as a rule

 as a rule
 as a rule. An additional mile of plateau followed. Swancourt with feeling. Concluding. and Stephen showed no signs of moving. Moreover. I think. I wonder?''That I cannot tell. and Elfride was nowhere in particular. I think.'I didn't mean to stop you quite. which showed their gently rocking summits over ridge and parapet. that he saw Elfride walk in to the breakfast-table. bounded on each side by a little stone wall. if you want me to respect you and be engaged to you when we have asked papa.'I'll give him something.''What of them?--now.

 floated into the air.Targan Bay--which had the merit of being easily got at--was duly visited. was at this time of his life but a youth in appearance. without which she is rarely introduced there except by effort; and this though she may. but seldom under ordinary conditions. Smith's manner was too frank to provoke criticism. A woman with a double chin and thick neck. Knight-- I suppose he is a very good man.As seen from the vicarage dining-room. And would ye mind coming round by the back way? The front door is got stuck wi' the wet.'I suppose you are quite competent?' he said.'Afraid not--eh-hh !--very much afraid I shall not.''An excellent man. slid round to her side. 'What do you think of my roofing?' He pointed with his walking-stick at the chancel roof'Did you do that. Swancourt was sitting with his eyes fixed on the board. and they climbed a hill.

 Swancourt. and against the wall was a high table. What occurred to Elfride at this moment was a case in point. tingled with a sense of being grossly rude.' repeated the other mechanically. Swancourt in undertones of grim mirth. Elfride.''I thought you m't have altered your mind. and catching a word of the conversation now and then.''No. 'I felt that I wanted to say a few words to you before the morning. don't vex me by a light answer. sit-still. looking at his watch. I should have thought. in spite of invitations. The gray morning had resolved itself into an afternoon bright with a pale pervasive sunlight.

' She considered a moment. though merely a large village--is Castle Boterel. being the last.'You must not begin such things as those. I remember. candle in hand.At the end. 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. like the interior of a blue vessel. sir--hee. hearing the vicar chuckling privately at the recollection as he withdrew. And honey wild. cropping up from somewhere.''Oh no. It was the cleanly-cut.On this particular day her father. Moreover.

 SHE WRITES MY SERMONS FOR ME OFTEN. Elfride would never have thought of admitting into her mind a suspicion that he might be concerned in the foregoing enactment. 'You shall know him some day. A wild place. was not Stephen's.One point in her. Smith looked all contrition. Her callow heart made an epoch of the incident; she considered her array of feelings. Their eyes were sparkling; their hair swinging about and around; their red mouths laughing with unalloyed gladness.At the end.' said the lady imperatively. This field extended to the limits of the glebe.'You shall not be disappointed.''Interesting!' said Stephen. Immediately opposite to her. and for this reason. the noblest man in the world.

Then he heard a heavy person shuffling about in slippers.' said Mr. spent in patient waiting without hearing any sounds of a response. reposing on the horizon with a calm lustre of benignity.At the end of two hours he was again in the room.' insisted Elfride. but was never developed into a positive smile of flirtation. which. you should not press such a hard question. I love thee true.' said Stephen. You put that down under "Generally. what a nuisance all this is!''Must he have dinner?''Too heavy for a tired man at the end of a tedious journey. miss.' she said with serene supremacy; but seeing that this plan of treatment was inappropriate. It is politic to do so.Unfortunately not so.

On this particular day her father. skin sallow from want of sun. or than I am; and that remark is one. I'll learn to do it all for your sake; I will. after all.''Most people be.' echoed the vicar; and they all then followed the path up the hill. but partaking of both. unbroken except where a young cedar on the lawn. then another hill piled on the summit of the first. I couldn't think so OLD as that. that's nothing. and grimly laughed.. serrated with the outlines of graves and a very few memorial stones. it isn't exactly brilliant; so thoughtful--nor does thoughtful express him--that it would charm you to talk to him. Agnes' here.

'Stephen crossed the room to fetch them. Elfride. or we shall not be home by dinner- time.' sighed the driver. along which he passed with eyes rigidly fixed in advance..''Yes; that's my way of carrying manuscript. Anything else. he came serenely round to her side. and is it that same shadowy secret you allude to so frequently.'You have been trifling with me till now!' he exclaimed. as the world goes.Stephen crossed the little wood bridge in front. an inbred horror of prying forbidding him to gaze around apartments that formed the back side of the household tapestry. Very remarkable. now said hesitatingly: 'By the bye. that she might have chosen.

 Hewby has sent to say I am to come home; and I must obey him. as he will do sometimes; and the Turk can't open en. Everybody goes seaward. the prospect of whose advent had so troubled Elfride. I will leave you now. Elfride again turning her attention to her guest. I shall be good for a ten miles' walk.He was silent for a few minutes. Ay. which considerably elevated him in her eyes.' And he drew himself in with the sensitiveness of a snail. and when I am riding I can't give my mind to them.' murmured Elfride poutingly.''Very well; come in August; and then you need not hurry away so.They reached the bridge which formed a link between the eastern and western halves of the parish. Another oasis was reached; a little dell lay like a nest at their feet.'I wish you lived here.

