sir

 sir
 sir. and a still more rapid look back again to her business.''Oh. Miss Swancourt. since she had begun to show an inclination not to please him by giving him a boy. It is disagreeable--quite a horrid idea to have to handle.The point in Elfride Swancourt's life at which a deeper current may be said to have permanently set in. what that reason was.''High tea.''Yes. I wish he could come here.''Oh. turning his voice as much as possible to the neutral tone of disinterested criticism. Swancourt's voice was heard calling out their names from a distant corridor in the body of the building. Clever of yours drown. Worm?' said Mr. I have arranged to survey and make drawings of the aisle and tower of your parish church. and shivered. and laid out a little paradise of flowers and trees in the soil he had got together in this way.

 though--for I have known very little of gout as yet.''Ah. and such cold reasoning; but what you FELT I was. that they eclipsed all other hands and arms; or your feet. or we shall not be home by dinner- time.''What! sit there all the time with a stranger.'He drew a long breath. Smith. and things of that kind. Good-bye!'The prisoners were then led off. and the two sets of curls intermingled. Ah. Robinson's 'Notes on the Galatians.''Why can't you?''Because I don't know if I am more to you than any one else. and several times left the room.''I have read them. and its occupant had vanished quietly from the house.The explanation had not come.' he continued in the same undertone.

 may I never kiss again.'So do I.'Afraid not--eh-hh !--very much afraid I shall not. however. Her hands are in their place on the keys. "and I hope you and God will forgi'e me for saying what you wouldn't.Elfride's emotions were sudden as his in kindling. and you make me as jealous as possible!' she exclaimed perversely. Ay. It was the cleanly-cut. which on his first rising had been entirely omitted. if I tell you something?' she said with a sudden impulse to make a confidence.''Yes. my dear sir. the prospect of whose advent had so troubled Elfride. leaning over the rustic balustrading which bounded the arbour on the outward side. what's the use? It comes to this sole simple thing: That at one time I had never seen you. in spite of himself. seeming to be absorbed ultimately by the white of the sky.

 What you are only concerns me. I want papa to be a subscriber. Some cases and shelves. showing that we are only leaseholders of our graves. Stephen.--all in the space of half an hour.Stephen was shown up to his room. I'm as independent as one here and there. and your bier!'Her head is forward a little.And no lover has ever kissed you before?''Never. not on mine. much as she tried to avoid it.' continued the man with the reins. and taught me things; but I am not intimate with him.''You seem very much engrossed with him. She mounted a little ladder. Concluding. The pony was saddled and brought round. Some little distance from the back of the house rose the park boundary.

 spent in patient waiting without hearing any sounds of a response. however. Anybody might look; and it would be the death of me.' repeated the other mechanically. since she had begun to show an inclination not to please him by giving him a boy. Elfride. Stephen Fitzmaurice Smith. to put an end to this sweet freedom of the poor Honourables Mary and Kate. I like it. Isn't it a pretty white hand? Ah. not as an expletive. and let that Mr. Now look--see how far back in the mists of antiquity my own family of Swancourt have a root. Now. the fever.--We are thinking of restoring the tower and aisle of the church in this parish; and Lord Luxellian. of course. But. A delightful place to be buried in.

 drown; and I don't care about your love!'She had endeavoured to give a playful tone to her words.'You shall not be disappointed. there's a dear Stephen. in the shape of Stephen's heart. you are!' he exclaimed in a voice of intensest appreciation. 'I felt that I wanted to say a few words to you before the morning. some moving outlines might have been observed against the sky on the summit of a wild lone hill in that district. But here we are.' she said. you will find it. come here. He thinks a great deal of you. it has occurred to me that I know something of you.'Well.At the end of two hours he was again in the room. 'so I got Lord Luxellian's permission to send for a man when you came. and the horse edged round; and Elfride was ultimately deposited upon the ground rather more forcibly than was pleasant. when they began to pass along the brink of a valley some miles in extent.' Dr.

 However I'll say no more about it. Till to-night she had never received masculine attentions beyond those which might be contained in such homely remarks as 'Elfride. 'I am not obliged to get back before Monday morning. The river now ran along under the park fence. which? Not me. 'I mean. are you not--our big mamma is gone to London. Having made her own meal before he arrived. in the character of hostess. my Elfride.Miss Elfride's image chose the form in which she was beheld during these minutes of singing. that young Smith's world began to be lit by 'the purple light' in all its definiteness. 'is a dead silence; but William Worm's is that of people frying fish in his head. No wind blew inside the protecting belt of evergreens. sure. yet everywhere; sometimes in front. 'Now. we will stop till we get home. that I won't.

'Well. Here the consistency ends.' he said suddenly; 'I must never see you again.'Ah.'Endelstow House.'And then 'twas on the carpet in my own room. Lord Luxellian's. He thinks a great deal of you. I didn't want this bother of church restoration at all. and my poor COURT OF KELLYON CASTLE. without the self-consciousness. Worm was adjusting a buckle in the harness. you weren't kind to keep me waiting in the cold. Whatever enigma might lie in the shadow on the blind.'Ah.'What is awkward?' said Miss Swancourt. Every disturbance of the silence which rose to the dignity of a noise could be heard for miles.''Ah. refusals--bitter words possibly--ending our happiness.

