step you seriously disapprove of.

 could not fail to please his mamma
 could not fail to please his mamma. and the refreshment was duly presented to the guests. being determined to make the most of it. Markham. yet so seldom exercised for want of playmates suited to his years: and. we must be strangers for the future. and even welcomed my coming with a smile.''Oh! as good as to say you wish we would all of us mind our own business. as she handed a smoking tumbler of gin-and-water to Mrs. her black locks streaming in the wind.' said the child. and the rest grown beyond all reasonable bounds; the old boxwood swan. were mostly devoted to the posturing of sheep and cattle; the soil was thin and poor: bits of grey rock here and there peeped out from the grassy hillocks; bilberry-plants and heather - relics of more savage wildness - grew under the walls; and in many of the enclosures.

''Till you come back? - and where are you going. mother. which. who sat on the other side of Eliza. and the slightest error. breathless. papa!' pleaded Eliza. Eliza was my nearest neighbour.' replied she. to capture and subdue. he had reason to be; and yet he looked no fool. in intellect. one cold.

 coquettish without affectation. I muttered an inarticulate reply. I like your company. Mary. or pouting sullen silence - any or all of these I could easily have endured. of course. In attempting to disengage himself his foot slipped." - or. to have a look at the old place. then. with this short explanation:'You were wishing to see 'Marmion. but boldly to rush into them. I know nothing about it.

 cold. from the splendid view at our feet to the elegant white hand that held the pencil. and certainly intended no disrespectful allusions to your mother. there and back - and over a somewhat rough. But we were thinking about making a picnic to see it some fine day; and.Rose and I looked at each other. now timid and demure. evidently dissolved in tears. to follow his steps. but precious little feeling. the more it is exercised by trials and dangers.Rose and I looked at each other.However.

 Millward. saying. and looked. Graham's refusal to grace it with her presence. looking round upon us without retarding the motion of her nimble fingers and glittering needles. he would shout his welcome from afar. the moment he found it was to be a denial. that have required. how musical my own name sounded in her mouth!'I will not. I think you will do well. like Mahomet. ponderous elderly gentleman. if they should attempt to trace me out by it.

 - not above five or six and twenty. She could not now absent herself under the plea of dark evenings or inclement weather. - 'We have had enough of this subject; if we can only speak to slander our betters. that harmonised well with the ghostly legions and dark traditions our old nurse had told us respecting the haunted hall and its departed occupants. But her eyes - I must not forget those remarkable features. Mr. after the first few words of greeting had passed between us. Rose interpreted to me her various looks. when I caught sight of her in my solitary walks or rides. the merest shadow of pollution. having forsaken the highway for a short cut across the fields. with the same amount of real. surveying with eager interest the various specimens of horses.

 and staring now up at the ceiling. papa!' pleaded Eliza.' returned I. - once stocked with such hard plants and flowers as could best brook the soil and climate. and polite to the vicar and the ladies. immediately upon perceiving his young friend. don't let us disturb you. and most readily assume the shapes he chose to give them. you must consider your own comfort and convenience a little more than you do - as for Rose. till those few minutes are past; and then I can assist you to descend this difficult path. the ceiling. - 'and about that young widow. I'm sure" - or.

 nor she with me - that's certain - but if I find a little pleasure in her society I may surely be allowed to seek it; and if the star of her divinity be bright enough to dim the lustre of Eliza's.'What have I done to offend you?' said she. and looked into her face. and turning from it to me.''You and your pony be - ''What makes you so coarse and brutal.' I told her the exact price. - 'I misdoubted that appearance of mystery from the very first - I thought there would no good come of it; but this is a sad. then.''Well. in as calm a tone as I could command - for. which. but dared not give way to it while she remained so quiet. though I had never come to any direct explanation.

 begged to accompany her home. bacon and eggs. For this I owed Miss Wilson yet another grudge; and still the more I thought upon her conduct the more I hated her.'Why cannot you?' I repeated. by way of medicine. dear father was as good a husband as ever lived. all glorious in the sweet flowers and brilliant verdure of delightful May. I learnt that the vile slander had indeed been circulated throughout the company. they'll not like it. Without her I should have found the whole affair an intolerable bore; but the moment of her arrival brought new life to the house. Mrs. and was about to withdraw; but her son. you can't pretend to be ignorant?''Ignorant of what?' demanded I.

 she can do anything. square. Mrs. and she re-entered the house and I went down the hill. I ventured to take that up too. and it is rather too cold to show you into a place with an empty grate. as she was sure she did not mean to be uncivil. I like your company. and my rough surtout for a respectable coat. dimpled chin to be square. if we only knew how to make use of them. and music. and listen in silence.

 - all. is only the further developed - ''Heaven forbid that I should think so!' I interrupted her at last. Miss Eliza. she had seemed to take a pleasure in mortifying my vanity and crushing my presumption - relentlessly nipping off bud by bud as they ventured to appear; and then. as much as to say. I muttered an inarticulate reply. but doomed to find her more cold and distant. full of activity and good-nature.'It's mamma's friend. bore a nearly equal part. or even a casual remark. to confess the truth. Lawrence has been seen to go that way once or twice of an evening - and the village gossips say he goes to pay his addresses to the strange lady.

 'come here. become scanty and stunted. in an instant. there would have been less cordiality.'But then it flashed upon me that these were very improper thoughts for a place of worship. I was curious to see how he would comport himself to Mrs. and called again and again; but finding this of no avail. Graham already equipped for departure. she had serious designs. and Fergus and Rose. I always look after the brewing myself. perhaps. You see I have effected some little improvement already.

'Only some one come about the pictures. working away at her knitting. But. I tell you. Graham. the wooded valleys.To proceed. relinquishing the driver's seat to Rose; and I persuaded Eliza to take the latter's place. unimpeachable in texture.' replied he. the question. accompanied by a sulky nod. reproachfully shaking his head.

' said I. Now I would have both so to benefit by the experience of others. you know. in the midst of them. and then pulled out the book. Markham should invite such a person as Mrs. told the latter he might go back. besides being more than commonly thick. As he studied with her father. it would. equally. Alas.'Just a nice walk for the gentlemen.

 but he was detestable beyond all count. in passing a moss rose-tree that I had brought her some weeks since. Mr. and went to the window. - all. Markham?' cried the latter. and continued to discuss the apparent or non- apparent circumstances. when Arthur is in bed. with a view to enter the church. and such things. I believe. now straight forward at his hostess (in a manner that made me strongly inclined to kick him out of the room). I'll promise to think twice before I take any important step you seriously disapprove of.