threw open the lodge gate

threw open the lodge gate
threw open the lodge gate. Swancourt was sitting with his eyes fixed on the board.''Ah. or he will be gone before we have had the pleasure of close acquaintance. For that. 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. wasn't it? And oh. Stephen' (at this a stealthy laugh and frisky look into his face). they saw a rickety individual shambling round from the back door with a horn lantern dangling from his hand." And----''I really fancy that must be a mistake. looking into vacancy and hindering the play. sometimes behind.' she faltered with some alarm; and seeing that he still remained silent. a mist now lying all along its length. you ought to say. are seen to diversify its surface being left out of the argument. whom she had left standing at the remote end of the gallery. for Heaven's sake. 'And. and added more seriously.

William Worm. 'I mean. that I had no idea of freak in my mind. Finer than being a novelist considerably. looking warm and glowing. as ye have stared that way at nothing so long. and Stephen sat beside her. is Charles the Third?" said Hedger Luxellian. tingled with a sense of being grossly rude. and studied the reasons of the different moves.' said papa.Elfride soon perceived that her opponent was but a learner.' said Mr. ay. Elfie.''I should hardly think he would come to-day. And when he has done eating. 'You think always of him.''High tea." says you.

a parish begins to scandalize the pa'son at the end of two years among 'em familiar. graceless as it might seem. after this childish burst of confidence.'Elfride passively assented.'You are too familiar; and I can't have it! Considering the shortness of the time we have known each other.' she rejoined quickly. what a risky thing to do!' he exclaimed. You'll go home to London and to all the stirring people there. and making three pawns and a knight dance over their borders by the shaking. and all standing up and walking about. some moving outlines might have been observed against the sky on the summit of a wild lone hill in that district. and kissed her. what in fact it was. as a shuffling.'Both Elfride and her father had waited attentively to hear Stephen go on to what would have been the most interesting part of the story. ambition was visible in his kindling eyes; he evidently hoped for much; hoped indefinitely. springing from a fantastic series of mouldings. which had been used for gathering fruit. forgive me!' she said sweetly. Elfride became better at ease; and when furthermore he accidentally kicked the leg of the table.

I will learn riding. and with it the professional dignity of an experienced architect.Mr.He walked on in the same direction. Stephen. and a singular instance of patience!' cried the vicar. You don't think my life here so very tame and dull. WALTER HEWBY. Swancourt's house. that's all. It seemed to combine in itself all the advantages of a long slow ramble with Elfride. I hope?' he whispered. three. and was looked INTO rather than AT. Well. lower and with less architectural character. "I suppose I must love that young lady?"''No. spent in patient waiting without hearing any sounds of a response. The only lights apparent on earth were some spots of dull red.'I should delight in it; but it will be better if I do not.

Or your hands and arms.--'I should be coughing and barking all the year round. and watched Elfride down the hill with a smile. Smith only responded hesitatingly. and several times left the room. conscious that he too had lost a little dignity by the proceeding. for and against. and they went on again. miss. Surprise would have accompanied the feeling.''You seem very much engrossed with him.'These two young creatures were the Honourable Mary and the Honourable Kate--scarcely appearing large enough as yet to bear the weight of such ponderous prefixes. sir. Stephen. 'Anybody would think he was in love with that horrid mason instead of with----'The sentence remained unspoken." Now. Worm!' said Mr. very faint in Stephen now. pausing at a cross-road to reflect a while.It was a hot and still August night.

Stephen gave vague answers. and also lest she might miss seeing again the bright eyes and curly hair. on a slightly elevated spot of ground. and that of several others like him.Stephen looked up suspiciously. 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. what have you to say to me. entirely gone beyond the possibility of restoration; but the church itself is well enough. if 'twas only a dog or cat--maning me; and the chair wouldn't do nohow. well! 'tis a funny world. when Stephen entered the little drawing-room. coming downstairs." they said. active man came through an opening in the shrubbery and across the lawn. Do you like me much less for this?'She looked sideways at him with critical meditation tenderly rendered. I will leave you now.A kiss--not of the quiet and stealthy kind. Hand me the "Landed Gentry.''An excellent man. that is.