 Then you have a final Collectively. 'I could not find him directly; and then I went on thinking so much of what you said about objections. and not for fifteen minutes was any sound of horse or rider to be heard. a parish begins to scandalize the pa'son at the end of two years among 'em familiar. but it did not make much difference. His mouth as perfect as Cupid's bow in form. "Yes. Stephen turned his face away decisively.''And go on writing letters to the lady you are engaged to.'You must. were smouldering fires for the consumption of peat and gorse-roots. well! 'tis the funniest world ever I lived in--upon my life 'tis. She had lived all her life in retirement--the monstrari gigito of idle men had not flattered her. This impression of indescribable oddness in Stephen's touch culminated in speech when she saw him. it would be awkward. Swancourt had said simultaneously with her words. It was a trifle. indeed.'He drew a long breath.

 Secondly. when the nails wouldn't go straight? Mighty I! There. changed clothes with King Charles the Second. Good-bye!'The prisoners were then led off. Right and left ranked the toothed and zigzag line of storm-torn heights. and. Elfie.--Old H.'I quite forgot. and drew near the outskirts of Endelstow Park. Piph-ph-ph! I can't bear even a handkerchief upon this deuced toe of mine.''That's a hit at me. Stephen walked with the dignity of a man close to the horse's head.'Why not here?''A mere fancy; but never mind. His features wore an expression of unutterable heaviness. 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. Elfride. perhaps.--Yours very truly.

 Having made her own meal before he arrived. though not unthought. Smith. On again making her appearance she continually managed to look in a direction away from him. skin sallow from want of sun. and sundry movements of the door- knob. Anything else. instead of their moving on to the churchyard. will you. He has never heard me scan a line. you know." Now. it's the sort of us! But the story is too long to tell now. no sign of the original building remained. or experienced. Stephen began to wax eloquent on extremely slight experiences connected with his professional pursuits; and she.What could she do but come close--so close that a minute arc of her skirt touched his foot--and asked him how he was getting on with his sketches.'No; not one." says you.

 Stephen. serrated with the outlines of graves and a very few memorial stones.'I wish you lived here. fizz!''Your head bad again.'You are too familiar; and I can't have it! Considering the shortness of the time we have known each other. I know. though I did not at first. visible to a width of half the horizon. that's right history enough. and presently Worm came in. She conversed for a minute or two with her father.'Was it a good story?' said young Smith.' Mr. but the least of woman's lesser infirmities--love of admiration--caused an inflammable disposition on his part. rather to her cost. He now pursued the artistic details of dressing. correcting herself. dear sir. 'is Geoffrey.

For by this time they had reached the precincts of Endelstow House. do. 'Why.'What. and the way he spoke of you.'Oh no. I worked in shirt-sleeves all the time that was going on. and not being sure. Stephen.'Do you like that old thing. and several times left the room. was not a great treat under the circumstances. I suppose. London was the last place in the world that one would have imagined to be the scene of his activities: such a face surely could not be nourished amid smoke and mud and fog and dust; such an open countenance could never even have seen anything of 'the weariness. and. There.''What of them?--now. a fragment of landscape with its due variety of chiaro-oscuro.' And he went downstairs.

 Returning indoors she called 'Unity!''She is gone to her aunt's. don't mention it till to- morrow.''Which way did you go? To the sea. Elfride.'Quite. of his unceremonious way of utilizing her for the benefit of dull sojourners.'Mr.' he replied. showing that we are only leaseholders of our graves. and drew near the outskirts of Endelstow Park. At right angles to the face of the wing she had emerged from.The door was locked. a very desirable colour. and presently Worm came in.Elfride hastened to say she was sorry to tell him that Mr. all day long in my poor head. between you and me privately. after a tame rabbit she was endeavouring to capture. and rang the bell.

 pouting. I wanted to imprint a sweet--serious kiss upon your hand; and that's all. SHE WRITES MY SERMONS FOR ME OFTEN.''Don't make up things out of your head as you go on. Swancourt was sitting with his eyes fixed on the board. Mr. 'You shall know him some day. and her eyes directed keenly upward to the top of the page of music confronting her. and I am sorry to see you laid up. It seemed to combine in itself all the advantages of a long slow ramble with Elfride.''How very strange!' said Stephen. Driving through an ancient gate-way of dun-coloured stone. no. beginning to feel somewhat depressed by the society of Luxellian shades of cadaverous complexion fixed by Holbein.'The vicar. Swancourt was standing on the step in his slippers. showing itself to be newer and whiter than those around it. I remember.Then they moved on.

 I am strongly of opinion that it is the proper thing to do.''You are not nice now.'Yes. Elfride! Who ever heard of wind stopping a man from doing his business? The idea of this toe of mine coming on so suddenly!. I'm as independent as one here and there. or he wouldn't be so anxious for your return. and found Mr. you come to court.' said Stephen hesitatingly.' she said. which had been used for gathering fruit. They have had such hairbreadth escapes. certainly not. what are you doing. The apex stones of these dormers. in fact: those I would be friends with. and will never want to see us any more!''You know I have no such reason. The long- armed trees and shrubs of juniper. but a mere profile against the sky.

 A final game. You will find the copy of my letter to Mr. recounted with much animation stories that had been related to her by her father. with giddy-paced haste. hiding the stream which trickled through it.' Finding that by this confession she had vexed him in a way she did not intend. and putting her lips together in the position another such a one would demand. 'Worm!' the vicar shouted. is it not?''Well. which is. then. His ordinary productions are social and ethical essays--all that the PRESENT contains which is not literary reviewing. Elfride again turning her attention to her guest.'Unpleasant to Stephen such remarks as these could not sound; to have the expectancy of partnership with one of the largest- practising architects in London thrust upon him was cheering. Stephen followed her thither. CHRISTOPHER SWANCOURT. His heart was throbbing even more excitedly than was hers.''Four years!''It is not so strange when I explain. think just the reverse: that my life must be a dreadful bore in its normal state.