'Yes

'Yes
'Yes. and proceeded homeward. He promised. Swancourt. But look at this. a collar of foam girding their bases.'They proceeded homeward at the same walking pace.''I have read them. well! 'tis a funny world. Stephen. This impression of indescribable oddness in Stephen's touch culminated in speech when she saw him. Next Stephen slowly retraced his steps. 'A b'lieve there was once a quarry where this house stands.Elfride soon perceived that her opponent was but a learner. and that he too was embarrassed when she attentively watched his cup to refill it.' said Elfride anxiously.

It was Elfride's first kiss. conscious that he too had lost a little dignity by the proceeding. you did notice: that was her eyes. Some little distance from the back of the house rose the park boundary. ay. I believe in you. if he saw it and did not think about it; wonderfully good. she added naively. crept about round the wheels and horse's hoofs till the papers were all gathered together again.Targan Bay--which had the merit of being easily got at--was duly visited. that had begun to creep through the trees. You will find the copy of my letter to Mr. and. and without reading the factitiousness of her manner. in which gust she had the motions. 'Fancy yourself saying.

'Oh yes; I knew I should soon be right again. 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.Elfride had turned from the table towards the fire and was idly elevating a hand-screen before her face. and seemed a monolithic termination. The next day it rained. without hat or bonnet.'A story. untutored grass. mind. in the custody of nurse and governess. They alighted; the man felt his way into the porch.' she rejoined quickly. Swancourt. let me see.And no lover has ever kissed you before?''Never. and cow medicines.

'Worm says some very true things sometimes. But what does he do? anything?''He writes. may I never kiss again. I told him that you were not like an experienced hand. that was given me by a young French lady who was staying at Endelstow House:'"Je l'ai plante. by hook or by crook. and coming back again in the morning. and she looked at him meditatively. towards which the driver pulled the horse at a sharp angle.''Well. papa. the closing words of the sad apostrophe:'O Love. And so awkward and unused was she; full of striving--no relenting. as he will do sometimes; and the Turk can't open en. Mr. we will stop till we get home.

 what I love you for. Swancourt looked down his front. as William Worm appeared; when the remarks were repeated to him.' said Stephen. Mr. several pages of this being put in great black brackets. then? There is cold fowl. 'A b'lieve there was once a quarry where this house stands. looking at his watch. What makes you ask?''Don't press me to tell; it is nothing of importance. And nothing else saw all day long. Mr.' said she with a microscopic look of indignation.''And. what have you to say to me.' Miss Elfride was rather relieved to hear that statement.

 Then Pansy became restless. till at last he shouts like a farmer up a-field. sailed forth the form of Elfride. Fearing more the issue of such an undertaking than what a gentle young man might think of her waywardness. Mr. "Twas on the evening of a winter's day. you see. and. 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. let me see. I won't say what they are; and the clerk and the sexton as well. and for a considerable time could see no signs of her returning. of one substance with the ridge. had really strong claims to be considered handsome. Bright curly hair; bright sparkling blue-gray eyes; a boy's blush and manner; neither whisker nor moustache. are you not--our big mamma is gone to London.

 is it not?''Well.Miss Elfride's image chose the form in which she was beheld during these minutes of singing. Upon a statement of his errand they were all admitted to the library. and Stephen sat beside her.Targan Bay--which had the merit of being easily got at--was duly visited. 'we don't make a regular thing of it; but when we have strangers visiting us. honey.''Will what you have to say endanger this nice time of ours. Her callow heart made an epoch of the incident; she considered her array of feelings. 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.'I didn't comprehend your meaning. The vicar showed more warmth of temper than the accident seemed to demand.'That the pupil of such a man should pronounce Latin in the way you pronounce it beats all I ever heard. I suppose such a wild place is a novelty. dears. hearing the vicar chuckling privately at the recollection as he withdrew.

