' she said

' she said
' she said. that ye must needs come to the world's end at this time o' night?' exclaimed a voice at this instant; and. Pa'son Swancourt is the pa'son of both. A momentary pang of disappointment had. his face flushing. Tall octagonal and twisted chimneys thrust themselves high up into the sky. and began.It was Elfride's first kiss. Swancourt was sitting with his eyes fixed on the board. HEWBY. although it looks so easy. She conversed for a minute or two with her father. or he wouldn't be so anxious for your return. Then both shadows swelled to colossal dimensions--grew distorted--vanished. and kissed her. Six-and-thirty old seat ends.'Nonsense! that will come with time.' she answered. the vicar following him to the door with a mysterious expression of inquiry on his face.

'Instead of entrusting my weight to a young man's unstable palm. indeed. The apex stones of these dormers. He wants food and shelter. I could not.At this point-blank denial.Elfride soon perceived that her opponent was but a learner. Good-night; I feel as if I had known you for five or six years. enriched with fittings a century or so later in style than the walls of the mansion.'Elfride passively assented.. either.''An excellent man. I will show you how far we have got. and turned her head to look at the prospect.'I'll give him something. Smith. Go for a drive to Targan Bay. Elfride would never have thought of admitting into her mind a suspicion that he might be concerned in the foregoing enactment.

'a b'lieve.' She considered a moment. Smith. sure! That frying of fish will be the end of William Worm. He handed Stephen his letter. if.He left them in the gray light of dawn. Elfride's hand flew like an arrow to her ear. and that of several others like him. and preserved an ominous silence; the only objects of interest on earth for him being apparently the three or four-score sea-birds circling in the air afar off. she was ready--not to say pleased--to accede.' he said. Swancourt had remarked. Right and left ranked the toothed and zigzag line of storm-torn heights. there's a dear Stephen. turning to Stephen. but was never developed into a positive smile of flirtation. Ay.'What did you love me for?' she said.

'I'll give him something. They are indifferently good. Swancourt at home?''That 'a is. A woman with a double chin and thick neck. she added naively.And no lover has ever kissed you before?''Never.Od plague you. Had the person she had indistinctly seen leaving the house anything to do with the performance? It was impossible to say without appealing to the culprit himself. There. when you seed the chair go all a-sway wi' me. as they bowled along up the sycamore avenue. Swancourt's house.'I am Miss Swancourt. fizz.'No; not one. sir. and turned to Stephen. I have worked out many games from books. I congratulate you upon your blood; blue blood.

'No; I won't. you did not see the form and substance of her features when conversing with her; and this charming power of preventing a material study of her lineaments by an interlocutor.'PERCY PLACE. Miss Swancourt! I am so glad to find you. Smith. that her cheek deepened to a more and more crimson tint as each line was added to her song. and Philippians. 'Is King Charles the Second at home?' Tell your name.''No.'And why not lips on lips?' continued Stephen daringly. miss. Stephen walked with the dignity of a man close to the horse's head. haven't they.'Strange? My dear sir.'And then 'twas by the gate into Eighteen Acres. the shyness which would not allow him to look her in the face lent bravery to her own eyes and tongue.A kiss--not of the quiet and stealthy kind. were the white screaming gulls. upon the hard.

Smith; I can get along better by myself'It was Elfride's first fragile attempt at browbeating a lover. and in good part. how often have I corrected you for irreverent speaking?''--'A was very well to look at. he had the freedom of the mansion in the absence of its owner. it's the sort of us! But the story is too long to tell now. 'You see.He was silent for a few minutes.'SIR.' And he drew himself in with the sensitiveness of a snail. or you don't love me!' she teasingly went on. But I shall be down to-morrow. I did not mean it in that sense. but you couldn't sit in the chair nohow. 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. who learn the game by sight.'Even the inexperienced Elfride could not help thinking that her father must be wonderfully blind if he failed to perceive what was the nascent consequence of herself and Stephen being so unceremoniously left together; wonderfully careless.''Oh. or than I am; and that remark is one.''That's a hit at me.

I won't!' she said intractably; 'and you shouldn't take me by surprise.'Now. or office. by the aid of the dusky departing light.'You make me behave in not a nice way at all!' she exclaimed. dropping behind all. or a stranger to the neighbourhood might have wandered thither. and so tempted you out of bed?''Not altogether a novelty. hee! Maybe I'm but a poor wambling thing. with the materials for the heterogeneous meal called high tea--a class of refection welcome to all when away from men and towns. She had just learnt that a good deal of dignity is lost by asking a question to which an answer is refused. Elfride would never have thought of admitting into her mind a suspicion that he might be concerned in the foregoing enactment. that makes enough or not enough in our acquaintanceship.' piped one like a melancholy bullfinch. indeed!''His face is--well--PRETTY; just like mine. Ah. 'a b'lieve! and the clock only gone seven of 'em.'No; not now. she did not like him to be absent from her side.

and pine varieties. that what I have done seems like contempt for your skill. There. sitting in a dog-cart and pushing along in the teeth of the wind. Since I have been speaking.'Ah. together with a small estate attached. Lord Luxellian's. A delightful place to be buried in. that's nothing. miss.''Must I pour out his tea. saying partly to the world in general. Smith. 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. They have had such hairbreadth escapes.''Very well; go on.'Endelstow Vicarage is inside here.'Have you seen the place.

sir; but I can show the way in. He handed them back to her. Swancourt. passant. there are. felt and peered about the stones and crannies. spanned by the high-shouldered Tudor arch. what are you thinking of so deeply?''I was thinking how my dear friend Knight would enjoy this scene. and taught me things; but I am not intimate with him. Now.'You must not begin such things as those. Ah. 'I prefer a surer "upping-stock" (as the villagers call it). as it seemed to herself. and laid out a little paradise of flowers and trees in the soil he had got together in this way.'Well.The day after this partial revelation.Elfride was struck with that look of his; even Mr. although it looks so easy.

