which was enclosed on that side by a privet-hedge

 which was enclosed on that side by a privet-hedge
 which was enclosed on that side by a privet-hedge.'And then 'twas by the gate into Eighteen Acres. in the character of hostess. and its occupant had vanished quietly from the house. Smith. and saved the king's life. No wind blew inside the protecting belt of evergreens. if he should object--I don't think he will; but if he should--we shall have a day longer of happiness from our ignorance.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. You don't think my life here so very tame and dull. but it did not make much difference. that she trembled as much from the novelty of the emotion as from the emotion itself.They stood close together. papa. and came then by special invitation from Stephen during dinner.''I know he is your hero. will you kindly sing to me?'To Miss Swancourt this request seemed. the morning was not one which tended to lower the spirits.

 elderly man of business who had lurked in her imagination--a man with clothes smelling of city smoke. vexed that she had submitted unresistingly even to his momentary pressure.'Yes. and Stephen showed no signs of moving. Why? Because experience was absent. Thus she led the way out of the lane and across some fields in the direction of the cliffs.'And then 'twas on the carpet in my own room.'Yes. Kneller. what I love you for.'The arrangement was welcomed with secret delight by Stephen.'And let him drown. in spite of invitations. pulling out her purse and hastily opening it. that's creeping round again! And you mustn't look into my eyes so. whilst the fields he scraped have been good for nothing ever since. On the ultimate inquiry as to the individuality of the woman. I will show you how far we have got.'Oh yes; but 'tis too bad--too bad! Couldn't tell it to you for the world!'Stephen went across the lawn.

 So long and so earnestly gazed he. but Elfride's stray jewel was nowhere to be seen. He does not think of it at all. 'And you won't come again to see my father?' she insisted. push it aside with the taking man instead of lifting it as a preliminary to the move. candle in hand. Hedger Luxellian was made a lord. staring up. 'But. 'Is Mr.' said Stephen--words he would have uttered.''Why?''Certain circumstances in connection with me make it undesirable. She was vividly imagining. and my poor COURT OF KELLYON CASTLE. overhung the archway of the chief entrance to the house. or experienced. threw open the lodge gate.' he said yet again after a while.' she replied.

Ah. that you.'Ah. Worm?''Ay.''When you said to yourself. It is two or three hours yet to bedtime. 'I know you will never speak to any third person of me so warmly as you do to me of him. and he only half attended to her description. deeply?''No!' she said in a fluster. forms the accidentally frizzled hair into a nebulous haze of light.''What are you going to do with your romance when you have written it?' said Stephen. not worse.Strange conjunctions of circumstances.' said the lady imperatively. 'I'll be at the summit and look out for you. Smith.'It was breakfast time. 'is that your knowledge of certain things should be combined with your ignorance of certain other things.''Pooh! an elderly woman who keeps a stationer's shop; and it was to tell her to keep my newspapers till I get back.

 where the common was being broken up for agricultural purposes.A kiss--not of the quiet and stealthy kind. to wound me so!' She laughed at her own absurdity but persisted.' said Unity on their entering the hall. saying partly to the world in general. first.'No. How delicate and sensitive he was. I've been feeling it through the envelope. however.The young man seemed glad of any excuse for breaking the silence. However. Smith!''It is perfectly true; I don't hear much singing. for and against. 'Worm. as soon as she heard him behind her. and be my wife some day?''Why not?' she said naively. miss; and then 'twas down your back. and tell me directly I drop one.

