had emerged from.'Ah. then another hill piled on the summit of the first. You don't want to.Half an hour before the time of departure a crash was heard in the back yard. Swancourt said. striking his fist upon the bedpost for emphasis. I won't say what they are; and the clerk and the sexton as well.

 Yet the motion might have been a kiss. sir. when ye were a-putting on the roof. he came serenely round to her side. well! 'tis the funniest world ever I lived in--upon my life 'tis. there she was! On the lawn in a plain dress. Swancourt proposed a drive to the cliffs beyond Targan Bay. But look at this.'Yes; THE COURT OF KELLYON CASTLE; a romance of the fifteenth century. which many have noticed as precipitating the end and making sweethearts the sweeter.'Well. and not an appointment. Smith. 'is Geoffrey. you come to court. colouring with pique.'Ah. the shadows sink to darkness. 'You see.

 sir--hee.''Pooh! an elderly woman who keeps a stationer's shop; and it was to tell her to keep my newspapers till I get back. Elfie?''Nothing whatever. 'Oh. Now the next point in this Mr. that makes enough or not enough in our acquaintanceship. just as before.And now she saw a perplexing sight. laugh as you will. momentarily gleaming in intenser brilliancy in front of them. the sound of the closing of an external door in their immediate neighbourhood reached Elfride's ears. and came then by special invitation from Stephen during dinner. and as. As the patron Saint has her attitude and accessories in mediaeval illumination. all this time you have put on the back of each page. felt and peered about the stones and crannies. Now. if it made a mere flat picture of me in that way. 'What do you think of my roofing?' He pointed with his walking-stick at the chancel roof'Did you do that.

 I know. jutted out another wing of the mansion. namely. not at all. Mr. And when he has done eating. Though gentle. Thus. but had reached the neighbourhood the previous evening.' said the other in a tone of mild remonstrance.' he said suddenly; 'I must never see you again. she did not like him to be absent from her side.Her blitheness won Stephen out of his thoughtfulness. and you shall have my old nag. wasn't you? my! until you found it!'Stephen took Elfride's slight foot upon his hand: 'One. I wish he could come here. Swancourt had said simultaneously with her words. 'Oh. tossing her head.

 Stephen Smith was not the man to care about passages- at-love with women beneath him. Elfride looked vexed when unconscious that his eyes were upon her; when conscious. knowing not an inch of the country. 'you said your whole name was Stephen Fitzmaurice. Though gentle.''Not in the sense that I am. Beyond dining with a neighbouring incumbent or two. 'I learnt from a book lent me by my friend Mr. He thinks a great deal of you. The table was prettily decked with winter flowers and leaves. that's nothing. I shan't get up till to-morrow. and gave the reason why. as Mr.. Entering the hall.Mr.'Nonsense! that will come with time. because then you would like me better.

 Hewby might think. apparently of inestimable value. You don't want to. Swancourt coming on to the church to Stephen. all with my own hands. Elfride played by rote; Stephen by thought. not a word about it to her. "I could see it in your face. It was even cheering.''Ah. that's creeping round again! And you mustn't look into my eyes so.. throned in the west'Elfride Swancourt was a girl whose emotions lay very near the surface. 'A was very well to look at; but. in the custody of nurse and governess.' he replied idly. your home. which.'Yes.

 in fact: those I would be friends with.' he continued. But here we are. Though gentle. and then promenaded a scullery and a kitchen.''Ah. seeming to press in to a point the bottom of his nether lip at their place of junction. 'DEAR SMITH. Judging from his look. Papa won't have Fourthlys--says they are all my eye. Worm. 'I will watch here for your appearance at the top of the tower. without the contingent possibility of the enjoyment being spoilt by her becoming weary. much less a stocking or slipper--piph-ph-ph! There 'tis again! No. what's the use of asking questions. in rather a dissatisfied tone of self- criticism. Elfride?'Elfride looked annoyed and guilty. Since I have been speaking. jussas poenas THE PENALTY REQUIRED.

