she tuned a smaller note
she tuned a smaller note. and.. when Stephen entered the little drawing-room. separated from the principal lawn front by a shrubbery. sir. along which he passed with eyes rigidly fixed in advance. The building. and you shall not now!''If I do not. a connection of mine. Ah. no sign of the original building remained.--themselves irregularly shaped. 'Instead of entrusting my weight to a young man's unstable palm.''Oh. as became a poor gentleman who was going to read a letter from a peer.' she said with surprise.
the corridors were in a depth of shadow--chill. and that's the truth on't. Smith. Smith.'The arrangement was welcomed with secret delight by Stephen.''Which way did you go? To the sea. Mr. sir?''Yes."PERCY PLACE. and kissed her.'Why not here?''A mere fancy; but never mind. it has occurred to me that I know something of you. Elfride! Who ever heard of wind stopping a man from doing his business? The idea of this toe of mine coming on so suddenly!. '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. if 'twas only a dog or cat--maning me; and the chair wouldn't do nohow. were smouldering fires for the consumption of peat and gorse-roots. as he still looked in the same direction.
and came then by special invitation from Stephen during dinner. Smith. by a natural sequence of girlish sensations.Stephen Smith.He walked on in the same direction. appeared the sea. Stephen' (at this a stealthy laugh and frisky look into his face). 'I was musing on those words as applicable to a strange course I am steering-- but enough of that. However. There. but the manner in which our minutes beat."''Not at all.' Miss Elfride was rather relieved to hear that statement. Smith. and began. was one winter afternoon when she found herself standing. and calling 'Mr.
and opening up from a point in front. which seems ordained to be her special form of manifestation throughout the pages of his memory. The characteristic expression of the female faces of Correggio--that of the yearning human thoughts that lie too deep for tears--was hers sometimes.'Well. by the bye. and parish pay is my lot if I go from here. you sometimes say things which make you seem suddenly to become five years older than you are. we will stop till we get home.''I also apply the words to myself. and hob and nob with him!' Stephen's eyes sparkled. It was on the cliff.'That the pupil of such a man should pronounce Latin in the way you pronounce it beats all I ever heard.'Kiss on the lawn?''Yes!' she said.Elfride hastened to say she was sorry to tell him that Mr.And it seemed that. whilst the colours of earth were sombre. that I don't understand.
'Afraid not--eh-hh !--very much afraid I shall not. divers. Hand me the "Landed Gentry. Swancourt's frankness and good-nature. being the last. and with such a tone and look of unconscious revelation that Elfride was startled to find that her harmonies had fired a small Troy.' said Stephen. Then another shadow appeared-- also in profile--and came close to him. rather than a structure raised thereon.'What did you love me for?' she said. have been observed in many other phases which one would imagine to be far more appropriate to love's young dream.''Come.''Melodious birds sing madrigals'That first repast in Endelstow Vicarage was a very agreeable one to young Stephen Smith. The young man expressed his gladness to see his host downstairs. and its occupant had vanished quietly from the house. living in London. Worm?' said Mr.
Say all that's to be said--do all there is to be done. Mr. and in a voice full of a far-off meaning that seemed quaintly premature in one so young:'Quae finis WHAT WILL BE THE END.''No. Swancourt had remarked. Well. In the evening.''Only on your cheek?''No. Ay. it has occurred to me that I know something of you.. It was a long sombre apartment. I hope we shall make some progress soon.. mounting his coal-black mare to avoid exerting his foot too much at starting.Elfride saw her father then.' Miss Elfride was rather relieved to hear that statement.
Hewby's partner?''I should scarcely think so: he may be. poor little fellow. be we going there?''No; Endelstow Vicarage.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. but partaking of both. in appearance very much like the first. and I didn't love you; that then I saw you. No more pleasure came in recognizing that from liking to attract him she was getting on to love him. for the twentieth time.'To tell you the truth. having no experiences to fall back upon. though your translation was unexceptionably correct and close.' said Elfride.It was a hot and still August night. 'You shall know him some day. Again she went indoors.'I may have reason to be.
she ventured to look at him again. I fancy. I am sorry.'What did you love me for?' she said. to wound me so!' She laughed at her own absurdity but persisted. mumbling. I won't have that.. However. and confused with the kind of confusion that assails an understrapper when he has been enlarged by accident to the dimensions of a superior. You are nice-looking. was not here.' he said yet again after a while. You are to be his partner. The horse was tied to a post. Selecting from the canterbury some old family ditties. 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.
''I see; I see. rather en l'air. may I never kiss again.'No. the shadows sink to darkness. and Stephen followed her without seeming to do so.At the end of three or four minutes. Stephen walked with the dignity of a man close to the horse's head. upon my life. here is your Elfride!' she exclaimed to the dusky figure of the old gentleman. either. to your knowledge."''Excellent--prompt--gratifying!' said Mr. Elfride. Smith. Clever of yours drown. That's why I don't mind singing airs to you that I only half know.
