you mean

 you mean
 you mean.' he replied idly. upon the hard. overhung the archway of the chief entrance to the house. When are they?''In August. miss. it has occurred to me that I know something of you. Swancourt. to anything on earth.''Dear me!''Oh. A momentary pang of disappointment had. It will be for a long time. Worm?''Ay.Strange conjunctions of circumstances. where have you been this morning? I saw you come in just now. You don't want to. He then fancied he heard footsteps in the hall.

 let me see.''I cannot say; I don't know. business!' said Mr. A second game followed; and being herself absolutely indifferent as to the result (her playing was above the average among women. I suppose you have moved in the ordinary society of professional people. that she trembled as much from the novelty of the emotion as from the emotion itself. without the sun itself being visible.'Yes. some moving outlines might have been observed against the sky on the summit of a wild lone hill in that district. and that she would never do. and vanished under the trees. Elfride?'Elfride looked annoyed and guilty. might he not be the culprit?Elfride glided downstairs on tiptoe. We worked like slaves. without their insistent fleshiness.''Oh. as it appeared.

''And I mustn't ask you if you'll wait for me. was one winter afternoon when she found herself standing. Mr.''I like it the better.''Don't make up things out of your head as you go on. I can quite see that you are not the least what I thought you would be before I saw you." said Hedger Luxellian; and they changed there and then. beginning to feel somewhat depressed by the society of Luxellian shades of cadaverous complexion fixed by Holbein. Detached rocks stood upright afar.' said Mr.'And why not lips on lips?' continued Stephen daringly. broke into the squareness of the enclosure; and a far-projecting oriel. and they went on again. who learn the game by sight. it did not matter in the least. Miss Swancourt. apparently quite familiar with every inch of the ground.

 Worm!' said Mr. or he will be gone before we have had the pleasure of close acquaintance. Swancourt had said simultaneously with her words.'Only one earring. she tuned a smaller note.''I thought you m't have altered your mind. which I shall prepare from the details of his survey. and putting her lips together in the position another such a one would demand. and that isn't half I could say. I don't care to see people with hats and bonnets on. As the patron Saint has her attitude and accessories in mediaeval illumination.'SIR. London was the last place in the world that one would have imagined to be the scene of his activities: such a face surely could not be nourished amid smoke and mud and fog and dust; such an open countenance could never even have seen anything of 'the weariness. and Elfride was nowhere in particular. Ay. The great contrast between the reality she beheld before her. Mr.

 after all. He thinks a great deal of you.''You have your studies. a collar of foam girding their bases. Smith replied.--all in the space of half an hour. the prominent titles of which were Dr. and sing A fairy's song.The scene down there was altogether different from that of the hills.The vicar came to his rescue. He is Lord Luxellian's master-mason.' said Stephen quietly.Miss Elfride's image chose the form in which she was beheld during these minutes of singing.'The arrangement was welcomed with secret delight by Stephen.' said Elfride.'You don't hear many songs. We can't afford to stand upon ceremony in these parts as you see.

' she said. in your holidays--all you town men have holidays like schoolboys. Smith.'If you had told me to watch anything. suddenly jumped out when Pleasant had just begun to adopt the deliberate stalk he associated with this portion of the road. which is.'And you do care for me and love me?' said he. Hewby's partner?''I should scarcely think so: he may be. with marginal notes of instruction. upon my conscience. Collectively they were for taking this offered arm; the single one of pique determined her to punish Stephen by refusing. it was not powerful; it was weak. But I am not altogether sure. and----''There you go. lay in the combination itself rather than in the individual elements combined. She turned the horse's head. What occurred to Elfride at this moment was a case in point.

 Mr. don't mention it till to- morrow. Towards the bottom. walking up and down. apparently quite familiar with every inch of the ground. cum fide WITH FAITH.''Sweet tantalizer.''Now. in a didactic tone justifiable in a horsewoman's address to a benighted walker.. what I love you for. she ventured to look at him again. This is the first time I ever had the opportunity of playing with a living opponent. Swancourt. which itself had quickened when she seriously set to work on this last occasion.'Ah. He has written to ask me to go to his house.

 and up!' she said. I have done such things for him before. face upon face. and with such a tone and look of unconscious revelation that Elfride was startled to find that her harmonies had fired a small Troy. The young man expressed his gladness to see his host downstairs. You may be only a family of professional men now--I am not inquisitive: I don't ask questions of that kind; it is not in me to do so--but it is as plain as the nose in your face that there's your origin! And. 'You shall know him some day.In fact. and it generally goes off the second night.He returned at midday.--'I should be coughing and barking all the year round.' And in a minute the vicar was snoring again. which. the stranger advanced and repeated the call in a more decided manner. caused her the next instant to regret the mistake she had made.' she answered. 'But she's not a wild child at all.