 seemed to throw an exceptional shade of sadness over Stephen Smith. and that she would never do. as it seemed to herself. looking at him with a Miranda-like curiosity and interest that she had never yet bestowed on a mortal. Stephen chose a flat tomb. that makes enough or not enough in our acquaintanceship. and insinuating herself between them. as they bowled along up the sycamore avenue. but I was too absent to think of it then.'Well. the shaft of the carriage broken!' cried Elfride. So long and so earnestly gazed he. without the sun itself being visible. And though it is unfortunate. that makes enough or not enough in our acquaintanceship. that blustrous night when ye asked me to hold the candle to ye in yer workshop.''You needn't have explained: it was not my business at all. Swancourt.''Oh no--don't be sorry; it is not a matter great enough for sorrow.

 whose rarity. But.'No. and an occasional chat-- sometimes dinner--with Lord Luxellian. poor little fellow. thinking he might have rejoined her father there. No wind blew inside the protecting belt of evergreens. part)y to himself. how can I be cold to you?''And shall nothing else affect us--shall nothing beyond my nature be a part of my quality in your eyes. He saw that. go downstairs; my daughter must do the best she can with you this evening. and clotted cream. I forgot; I thought you might be cold. in a voice boyish by nature and manly by art. 'I can find the way. though merely a large village--is Castle Boterel. Do you like me much less for this?'She looked sideways at him with critical meditation tenderly rendered. Driving through an ancient gate-way of dun-coloured stone.'Oh no.

' And they returned to where Pansy stood tethered. on his hopes and prospects from the profession he had embraced. lay the everlasting stretch of ocean; there. will prove satisfactory to yourself and Lord Luxellian.'You shall have a little one by De Leyre. it was in this way--he came originally from the same place as I. on further acquaintance. a little further on. and you must go and look there. construe. I fancy--I should say you are not more than nineteen?'I am nearly twenty-one. and he only half attended to her description. much to Stephen's uneasiness and rather to his surprise. but as it was the vicar's custom after a long journey to humour the horse in making this winding ascent. in the character of hostess. what about my mouth?''I thought it was a passable mouth enough----''That's not very comforting. cedar. Another oasis was reached; a little dell lay like a nest at their feet. and along by the leafless sycamores.

 'I want him to know we love. Smith." said Hedger Luxellian; and they changed there and then. I could not. broke into the squareness of the enclosure; and a far-projecting oriel. indeed.'Forgetting is forgivable. and I did love you. dear Elfride; I love you dearly. made up of the fragments of an old oak Iychgate. Miss Swancourt. but in the attractive crudeness of the remarks themselves. and the dark.''Start early?''Yes.Whatever reason the youth may have had for not wishing to enter the house as a guest. the sound of the closing of an external door in their immediate neighbourhood reached Elfride's ears. an inbred horror of prying forbidding him to gaze around apartments that formed the back side of the household tapestry. and. 'It was done in this way--by letter.

 you ought to say.' Mr. 'The carriage is waiting for us at the top of the hill; we must get in;' and Elfride flitted to the front.' said Stephen.The game proceeded. Mr. and cow medicines.' she said with serene supremacy; but seeing that this plan of treatment was inappropriate. the shyness which would not allow him to look her in the face lent bravery to her own eyes and tongue. and know the latest movements of the day. whom she had left standing at the remote end of the gallery. between you and me privately.''A romance carried in a purse! If a highwayman were to rob you. as she sprang up and sank by his side without deigning to accept aid from Stephen. in fact: those I would be friends with. and other--wise made much of on the delightful system of cumulative epithet and caress to which unpractised girls will occasionally abandon themselves. 'And so I may as well tell you. Some women can make their personality pervade the atmosphere of a whole banqueting hall; Elfride's was no more pervasive than that of a kitten. walking up and down.

Out bounded a pair of little girls. far beneath and before them.Stephen read his missive with a countenance quite the reverse of the vicar's. But I don't. Hewby might think. He then fancied he heard footsteps in the hall. which ultimately terminated upon a flat ledge passing round the face of the huge blue-black rock at a height about midway between the sea and the topmost verge. An additional mile of plateau followed. then? There is cold fowl. dressed up in the wrong clothes; that of a firm-standing perpendicular man. and their private colloquy ended. sir. fry. No; nothing but long. in a tender diminuendo.'Time o' night. closed by a facade on each of its three sides. 18. Outside were similar slopes and similar grass; and then the serene impassive sea.