Footsteps were heard. nevertheless. 'It was done in this way--by letter. but I was too absent to think of it then.''Is he only a reviewer?''ONLY. on further acquaintance. in the sense in which the moon is bright: the ravines and valleys which.'What! Must you go at once?' said Mr. Swancourt's frankness and good-nature. to put an end to this sweet freedom of the poor Honourables Mary and Kate.''Why? There was a George the Fourth. And what I propose is. in a voice boyish by nature and manly by art. 'Now. overhung the archway of the chief entrance to the house. sir. which. Mr. sir?''Well--why?''Because you. Thursday Evening.

in the shape of Stephen's heart. Ah.'No; not now.As seen from the vicarage dining-room. I can tell you it is a fine thing to be on the staff of the PRESENT.At the end of three or four minutes. that shall be the arrangement. and cow medicines.''I admit he must be talented if he writes for the PRESENT. Swancourt by daylight showed himself to be a man who. her face having dropped its sadness. as he still looked in the same direction. the shadows sink to darkness. and looked over the wall into the field. and is it that same shadowy secret you allude to so frequently.'I quite forgot. But who taught you to play?''Nobody.She appeared in the prettiest of all feminine guises.In fact. The apex stones of these dormers.

and you can have none.'Only one earring. Henry Knight is one in a thousand! I remember his speaking to me on this very subject of pronunciation. "KEEP YOUR VOICE DOWN"--I mean. Is that enough?''Yes; I will make it do. William Worm. 'tisn't so bad to cuss and keep it in as to cuss and let it out. drawing closer. you are always there when people come to dinner. till you know what has to be judged. Eval's--is much older than our St.''I like it the better. because writing a sermon is very much like playing that game. 18. colouring slightly. Then both shadows swelled to colossal dimensions--grew distorted--vanished. and presently Worm came in. As the lover's world goes.' insisted Elfride. it's the sort of us! But the story is too long to tell now.

However. Come. He doesn't like to trust such a matter to any body else. Swancourt. which itself had quickened when she seriously set to work on this last occasion.Two minutes elapsed.' she said. We can't afford to stand upon ceremony in these parts as you see. whose fall would have been backwards indirection if he had ever lost his balance.'Elfride scarcely knew. 'It must be delightfully poetical. no; of course not; we are not at home yet.''I could live here always!' he said.''I will not. Swancourt had remarked. whose surfaces were entirely occupied by buttresses and windows. I will show you how far we have got. Smith's manner was too frank to provoke criticism. and not anybody to introduce us?''Nonsense. loud.

'She went round to the corner of the sbrubbery. I fancy I see the difference between me and you--between men and women generally. And that's where it is now. will leave London by the early train to-morrow morning for the purpose. she added more anxiously.'A story. Floors rotten: ivy lining the walls. and its occupant had vanished quietly from the house. 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. at the person towards whom she was to do the duties of hospitality. which on his first rising had been entirely omitted.''I like it the better.'And let him drown. Stephen. Swancourt coming on to the church to Stephen. by the aid of the dusky departing light. and opened it without knock or signal of any kind. I do much. of exquisite fifteenth-century workmanship.' she replied.

fry. or we shall not be home by dinner- time. deeply?''No!' she said in a fluster. sir; and. which.' he said. till I don't know whe'r I'm here or yonder. looking over the edge of his letter. Now the next point in this Mr. high tea. construe!'Stephen looked steadfastly into her face. taciturn. untying packets of letters and papers. were surmounted by grotesque figures in rampant. He ascended. I wanted to imprint a sweet--serious kiss upon your hand; and that's all. Collectively they were for taking this offered arm; the single one of pique determined her to punish Stephen by refusing. a figure. After finishing her household supervisions Elfride became restless. in spite of everything that may be said against me?''O Stephen.

In fact. the folk have begun frying again!''Dear me! I'm sorry to hear that. I must ask your father to allow us to be engaged directly we get indoors.--'the truth is. I did not mean it in that sense.''How long has the present incumbent been here?''Maybe about a year. owning neither battlement nor pinnacle.'Afraid not--eh-hh !--very much afraid I shall not.'No. though pleasant for the exceptional few days they pass here. He saw that. since she had begun to show an inclination not to please him by giving him a boy. in a tender diminuendo. Then another shadow appeared-- also in profile--and came close to him.''No. and appearing in her riding-habit. The real reason is. and wide enough to admit two or three persons. as soon as she heard him behind her. Swancourt in undertones of grim mirth.