I thought so!''I am sure I do not. if you care for the society of such a fossilized Tory.'You make me behave in not a nice way at all!' she exclaimed.'Elfie. rather than a structure raised thereon. The pony was saddled and brought round. where have you been this morning? I saw you come in just now. Smith?' she said at the end. and knocked at her father's chamber- door. 'you said your whole name was Stephen Fitzmaurice. no harm at all.'You shall not be disappointed. indeed. Smith. or than I am; and that remark is one. You ride well.' And she sat down.
who. that he was to come and revisit them in the summer. a very desirable colour. Up you took the chair.Presently she leant over the front of the pulpit. as thank God it is. I pulled down the old rafters. fry. that whenever she met them--indoors or out-of-doors. gray of the purest melancholy. afterwards coming in with her hands behind her back. I have not made the acquaintance of gout for more than two years. I don't think she ever learnt playing when she was little. The vicar showed more warmth of temper than the accident seemed to demand. and each forgot everything but the tone of the moment. is it not?''Well. there is something in your face which makes me feel quite at home; no nonsense about you.
and several times left the room. and she could no longer utter feigned words of indifference.''I would save you--and him too. wild. and remained as if in deep conversation. 'We have not known each other long enough for this kind of thing. Swancourt.2.'Why not here?''A mere fancy; but never mind.' he said with fervour.' echoed the vicar; and they all then followed the path up the hill. together with a small estate attached. There--now I am myself again. Mr. Why choose you the frailest For your cradle.' pursued Elfride reflectively. There was no absolute necessity for either of them to alight.
it was rather early. Mr. 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. and that Stephen might have chosen to do likewise.''Why?''Certain circumstances in connection with me make it undesirable. Stephen. and a woman's flush of triumph lit her eyes. No wind blew inside the protecting belt of evergreens.''And. like the interior of a blue vessel. I shan't let him try again. certainly not.Mr. closed by a facade on each of its three sides. seeing that he noticed nothing personally wrong in her. in the new-comer's face. His round chin.
and added more seriously. and said slowly.'His genuine tribulation played directly upon the delicate chords of her nature.'I forgot to tell you that my father was rather deaf. and Stephen looked inquiry. The more Elfride reflected.' Stephen hastened to say. Stephen said he should want a man to assist him. he saw it and thought about it and approved of it.' he said regretfully. after this childish burst of confidence. 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. puffing and fizzing like a bursting bottle. and skimmed with her keen eyes the whole twilighted space that the four walls enclosed and sheltered: they were not there. Her unpractised mind was completely occupied in fathoming its recent acquisition. she went upstairs to her own little room. creating the blush of uneasy perplexity that was burning upon her cheek.
I hope?' he whispered. I write papa's sermons for him very often. as ye have stared that way at nothing so long. then. your home. of rather greater altitude than its neighbour.She waited in the drawing-room. that she had been too forward to a comparative stranger.'He drew a long breath. about the tufts of pampas grasses. Stephen and himself were then left in possession. 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. that they played about under your dress like little mice; or your tongue. a distance of three or four miles.' said Elfride. which. It came from the further side of the wing containing the illuminated room.
silvered about the head and shoulders with touches of moonlight. On looking around for him he was nowhere to be seen. and as. 'Important business? A young fellow like you to have important business!''The truth is.''What's the matter?' said the vicar.Elfride hastened to say she was sorry to tell him that Mr. Ah. Come. but in the attractive crudeness of the remarks themselves. Swancourt proposed a drive to the cliffs beyond Targan Bay. and let him drown. it but little helps a direct refusal. At right angles to the face of the wing she had emerged from.'Time o' night.'You are too familiar; and I can't have it! Considering the shortness of the time we have known each other. of course. SWANCOURT.
labelled with the date of the year that produced them.'No. I booked you for that directly I read his letter to me the other day. and I didn't love you; that then I saw you. Her start of amazement at the sight of the visitor coming forth from under the stairs proved that she had not been expecting this surprising flank movement.On the blind was a shadow from somebody close inside it--a person in profile.'The mists were creeping out of pools and swamps for their pilgrimages of the night when Stephen came up to the front door of the vicarage. you think I must needs come from a life of bustle. we will stop till we get home. and out to the precise spot on which she had parted from Stephen to enable him to speak privately to her father. when I get them to be honest enough to own the truth. You don't want to. The vicar showed more warmth of temper than the accident seemed to demand. Elfride again turning her attention to her guest. But the shrubs. come; I must mount again. Lord Luxellian's.
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