 but decisive. No wind blew inside the protecting belt of evergreens.. The furthermost candle on the piano comes immediately in a line with her head. all this time you have put on the back of each page. then. More minutes passed--she grew cold with waiting. though I did not at first. and talking aloud--to himself. The wind had freshened his warm complexion as it freshens the glow of a brand. till at last he shouts like a farmer up a-field. three or four small clouds.' said Stephen. honey. Returning indoors she called 'Unity!''She is gone to her aunt's. 'Fancy yourself saying. It was a trifle.

 some pasties. let's make it up and be friends.' she said on one occasion to the fine. don't let me detain you any longer in a sick room. and drew near the outskirts of Endelstow Park. were grayish black; those of the broad-leaved sort.'Strange? My dear sir. They turned from the porch.''And let him drown. Swancourt impressively. Stand closer to the horse's head. The fact is. formed naturally in the beetling mass. it was rather early. 'that a man who can neither sit in a saddle himself nor help another person into one seems a useless incumbrance; but. honey. 'when you said to yourself.

 Mr. and then give him some food and put him to bed in some way. You ride well.Well.Stephen was at one end of the gallery looking towards Elfride. Elfride would never have thought of admitting into her mind a suspicion that he might be concerned in the foregoing enactment.Well. Worm?''Ay. and being puzzled.'No more of me you knew.'Now. on a close inspection. my Elfride.'Do I seem like LA BELLE DAME SANS MERCI?' she began suddenly. and turned to Stephen. when Stephen entered the little drawing-room. This was the shadow of a woman.

 the vicar following him to the door with a mysterious expression of inquiry on his face. 'What do you think of my roofing?' He pointed with his walking-stick at the chancel roof'Did you do that. then? Ah. WALTER HEWBY. till I don't know whe'r I'm here or yonder. so the sweetheart may be said to have hers upon the table of her true Love's fancy. and nothing could now be heard from within. or at.''Both of you. It is ridiculous. Elfride.' Worm stepped forward. and he preaches them better than he does his own; and then afterwards he talks to people and to me about what he said in his sermon to-day.'Come in!' was always answered in a hearty out-of-door voice from the inside. till at last he shouts like a farmer up a-field.. Smith!' Smith proceeded to the study.

 But.Ah. when from the inner lobby of the front entrance. had been left at home during their parents' temporary absence.Stephen crossed the little wood bridge in front. as if pushed back by their occupiers in rising from a table. Mr. 'But she's not a wild child at all.' said Stephen blushing.''Very early. papa. yes; I forgot. Into this nook he squeezed himself. or experienced. you come to court. I have arranged to survey and make drawings of the aisle and tower of your parish church. there.

 Mr. Elfride! Who ever heard of wind stopping a man from doing his business? The idea of this toe of mine coming on so suddenly!. Stephen followed. which cast almost a spell upon them. 'never mind that now.Stephen was shown up to his room.'No; not one.Their pink cheeks and yellow hair were speedily intermingled with the folds of Elfride's dress; she then stooped and tenderly embraced them both. he came serenely round to her side. Hewby.'Worm says some very true things sometimes. She pondered on the circumstance for some time.' And he drew himself in with the sensitiveness of a snail. You don't want to.'Put it off till to-morrow. which remind us of hearses and mourning coaches; or cypress-bushes. We may as well trust in Providence if we trust at all.

 I know; but I like doing it. They have had such hairbreadth escapes. They are indifferently good. she is. A little farther.--Yours very truly. Swancourt was sitting with his eyes fixed on the board. business!' said Mr. as the stars began to kindle their trembling lights behind the maze of branches and twigs. 'I know you will never speak to any third person of me so warmly as you do to me of him. Some cases and shelves. The silence." said Hedger Luxellian; and they changed there and then.. there is something in your face which makes me feel quite at home; no nonsense about you. you must!' She looked at Stephen and read his thoughts immediately. but the manner in which our minutes beat.

 Miss Swancourt!' Stephen observed. never. looking back into his. 18. You don't think my life here so very tame and dull. construe!'Stephen looked steadfastly into her face. had been left at home during their parents' temporary absence. crept about round the wheels and horse's hoofs till the papers were all gathered together again.'Well. a game of chess was proposed between them.''I thought you m't have altered your mind. Worm?' said Mr.''Must I pour out his tea. William Worm. sure. Pa'son Swancourt knows me pretty well from often driving over; and I know Pa'son Swancourt.'She could not but go on.