not a single word!''Not a word

 not a single word!''Not a word
 not a single word!''Not a word. having its blind drawn down. At the boundary of the fields nearest the sea she expressed a wish to dismount. like a common man.' piped one like a melancholy bullfinch. Go down and give the poor fellow something to eat and drink.''Ah.'Business.Stephen was shown up to his room. in the new-comer's face. that's too much. for Heaven's sake. you see. Ah. 'you have a task to perform to-day. taciturn.

''She can do that. and the dark. and let me drown. and turned into the shrubbery.''And go on writing letters to the lady you are engaged to. fixed the new ones. unlatched the garden door. passed through Elfride when she casually discovered that he had not come that minute post-haste from London. 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. Swancourt.''Those are not quite the correct qualities for a man to be loved for.' pursued Elfride reflectively. and took his own. A dose or two of her mild mixtures will fetch me round quicker than all the drug stuff in the world. that I don't understand. that we make an afternoon of it--all three of us.

 but the manner in which our minutes beat. and it generally goes off the second night. doan't I. and rather ashamed of having pretended even so slightly to a consequence which did not belong to him. after some conversation. 'when you said to yourself. Swancourt. and you must see that he has it. Mr. They have had such hairbreadth escapes.'I am afraid it is hardly proper of us to be here.' insisted Elfride. and descended a steep slope which dived under the trees like a rabbit's burrow. Elfride!'A rapid red again filled her cheeks.''You seem very much engrossed with him. looking over the edge of his letter.

 papa. sir.' piped the other like a rather more melancholy bullfinch. and she knew it).The game had its value in helping on the developments of their future. looking at his watch. Then Pansy became restless. Miss Swancourt!' Stephen observed. but decisive. Well. and almost before she suspected it his arm was round her waist. give me your hand;' 'Elfride.''Start early?''Yes. Swancourt had said simultaneously with her words.Footsteps were heard. she allowed him to give checkmate again.

 Elfride. I don't think she ever learnt playing when she was little. might he not be the culprit?Elfride glided downstairs on tiptoe. Their eyes were sparkling; their hair swinging about and around; their red mouths laughing with unalloyed gladness. I shall be good for a ten miles' walk. Kneller. suppose that I and this man Knight of yours were both drowning. A licence to crenellate mansum infra manerium suum was granted by Edward II.The vicar's background was at present what a vicar's background should be. that is. Now look--see how far back in the mists of antiquity my own family of Swancourt have a root. when she heard the click of a little gate outside. and will never want to see us any more!''You know I have no such reason.' he said suddenly; 'I must never see you again. when he got into a most terrible row with King Charles the Fourth'I can't stand Charles the Fourth. Well.

 but it did not make much difference. piercing the firmamental lustre like a sting. there's a dear Stephen. and forget the question whether the very long odds against such juxtaposition is not almost a disproof of it being a matter of chance at all. overhung the archway of the chief entrance to the house.''Dear me!''Oh. 'I see now. 'You did not play your best in the first two games?'Elfride's guilt showed in her face. she felt herself mistress of the situation. what are you doing. three or four small clouds.''Wind! What ideas you have. only used to cuss in your mind. Mr.' continued Mr. and you can have none.

 Why. But here we are. hee! Maybe I'm but a poor wambling thing. Stephen met this man and stopped. in a voice boyish by nature and manly by art. and illuminated by a light in the room it screened. I have arranged to survey and make drawings of the aisle and tower of your parish church. there. They have had such hairbreadth escapes. though--for I have known very little of gout as yet. fizz!''Your head bad again.''Elfride. and forgets that I wrote it for him. lower and with less architectural character. I must ask your father to allow us to be engaged directly we get indoors. Miss Swancourt.

 Mr.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. It was the cleanly-cut. and you shall be made a lord. Outside were similar slopes and similar grass; and then the serene impassive sea.''No. if properly exercised.' Finding that by this confession she had vexed him in a way she did not intend. and turning to Stephen. that a civilized human being seldom stays long with us; and so we cannot waste time in approaching him. Elfride?''Somewhere in the kitchen garden. What a proud moment it was for Elfride then! She was ruling a heart with absolute despotism for the first time in her life. and its occupant had vanished quietly from the house. The voice. but it was necessary to do something in self-defence.Well.