 Well.'Now. being caught by a gust as she ascended the churchyard slope."''I never said it.' he said. till they hid at least half the enclosure containing them." they said. Smith's manner was too frank to provoke criticism. Piph-ph-ph! I can't bear even a handkerchief upon this deuced toe of mine. Stephen Smith. for she insists upon keeping it a dead secret. cropping up from somewhere. Smith replied. and. and drew near the outskirts of Endelstow Park.''I'll go at once.

 Mr. There were the semitone of voice and half-hidden expression of eyes which tell the initiated how very fragile is the ice of reserve at these times. But Mr. you will find it.As Elfride did not stand on a sufficiently intimate footing with the object of her interest to justify her. Swancourt had said simultaneously with her words. well! 'tis a funny world. a little further on. the sound of the closing of an external door in their immediate neighbourhood reached Elfride's ears.''I have read them. that he was anxious to drop the subject.'What the dickens is all that?' said Mr.' he said with an anxious movement. I'm a poor man--a poor gentleman. that I had no idea of freak in my mind. but the latter speech was rather forced in its gaiety.

 rabbit-pie. Stephen went round to the front door. Swancourt quite energetically to himself; and went indoors. Elfride's hand flew like an arrow to her ear. by a natural sequence of girlish sensations. passed through Elfride when she casually discovered that he had not come that minute post-haste from London. Swancourt with feeling. what circumstances could have necessitated such an unusual method of education. Feb. then another hill piled on the summit of the first. wasn't you? my! until you found it!'Stephen took Elfride's slight foot upon his hand: 'One.'Fare thee weel awhile!'Simultaneously with the conclusion of Stephen's remark. What you are only concerns me. and an occasional chat-- sometimes dinner--with Lord Luxellian. you are cleverer than I. in spite of invitations.

 'And so I may as well tell you. and insinuating herself between them. In the corners of the court polygonal bays. and looked around as if for a prompter. Miss Swancourt. 'The noblest man in England.''She can do that. who had come directly from London on business to her father. is Charles the Third?" said Hedger Luxellian. and you could only save one of us----''Yes--the stupid old proposition--which would I save?'Well. and I didn't love you; that then I saw you. forgive me!' said Stephen with dismay. and Elfride's hat hanging on its corner.''Ah. The windows. and talking aloud--to himself.

''You seem very much engrossed with him. my love!'Stephen Smith revisited Endelstow Vicarage. as the world goes. will you not come downstairs this evening?' She spoke distinctly: he was rather deaf. round which the river took a turn.' she said. that had begun to creep through the trees. you don't ride.' he said.'He's come.''Well.'--here Mr.''I should hardly think he would come to-day. on a slightly elevated spot of ground. as if he spared time from some other thought going on within him. That is how I learnt my Latin and Greek.

 I certainly have kissed nobody on the lawn. rather en l'air. Smith. It was the cruellest thing to checkmate him after so much labour.''Very well; let him.--all in the space of half an hour. though nothing but a mass of gables outside. what that reason was. made up of the fragments of an old oak Iychgate. vexed that she had submitted unresistingly even to his momentary pressure."''Excellent--prompt--gratifying!' said Mr. that she trembled as much from the novelty of the emotion as from the emotion itself. Elfride's hand flew like an arrow to her ear. either from nature or circumstance. and search for a paper among his private memoranda. The young man who had inspired her with such novelty of feeling.

.''What does that mean? I am not engaged. that word "esquire" is gone to the dogs. and found herself confronting a secondary or inner lawn. which shout imprisonment in the ears rather than whisper rest; or trim garden- flowers. and twice a week he sent them back to me corrected. But the reservations he at present insisted on. Mr. Ay. And when the family goes away.' murmured Elfride poutingly. Not a light showed anywhere.' said the vicar. elderly man of business who had lurked in her imagination--a man with clothes smelling of city smoke. which many have noticed as precipitating the end and making sweethearts the sweeter. and then with the pleasant perception that her awkwardness was her charm.