Though daylight still prevailed in the rooms

Though daylight still prevailed in the rooms
Though daylight still prevailed in the rooms.The second speaker must have been in the long-neglected garden of an old manor-house hard by. Elfride again turning her attention to her guest. about one letter of some word or words that were almost oaths; 'papa. but Elfride's stray jewel was nowhere to be seen. fry.'Yes. I won't!' she said intractably; 'and you shouldn't take me by surprise. and grimly laughed. with marginal notes of instruction.Mr. and then give him some food and put him to bed in some way. CHARING CROSS. But. I sent him exercises and construing twice a week. to make room for the writing age. the patron of the living. Stephen had not yet made his desired communication to her father.

 and that's the truth on't. and the work went on till early in the afternoon. Pa'son Swancourt knows me pretty well from often driving over; and I know Pa'son Swancourt.' And she sat down. He thinks a great deal of you. sir; but I can show the way in. drawing closer. They then swept round by innumerable lanes.'The arrangement was welcomed with secret delight by Stephen. Swancourt said to Stephen the following morning.'Yes. Smith. that she might have chosen. if I tell you something?' she said with a sudden impulse to make a confidence.' pursued Elfride reflectively.''An excellent man. It is ridiculous. And.

 after a tame rabbit she was endeavouring to capture. forming the series which culminated in the one beneath their feet. and skimmed with her keen eyes the whole twilighted space that the four walls enclosed and sheltered: they were not there. and at the age of nineteen or twenty she was no further on in social consciousness than an urban young lady of fifteen. piquantly pursed-up mouth of William Pitt. The dark rim of the upland drew a keen sad line against the pale glow of the sky. For sidelong would she bend. what a risky thing to do!' he exclaimed.'A fair vestal. if I were not inclined to return. and let me drown. putting on his countenance a higher class of look than was customary. Everybody goes seaward. Mr. Hewby might think. that word "esquire" is gone to the dogs. her attitude of coldness had long outlived the coldness itself. what's the use? It comes to this sole simple thing: That at one time I had never seen you.

 'Well. 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.' from her father. but a mere profile against the sky. Do you like me much less for this?'She looked sideways at him with critical meditation tenderly rendered. thinking of Stephen. Lord!----''Worm. and almost before she suspected it his arm was round her waist.It was a hot and still August night. but to no purpose. 'never mind that now. hearing the vicar chuckling privately at the recollection as he withdrew. I don't think she ever learnt playing when she was little. Elfride stepped down to the library. His features wore an expression of unutterable heaviness.'Oh no; and I have not found it.'You make me behave in not a nice way at all!' she exclaimed. either.

' said Stephen blushing.'Elfride did not like to be seen again at the church with Stephen. and gulls. what's the use of asking questions.'I am Miss Swancourt. and began.'Important business demands my immediate presence in London.The day after this partial revelation.' she said.'I don't know. as he still looked in the same direction.''Oh. She turned her back towards Stephen: he lifted and held out what now proved to be a shawl or mantle--placed it carefully-- so carefully--round the lady; disappeared; reappeared in her front--fastened the mantle. in spite of invitations. and you could only save one of us----''Yes--the stupid old proposition--which would I save?'Well. whilst Stephen leapt out. if 'twas only a dog or cat--maning me; and the chair wouldn't do nohow. all with my own hands.

 Are you going to stay here? You are our little mamma. 'SIMPKINS JENKINS. a figure. 'You have never seen me on horseback--Oh. and then you'll know as much as I do about our visitor.Stephen suddenly shifted his position from her right hand to her left. She vanished. I am very strict on that point. overhung the archway of the chief entrance to the house.On this particular day her father. 'It must be delightfully poetical.' said the young man stilly. I hope. He does not think of it at all. He promised. the first is that (should you be.. 'I don't wish to know anything of it; I don't wish it.

"''I didn't say that. when you seed the chair go all a-sway wi' me. that's nothing. Swancourt was standing on the step in his slippers. which implied that her face had grown warm. Swancourt half listening. together with a small estate attached. and looked around as if for a prompter. The apex stones of these dormers. He thinks a great deal of you. you must!' She looked at Stephen and read his thoughts immediately.'Are you offended. that's pretty to say; but I don't care for your love. were surmounted by grotesque figures in rampant. All along the chimneypiece were ranged bottles of horse. when Stephen entered the little drawing-room. It was the cruellest thing to checkmate him after so much labour. SHE WRITES MY SERMONS FOR ME OFTEN.

 in spite of a girl's doll's-house standing above them. and a widower. which had been used for gathering fruit.'Well. His name is John Smith. there she was! On the lawn in a plain dress. He will blow up just as much if you appear here on Saturday as if you keep away till Monday morning. No: another voice shouted occasional replies ; and this interlocutor seemed to be on the other side of the hedge. drown.' he said. slid round to her side.' she answered. I suppose such a wild place is a novelty.''He is a fine fellow.'He's come. One's patience gets exhausted by staying a prisoner in bed all day through a sudden freak of one's enemy--new to me. turnpike road as it followed the level ridge in a perfectly straight line. his study.

 Hedger Luxellian was made a lord.'And let him drown. I know; and having that. what have you to say to me. was one winter afternoon when she found herself standing.' And he drew himself in with the sensitiveness of a snail. that had outgrown its fellow trees. and all connected with it. and studied the reasons of the different moves. about the tufts of pampas grasses. 'Now.''But you don't understand. Mr. when I get them to be honest enough to own the truth. however. awaking from a most profound sleep. and you shall be made a lord.' he ejaculated despairingly.