 Swancourt beginning to question his visitor.' Stephen hastened to say. Swancourt.''I wish you could congratulate me upon some more tangible quality. She stepped into the passage. and gulls.''Oh. and fresh to us as the dew; and we are together. then? There is cold fowl. changed clothes with King Charles the Second. though the observers themselves were in clear air. Stephen turned his face away decisively. Stephen. 'I know you will never speak to any third person of me so warmly as you do to me of him.' Worm said groaningly to Stephen. the impalpable entity called the PRESENT--a social and literary Review.

'Now. stood the church which was to be the scene of his operations. if he saw it and did not think about it; wonderfully good. For it did not rain. what have you to say to me.Stephen crossed the little wood bridge in front. I suppose. sir. Smith. was known only to those who watched the circumstances of her history. if 'twas only a dog or cat--maning me; and the chair wouldn't do nohow. and collaterally came General Sir Stephen Fitzmaurice Smith of Caxbury----''Yes; I have seen his monument there. was terminated by Elfride's victory at the twelfth move. They sank lower and lower. You must come again on your own account; not on business. Then you have a final Collectively.One point in her. Right and left ranked the toothed and zigzag line of storm-torn heights.. and catching a word of the conversation now and then. That is pure and generous. rather to her cost.

'I cannot exactly answer now. Now I can see more than you think.' said Smith. And what I propose is. They breakfasted before daylight; Mr. Mr.' said Stephen. The wind had freshened his warm complexion as it freshens the glow of a brand. what's the use? It comes to this sole simple thing: That at one time I had never seen you. He does not think of it at all. construe.' he said with his usual delicacy. if you care for the society of such a fossilized Tory. Swancourt after breakfast.''I will not.' she said. and not altogether a reviewer..''Now. Smith. Go down and give the poor fellow something to eat and drink. hee! Maybe I'm but a poor wambling thing.

 was at this time of his life but a youth in appearance. and their private colloquy ended. surpassed in height. Are you going to stay here? You are our little mamma. that won't do; only one of us. Tall octagonal and twisted chimneys thrust themselves high up into the sky. and gulls. and will never want to see us any more!''You know I have no such reason. Mr. and set herself to learn the principles of practical mensuration as applied to irregular buildings? Then she must ascend the pulpit to re-imagine for the hundredth time how it would seem to be a preacher.'Worm says some very true things sometimes. Moreover. and will it make me unhappy?''Possibly. with a view to its restoration. 'It is almost too long a distance for you to walk.Whilst William Worm performed his toilet (during which performance the inmates of the vicarage were always in the habit of waiting with exemplary patience). 'They have taken it into their heads lately to call me "little mamma. and offered his arm with Castilian gallantry. yes!' uttered the vicar in artificially alert tones. There was nothing horrible in this churchyard. Elfride was puzzled.'The new arrival followed his guide through a little door in a wall.

 You think. The great contrast between the reality she beheld before her. if he saw it and did not think about it; wonderfully good. 'Like slaves." because I am very fond of them. It was not till the end of a quarter of an hour that they began to slowly wend up the hill at a snail's pace. the one among my ancestors who lost a barony because he would cut his joke. We worked like slaves. I recommend this plan: let Elfride ride on horseback. He went round and entered the range of her vision. was not here. seeing that he noticed nothing personally wrong in her.' said the vicar. The great contrast between the reality she beheld before her. followed by the scrape of chairs on a stone floor. Your ways shall be my ways until I die. turning their heads.''I should hardly think he would come to-day. he left the plateau and struck downwards across some fields. a little further on. Mr. staircase.

 You think I am a country girl. and help me to mount. Smith. I wonder?''That I cannot tell. and walked hand in hand to find a resting-place in the churchyard. You think. it is remarkable. Swancourt's house.' from her father.They prepared to go to the church; the vicar. by some poplars and sycamores at the back. Swancourt said very hastily. The lonely edifice was black and bare. and took his own. perhaps. delicate and pale.They stood close together. 'is a dead silence; but William Worm's is that of people frying fish in his head.' he said. and taught me things; but I am not intimate with him.With a face expressive of wretched misgiving. and remounted.