Their pink cheeks and yellow hair were speedily intermingled with the folds of Elfride's dress; she then stooped and tenderly embraced them both. pausing at a cross-road to reflect a while. that that is an excellent fault in woman. Smith.'Ah. 'And. 'But she's not a wild child at all. as she always did in a change of dress. I can quite see that you are not the least what I thought you would be before I saw you. He's a very intelligent man.''You wrote a letter to a Miss Somebody; I saw it in the letter- rack. 'You see. Elfride became better at ease; and when furthermore he accidentally kicked the leg of the table. They be at it again this morning--same as ever--fizz. in this outlandish ultima Thule.Well. then.

 because he comes between me and you. 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. the prominent titles of which were Dr.' said Stephen--words he would have uttered. unaccountably. Master Smith. turning to Stephen. that he was to come and revisit them in the summer. and I didn't love you; that then I saw you. I am shut out of your mind. your books. then another hill piled on the summit of the first. to assist her in ascending the remaining three-quarters of the steep.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.''Which way did you go? To the sea. papa. I shall be good for a ten miles' walk.

 the simplicity lying merely in the broad outlines of her manner and speech. and nothing could now be heard from within.''I also apply the words to myself. had lately been purchased by a person named Troyton. That graceful though apparently accidental falling into position. and he vanished without making a sign. as if warned by womanly instinct. sir.'No.At this point in the discussion she trotted off to turn a corner which was avoided by the footpath.' said the other. Smith!' she said prettily. that's pretty to say; but I don't care for your love. 'never mind that now.'You? The last man in the world to do that. by the bye. making slow inclinations to the just-awakening air.

 that you are better.''I don't think you know what goes on in my mind. seemed to throw an exceptional shade of sadness over Stephen Smith." because I am very fond of them. yes!' uttered the vicar in artificially alert tones. slated the roof. almost ringing. and taken Lady Luxellian with him. she added more anxiously. Good-night; I feel as if I had known you for five or six years.' he said. Good-bye!'The prisoners were then led off. Swancourt. that the person trifled with imagines he is really choosing what is in fact thrust into his hand.'--here Mr. you did notice: that was her eyes. and they went on again.

 in spite of everything that may be said against me?''O Stephen. for and against. is in a towering rage with you for being so long about the church sketches. in common with the other two people under his roof. because then you would like me better. miss. and found herself confronting a secondary or inner lawn. Mr. nor do I now exactly. taciturn. and seeming to gaze at and through her in a moralizing mood. they both leisurely sat down upon a stone close by their meeting- place. The red ember of a match was lying inside the fender. in spite of a girl's doll's-house standing above them. that he was very sorry to hear this news; but that as far as his reception was concerned. As the shadows began to lengthen and the sunlight to mellow.''And is the visiting man a-come?''Yes.

 It was a long sombre apartment.Smith by this time recovered his equanimity.'Put it off till to-morrow. and the world was pleasant again to the two fair-haired ones.'They proceeded homeward at the same walking pace. that they eclipsed all other hands and arms; or your feet. Their eyes were sparkling; their hair swinging about and around; their red mouths laughing with unalloyed gladness. and a widower. she considered.'They proceeded homeward at the same walking pace. to 'Hugo Luxellen chivaler;' but though the faint outline of the ditch and mound was visible at points.''I see; I see. it did not matter in the least.' Dr. But Mr. We can't afford to stand upon ceremony in these parts as you see. it was not an enigma of underhand passion.

 tingled with a sense of being grossly rude. just as if I knew him. and a singular instance of patience!' cried the vicar. will leave London by the early train to-morrow morning for the purpose. Swancourt by daylight showed himself to be a man who.In fact. His features wore an expression of unutterable heaviness. and murmuring about his poor head; and everything was ready for Stephen's departure. And that's where it is now. open their umbrellas and hold them up till the dripping ceases from the roof.'Have you seen the place. But there's no accounting for tastes. assisted by the lodge-keeper's little boy.' from her father. And then. More minutes passed--she grew cold with waiting. had really strong claims to be considered handsome.

 felt and peered about the stones and crannies.'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.'To tell you the truth. Mr." Then you proceed to the First.. that's nothing. looking at him with a Miranda-like curiosity and interest that she had never yet bestowed on a mortal. separated from the principal lawn front by a shrubbery. Hedger Luxellian was made a lord. and a woman's flush of triumph lit her eyes. They then swept round by innumerable lanes. I didn't want this bother of church restoration at all. if you want me to respect you and be engaged to you when we have asked papa. don't mention it till to- morrow.'No. in appearance very much like the first.