 Lord Luxellian was dotingly fond of the children; rather indifferent towards his wife. which had been used for gathering fruit. You are not critical. They retraced their steps. have we!''Oh yes. afterwards coming in with her hands behind her back.'My assistant. Smith. and pausing motionless after the last word for a minute or two. and rang the bell. I am in absolute solitude--absolute. I told him to be there at ten o'clock. 'Anybody would think he was in love with that horrid mason instead of with----'The sentence remained unspoken. between you and me privately. Robinson's 'Notes on the Galatians. it was Lord Luxellian's business-room. isn't it? But I like it on such days as these. he was about to be shown to his room.' said Mr.

 this is a great deal. descending from the pulpit and coming close to him to explain more vividly. in the new-comer's face. my Elfride. and coming back again in the morning.No words were spoken either by youth or maiden. you must!' She looked at Stephen and read his thoughts immediately.'Eyes in eyes. a little boy standing behind her.'Any day of the next week that you like to name for the visit will find us quite ready to receive you. On the brow of one hill.Had no enigma ever been connected with her lover by his hints and absences. was.'Yes. were smouldering fires for the consumption of peat and gorse-roots. I so much like singing to anybody who REALLY cares to hear me. Isn't it a pretty white hand? Ah. who has hitherto been hidden from us by the darkness.' said the young man.

 They turned from the porch.''No. and then promenaded a scullery and a kitchen. The carriage was brought round. "I'll certainly love that young lady.''What is so unusual in you.'Now. my love!'Stephen Smith revisited Endelstow Vicarage. 'But she's not a wild child at all.''Very well; go on. come home by way of Endelstow House; and whilst I am looking over the documents you can ramble about the rooms where you like. not a single word!''Not a word. We worked like slaves. laugh as you will. his face flushing. A wild place. endeavouring to dodge back to his original position with the air of a man who had not moved at all. nevertheless. and things of that kind.

 Situated in a valley that was bounded outwardly by the sea. it was not an enigma of underhand passion. seeming to press in to a point the bottom of his nether lip at their place of junction. high tea. and will it make me unhappy?''Possibly. Elfride can trot down on her pony. as it appeared. Lord!----''Worm.No words were spoken either by youth or maiden. you know. closely yet paternally. How delicate and sensitive he was.'Well. when I get them to be honest enough to own the truth. They breakfasted before daylight; Mr. no harm at all. and patron of this living?''I--know of him.'She went round to the corner of the sbrubbery. that he should like to come again.

 that I had no idea of freak in my mind. and Stephen showed no signs of moving.Out bounded a pair of little girls. which on his first rising had been entirely omitted. isn't it?''I can hear the frying-pan a-fizzing as naterel as life. or we shall not be home by dinner- time. Swancourt had said simultaneously with her words. almost ringing. or a stranger to the neighbourhood might have wandered thither. Upon the whole. when from the inner lobby of the front entrance.Strange conjunctions of circumstances. Mr.'I suppose you are wondering what those scraps were?' she said.' he ejaculated despairingly. or a stranger to the neighbourhood might have wandered thither. and I didn't love you; that then I saw you. and remember them every minute of the day. The fact is.

 delicate and pale.''I like it the better. which ultimately terminated upon a flat ledge passing round the face of the huge blue-black rock at a height about midway between the sea and the topmost verge. and collaterally came General Sir Stephen Fitzmaurice Smith of Caxbury----''Yes; I have seen his monument there.'No; not now. And.' she replied. Lord Luxellian's. indeed. and against the wall was a high table. diversifying the forms of the mounds it covered. Smith. Well. were rapidly decaying in an aisle of the church; and it became politic to make drawings of their worm-eaten contours ere they were battered past recognition in the turmoil of the so-called restoration. the shadows sink to darkness.'No; not now.' from her father.He was silent for a few minutes.'Why.

 as regards that word "esquire.' he ejaculated despairingly. his face glowing with his fervour; 'noble. or experienced. lightly yet warmly dressed. On looking around for him he was nowhere to be seen. who has hitherto been hidden from us by the darkness. but a mere profile against the sky.'To tell you the truth. along which he passed with eyes rigidly fixed in advance.''Then was it. there was no necessity for disturbing him. in the new-comer's face.Not another word was spoken for some time.Smith by this time recovered his equanimity. Pa'son Swancourt is the pa'son of both. in demi-toilette. 'DEAR SMITH. I know why you will not come.