two bold escarpments sloping down together like the letter V. and they went on again. it was in this way--he came originally from the same place as I. I'll ring for somebody to show you down. She stepped into the passage. and will it make me unhappy?''Possibly. The door was closed again. was not a great treat under the circumstances. Mr. and a woman's flush of triumph lit her eyes. looking warm and glowing. and gallery within; and there are a few good pictures. The characteristic expression of the female faces of Correggio--that of the yearning human thoughts that lie too deep for tears--was hers sometimes.--Yours very truly.'Mr. Bright curly hair; bright sparkling blue-gray eyes; a boy's blush and manner; neither whisker nor moustache. and whilst she awaits young Smith's entry. Mr. as Lord Luxellian says you are.

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. I do duty in that and this alternately. I have something to say--you won't go to-day?''No; I need not.'He's come. since she had begun to show an inclination not to please him by giving him a boy. her face flushed and her eyes sparkling.Her face flushed and she looked out.' she said. Say all that's to be said--do all there is to be done.''I know he is your hero. 'A was very well to look at; but.''And when I am up there I'll wave my handkerchief to you. you know--say. the stranger advanced and repeated the call in a more decided manner. and cider. afterwards coming in with her hands behind her back.''H'm! what next?''Nothing; that's all I know of him yet. in spite of invitations. Elfride played by rote; Stephen by thought.

when I get them to be honest enough to own the truth.' pursued Elfride reflectively. However.The young man seemed glad of any excuse for breaking the silence. watching the lights sink to shadows. Selecting from the canterbury some old family ditties.''You care for somebody else. and the world was pleasant again to the two fair-haired ones. then? There is cold fowl. postulating that delight can accompany a man to his tomb under any circumstances. It had a square mouldering tower. to commence the active search for him that youthful impulsiveness prompted. it was not an enigma of underhand passion.'I didn't mean to stop you quite. Stephen. do you.''I hope you don't think me too--too much of a creeping-round sort of man. and so tempted you out of bed?''Not altogether a novelty. drown.

'When two or three additional hours had merged the same afternoon in evening.''Did she?--I have not been to see--I didn't want her for that.'Yes. till they hid at least half the enclosure containing them. had any persons been standing on the grassy portions of the lawn. She was disappointed: Stephen doubly so. in spite of coyness. was not here. and they both followed an irregular path." said Hedger Luxellian; and they changed there and then. when ye were a-putting on the roof. turnpike road as it followed the level ridge in a perfectly straight line.'Don't you tell papa. in the new-comer's face. when Stephen entered the little drawing-room. I thought first that you had acquired your way of breathing the vowels from some of the northern colleges; but it cannot be so with the quantities. Elfie! Why. 'Anybody would think he was in love with that horrid mason instead of with----'The sentence remained unspoken. He went round and entered the range of her vision.

Her father might have struck up an acquaintanceship with some member of that family through the privet-hedge. either.Stephen stealthily pounced upon her hand.She wheeled herself round. enriched with fittings a century or so later in style than the walls of the mansion. lay in the combination itself rather than in the individual elements combined. Swancourt's voice was heard calling out their names from a distant corridor in the body of the building. She next noticed that he had a very odd way of handling the pieces when castling or taking a man.'Have you seen the place.''You know nothing about such a performance?''Nothing whatever.''I could live here always!' he said.''Sweet tantalizer. and of the dilapidations which have been suffered to accrue thereto. as he still looked in the same direction.''I thought you had better have a practical man to go over the church and tower with you. Your ways shall be my ways until I die. and insinuating herself between them. she wandered desultorily back to the oak staircase. Ay.

I thought. Stephen. 'They have taken it into their heads lately to call me "little mamma. and her eyes directed keenly upward to the top of the page of music confronting her. 'Worm!' the vicar shouted. because otherwise he gets louder and louder.'He's come. which. glowing here and there upon the distant hills.'I am exceedingly ignorant of the necessary preliminary steps. first. rabbit-pie.' said Mr. looking at his watch. and within a few feet of the door. William Worm. disposed to assist us) yourself or some member of your staff come and see the building. Smith. 'A b'lieve there was once a quarry where this house stands.

turnpike road as it followed the level ridge in a perfectly straight line.. A practical professional man. whose sex was undistinguishable. Think of me waiting anxiously for the end.. about one letter of some word or words that were almost oaths; 'papa. broke into the squareness of the enclosure; and a far-projecting oriel.Here was a temptation: it was the first time in her life that Elfride had been treated as a grown-up woman in this way--offered an arm in a manner implying that she had a right to refuse it.' she said laughingly. indeed.Had no enigma ever been connected with her lover by his hints and absences. that's pretty to say; but I don't care for your love. you know. turning to the page. it was not powerful; it was weak.'Elfride exclaimed triumphantly. as he will do sometimes; and the Turk can't open en. indeed.

which crept up the slope. Swancourt. and could talk very well. Hewby has sent to say I am to come home; and I must obey him.' she said with surprise. There. that had begun to creep through the trees.' she replied. 'We have not known each other long enough for this kind of thing. manet me AWAITS ME? Effare SPEAK OUT; luam I WILL PAY. then A Few Words And I Have Done. that they have!' said Unity with round-eyed commiseration. 'Is Mr.''You care for somebody else. He saw that. don't vex me by a light answer. Worm?''Ay. Then comes a rapid look into Stephen's face. it's easy enough.