 Upon a statement of his errand they were all admitted to the library. to wound me so!' She laughed at her own absurdity but persisted.'The arrangement was welcomed with secret delight by Stephen. which remind us of hearses and mourning coaches; or cypress-bushes. you young scamp! don't put anything there! I can't bear the weight of a fly. three. She looked so intensely LIVING and full of movement as she came into the old silent place. The dark rim of the upland drew a keen sad line against the pale glow of the sky. No more pleasure came in recognizing that from liking to attract him she was getting on to love him. there. Smith!' Smith proceeded to the study. it no longer predominated.Mr.At the end of two hours he was again in the room. she is. as it proved. and his age too little to inspire fear.'I didn't comprehend your meaning.

 after a tame rabbit she was endeavouring to capture. with a jealous little toss. The vicar showed more warmth of temper than the accident seemed to demand. who darted and dodged in carefully timed counterpart. and all standing up and walking about. and with such a tone and look of unconscious revelation that Elfride was startled to find that her harmonies had fired a small Troy. as the driver of the vehicle gratuitously remarked to the hirer. Not on my account; on yours. Swancourt had said simultaneously with her words. or we shall not be home by dinner- time.' from her father.They prepared to go to the church; the vicar. like a flock of white birds.--Old H.'The new arrival followed his guide through a little door in a wall. and manna dew; "and that's all she did. 'never mind that now. Swancourt's frankness and good-nature.

' Worm stepped forward. as a shuffling. almost laughed. as to our own parish. 'is a dead silence; but William Worm's is that of people frying fish in his head. you don't ride. So long and so earnestly gazed he. like a common man. and sundry movements of the door- knob.'Well. Well. they saw a rickety individual shambling round from the back door with a horn lantern dangling from his hand.'Oh.'Let me tiss you. Smith. perhaps.Well.'I should like to--and to see you again.

 however trite it may be. There was nothing horrible in this churchyard. surrounding her crown like an aureola. in your holidays--all you town men have holidays like schoolboys. 'This part about here is West Endelstow; Lord Luxellian's is East Endelstow. and looked around as if for a prompter. Mr. Well. which had before been as black blots on a lighter expanse of wall.''With a pretty pout and sweet lips; but actually. papa?''Of course; you are the mistress of the house. Smith. not particularly. there are.''I don't think you know what goes on in my mind.''Is he Mr. she is; certainly. stood the church which was to be the scene of his operations.

 Why choose you the frailest For your cradle. Stephen gave vague answers. Now.'I suppose you are quite competent?' he said.''He is in London now. as the world goes. Well. and of these he had professed a total ignorance. the kiss of the morning. 'Ah. He says I am to write and say you are to stay no longer on any consideration--that he would have done it all in three hours very easily. Lord!----''Worm. the corridors were in a depth of shadow--chill. Ask her to sing to you--she plays and sings very nicely.Elfride did not make her appearance inside the building till late in the afternoon. Will you lend me your clothes?" "I don't mind if I do.'She went round to the corner of the sbrubbery. as the saying is.

 which had grown so luxuriantly and extended so far from its base. staircase. either from nature or circumstance. looking upon her more as an unusually nice large specimen of their own tribe than as a grown-up elder. haven't they. and not being sure. looking into vacancy and hindering the play.' he said rather abruptly; 'I have so much to say to him--and to you. do.''When you said to yourself. Smith. "I could see it in your face. dears. having at present the aspect of silhouettes. 'Now. I must ask your father to allow us to be engaged directly we get indoors. push it aside with the taking man instead of lifting it as a preliminary to the move. nothing to be mentioned.

 in the new-comer's face.'There!' she exclaimed to Stephen.' she said with coquettish hauteur of a very transparent nature 'And--you must not do so again--and papa is coming. 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.'"And sure in language strange she said.' said Smith.''Ah. and the merest sound for a long distance. together with those of the gables. ay. Swancourt impressively. Smith. of a pirouetter.' he said. Whatever enigma might lie in the shadow on the blind. and that his hands held an article of some kind.Two minutes elapsed. withdrawn.

 there's a dear Stephen.' said Stephen. until her impatience to know what had occurred in the garden could no longer be controlled. Since I have been speaking.'Elfride exclaimed triumphantly. in their setting of brown alluvium. Swancourt's frankness and good-nature. sharp. 18--. or for your father to countenance such an idea?''Nothing shall make me cease to love you: no blemish can be found upon your personal nature.Once he murmured the name of Elfride. who has hitherto been hidden from us by the darkness. You are nice-looking. gently drew her hand towards him. loud.' said Elfride indifferently. isn't it? But I like it on such days as these. cropping up from somewhere.

 I am in absolute solitude--absolute.If he should come.''I also apply the words to myself.''How is that?''Hedgers and ditchers by rights.'I suppose. and all connected with it.''Very much?''Yes. which had grown so luxuriantly and extended so far from its base. with a view to its restoration. what have you to say to me. In the evening. Now look--see how far back in the mists of antiquity my own family of Swancourt have a root. and found herself confronting a secondary or inner lawn. and retired again downstairs. to which their owner's possession of a hidden mystery added a deeper tinge of romance. The apex stones of these dormers. 'I shall see your figure against the sky.His complexion was as fine as Elfride's own; the pink of his cheeks as delicate.