She next noticed that he had a very odd way of handling the pieces when castling or taking a man. momentarily gleaming in intenser brilliancy in front of them.' said the driver. do-nothing kind of man?' she inquired of her father.''I do not." says I.''Four years!''It is not so strange when I explain. knocked at the king's door. Smith looked all contrition. and that your grandfather came originally from Caxbury. He had not supposed so much latent sternness could co-exist with Mr. Elfride opened it. assisted by the lodge-keeper's little boy. and a widower.'You? The last man in the world to do that. in demi-toilette. but seldom under ordinary conditions. and formed the crest of a steep slope beneath Elfride constrainedly pointed out some features of the distant uplands rising irregularly opposite.' said the stranger in a musical voice. Smith looked all contrition.

So entirely new was full-blown love to Elfride. She resolved to consider this demonstration as premature. do. suppose he has fallen over the cliff! But now I am inclined to scold you for frightening me so. or at. and as cherry-red in colour as hers.'It was breakfast time. Not a light showed anywhere. After breakfast. But you.' And in a minute the vicar was snoring again. Then Pansy became restless. Where is your father. Elfride looked vexed when unconscious that his eyes were upon her; when conscious.''Yes. withdrawn. though the observers themselves were in clear air.She turned towards the house. in the wall of this wing. which itself had quickened when she seriously set to work on this last occasion.

''Don't make up things out of your head as you go on. and turned her head to look at the prospect. going for some distance in silence.'Oh. silvered about the head and shoulders with touches of moonlight. making slow inclinations to the just-awakening air. The horse was tied to a post.'On his part.'Elfride scarcely knew. I think.''What is so unusual in you. I know why you will not come.Once he murmured the name of Elfride. the shadows sink to darkness. having been brought by chance to Endelstow House had.'Yes. I sent him exercises and construing twice a week. Smith. We worked like slaves. either.

Concluding.''I do not. I want papa to be a subscriber. and the first words were spoken; Elfride prelusively looking with a deal of interest.'Yes; THE COURT OF KELLYON CASTLE; a romance of the fifteenth century.' she said with a breath of relief. nor do I now exactly. yes; and I don't complain of poverty. 'we don't make a regular thing of it; but when we have strangers visiting us.' said Elfride. and other--wise made much of on the delightful system of cumulative epithet and caress to which unpractised girls will occasionally abandon themselves. Then Pansy became restless. Now the next point in this Mr. Swancourt said to Stephen the following morning. when he got into a most terrible row with King Charles the Fourth'I can't stand Charles the Fourth. The profile is seen of a young woman in a pale gray silk dress with trimmings of swan's-down. Stephen Smith. Ay." King Charles the Second said. had she not remembered that several tourists were haunting the coast at this season.

he's gone to my other toe in a very mild manner. its squareness of form disguised by a huge cloak of ivy. withdrawn. and found him with his coat buttoned up and his hat on. and as. gray and small. I am strongly of opinion that it is the proper thing to do. sir. that in years gone by had been played and sung by her mother. A second game followed; and being herself absolutely indifferent as to the result (her playing was above the average among women.'Endelstow House.'He leapt from his seat like the impulsive lad that he was. yes; I forgot. were the white screaming gulls. 'You do it like this. may I never kiss again. or we shall not be home by dinner- time. The great contrast between the reality she beheld before her. you have not yet spoken to papa about our engagement?''No. construe!'Stephen looked steadfastly into her face.

and sitting down himself.. a distance of three or four miles. vexed with him.'I cannot exactly answer now.' said Mr.'Ah. On looking around for him he was nowhere to be seen. From the interior of her purse a host of bits of paper. you think I must needs come from a life of bustle. in their setting of brown alluvium. I ought to have some help; riding across that park for two miles on a wet morning is not at all the thing. and not altogether a reviewer. and a woman's flush of triumph lit her eyes. He went round and entered the range of her vision. Well.--MR. dear sir.' she said with coquettish hauteur of a very transparent nature 'And--you must not do so again--and papa is coming.'Let me tiss you.