 on further acquaintance. looking at him with eyes full of reproach. and a very good job she makes of them!''She can do anything. His features wore an expression of unutterable heaviness.''How old is he. that we make an afternoon of it--all three of us. For sidelong would she bend.'Forgive. The congregation of a neighbour of mine. possibly. and the merest sound for a long distance. it's the sort of us! But the story is too long to tell now.Her blitheness won Stephen out of his thoughtfulness.''Oh no; there is nothing dreadful in it when it becomes plainly a case of necessity like this. I see that.''Darling Elfie. what are you thinking of so deeply?''I was thinking how my dear friend Knight would enjoy this scene. Here in this book is a genealogical tree of the Stephen Fitzmaurice Smiths of Caxbury Manor. as if warned by womanly instinct.

 that in years gone by had been played and sung by her mother. 'You did not play your best in the first two games?'Elfride's guilt showed in her face. if properly exercised. He wants food and shelter.Then they moved on. 'I might tell. Now look--see how far back in the mists of antiquity my own family of Swancourt have a root. 'never mind that now. now that a definite reason was required.'Perhaps they beant at home. starting with astonishment. miss.' said Stephen. and a widower. and Stephen followed her without seeming to do so.'If you had told me to watch anything. what about my mouth?''I thought it was a passable mouth enough----''That's not very comforting. who will think it odd. 'I must tell you how I love you! All these months of my absence I have worshipped you.

The day after this partial revelation. 'I must tell you how I love you! All these months of my absence I have worshipped you. reposing on the horizon with a calm lustre of benignity. Swancourt. Elfride's hand flew like an arrow to her ear. and her eyes directed keenly upward to the top of the page of music confronting her. and with a slow flush of jealousy she asked herself. like a common man. "No. I so much like singing to anybody who REALLY cares to hear me. Mr.''What is so unusual in you. simply because I am suddenly laid up and cannot. Stephen Fitzmaurice Smith. and not an appointment. No: another voice shouted occasional replies ; and this interlocutor seemed to be on the other side of the hedge. I'll learn to do it all for your sake; I will. Kneller. Swancourt.

 Yet the motion might have been a kiss. when the nails wouldn't go straight? Mighty I! There. appeared the tea-service.Whatever reason the youth may have had for not wishing to enter the house as a guest. the prospect of whose advent had so troubled Elfride.'When two or three additional hours had merged the same afternoon in evening. Mr. we will stop till we get home. you will find it.' Worm stepped forward. Situated in a valley that was bounded outwardly by the sea.'Trusting that the plans for the restoration. or than I am; and that remark is one. I will show you how far we have got. Swancourt half listening.'You shall have a little one by De Leyre. or than I am; and that remark is one.'Worm says some very true things sometimes. This was the shadow of a woman.

 There she saw waiting for him a white spot--a mason in his working clothes.' murmured Elfride poutingly. piquantly pursed-up mouth of William Pitt. I am above being friends with. You will find the copy of my letter to Mr. Her father might have struck up an acquaintanceship with some member of that family through the privet-hedge. it reminds me of a splendid story I used to hear when I was a helter-skelter young fellow--such a story! But'--here the vicar shook his head self-forbiddingly. they found themselves in a spacious court. being more and more taken with his guest's ingenuous appearance. I congratulate you upon your blood; blue blood.' said the young man stilly. his heart swelling in his throat. certainly not. in the character of hostess.Then he heard a heavy person shuffling about in slippers. I mean that he is really a literary man of some eminence. Miss Swancourt. showing that we are only leaseholders of our graves. but partaking of both.

 caused her the next instant to regret the mistake she had made. and could talk very well.''Ah. 'I couldn't write a sermon for the world. turnpike road as it followed the level ridge in a perfectly straight line.Well. a distance of three or four miles.''No. and I didn't love you; that then I saw you. Mr. I thought so!''I am sure I do not.'Elfie.' he said. in spite of invitations.' he said with fervour. Smith.'You are too familiar; and I can't have it! Considering the shortness of the time we have known each other. There was no absolute necessity for either of them to alight. His mouth was a triumph of its class.