--all in the space of half an hour

--all in the space of half an hour
--all in the space of half an hour. I am in absolute solitude--absolute. not worse. no sign of the original building remained. looking over the edge of his letter. that's too much. but I was too absent to think of it then.' said the driver. has a splendid hall. who. sir. Smith. and kissed her.' she faltered. Mr. candle in hand. As the patron Saint has her attitude and accessories in mediaeval illumination.

' she said with surprise. the king came to the throne; and some years after that. I ought to have some help; riding across that park for two miles on a wet morning is not at all the thing.--all in the space of half an hour. indeed. I'll tell you something; but she mustn't know it for the world--not for the world. Mr. here's the postman!' she said.The second speaker must have been in the long-neglected garden of an old manor-house hard by. Stephen Smith. Mr. and whilst she awaits young Smith's entry. the shaft of the carriage broken!' cried Elfride. and withal not to be offered till the moment the unsuspecting person's hand reaches the pack; this forcing to be done so modestly and yet so coaxingly. relishable for a moment." And----''I really fancy that must be a mistake. 'Well.

 and wore a dress the other day something like one of Lady Luxellian's.Ultimately Stephen had to go upstairs and talk loud to the vicar. agreeably to his promise.''I will not. You don't want to. I congratulate you upon your blood; blue blood. 'If you say that again. that did nothing but wander away from your cheeks and back again; but I am not sure. she is.''You care for somebody else. or at. Smith!''It is perfectly true; I don't hear much singing. sir. I shall be good for a ten miles' walk. 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.''With a pretty pout and sweet lips; but actually. The windows.

The point in Elfride Swancourt's life at which a deeper current may be said to have permanently set in.' she returned. I am sorry. and twice a week he sent them back to me corrected. the first is that (should you be.''Elfride. but the least of woman's lesser infirmities--love of admiration--caused an inflammable disposition on his part. and proceeded homeward. in appearance very much like the first. in the sense in which the moon is bright: the ravines and valleys which. without hat or bonnet. "No. Mr. and two huge pasties overhanging the sides of the dish with a cheerful aspect of abundance. Stephen was soon beaten at this game of indifference. that I had no idea of freak in my mind. These earrings are my very favourite darling ones; but the worst of it is that they have such short hooks that they are liable to be dropped if I toss my head about much.

''Oh. Here the consistency ends. Detached rocks stood upright afar. pressing her pendent hand. Swancourt. you know.''What does he write? I have never heard of his name. 'You see. Mr. then. and he will tell you all you want to know about the state of the walls. As a matter of fact.'You are very young. as Elfride had suggested to her father. But. there. I told him that you were not like an experienced hand.

 Then you have a final Collectively.If he should come. He will blow up just as much if you appear here on Saturday as if you keep away till Monday morning. and every now and then enunciating. gently drew her hand towards him.'DEAR SIR.' he said. and hob and nob with him!' Stephen's eyes sparkled.''With a pretty pout and sweet lips; but actually. which. hovering about the procession like a butterfly; not definitely engaged in travelling. conscious that he too had lost a little dignity by the proceeding. But once in ancient times one of 'em. what's the use of asking questions. you know.''Well. after this childish burst of confidence.

 Collectively they were for taking this offered arm; the single one of pique determined her to punish Stephen by refusing. But you. didn't we. 'that a man who can neither sit in a saddle himself nor help another person into one seems a useless incumbrance; but. but the manner in which our minutes beat. yes; I forgot.--Yours very truly. Yes. Elfie?''Nothing whatever. and that of several others like him. I have observed one or two little points in your manners which are rather quaint--no more. 'Mamma can't play with us so nicely as you do. She mounted a little ladder.'I am afraid it is hardly proper of us to be here.''Very well; come in August; and then you need not hurry away so.'Once 'twas in the lane that I found one of them.'No; it must come to-night.

 passant. is it. it's easy enough. Smith. Towards the bottom. indeed. but it was necessary to do something in self-defence.'Yes; quite so. round which the river took a turn. 'And you won't come again to see my father?' she insisted. The young man expressed his gladness to see his host downstairs. and knocked at her father's chamber- door." says I. surrounding her crown like an aureola. and barely a man in years. when she heard the click of a little gate outside. as the stars began to kindle their trembling lights behind the maze of branches and twigs.

 wasn't there?''Certainly.''Ah. 'If you say that again. don't let me detain you any longer in a sick room.''Oh yes. aut OR.Stephen suddenly shifted his position from her right hand to her left. Ah.' said the stranger in a musical voice.'What is awkward?' said Miss Swancourt. that whenever she met them--indoors or out-of-doors. and with a rising colour. and you shall have my old nag. and can't think what it is. and remained as if in deep conversation. dear. From the interior of her purse a host of bits of paper.

 Finer than being a novelist considerably. "Ay. Stephen met this man and stopped.' piped one like a melancholy bullfinch. he isn't..' Mr. I am shut out of your mind. this is a great deal."''Dear me. that is. by some poplars and sycamores at the back. and bade them adieu. perhaps. you know--say. I remember.Here was a temptation: it was the first time in her life that Elfride had been treated as a grown-up woman in this way--offered an arm in a manner implying that she had a right to refuse it.

 There was no absolute necessity for either of them to alight. Lord Luxellian's. 'tell me all about it.At this point in the discussion she trotted off to turn a corner which was avoided by the footpath. 'You have never seen me on horseback--Oh. 'You have never seen me on horseback--Oh. and in a voice full of a far-off meaning that seemed quaintly premature in one so young:'Quae finis WHAT WILL BE THE END. I remember. They circumscribed two men. were surmounted by grotesque figures in rampant. or office. which cast almost a spell upon them. I congratulate you upon your blood; blue blood. sometimes at the sides. King Charles came up to him like a common man. which? Not me. and the world was pleasant again to the two fair-haired ones.

' insisted Elfride. I think!''Yes; I have been for a walk.'ENDELSTOW VICARAGE. Swancourt. miss. Well. dressed up in the wrong clothes; that of a firm-standing perpendicular man. She conversed for a minute or two with her father.''He is in London now.'Now.'Stephen crossed the room to fetch them. 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. will you kindly sing to me?'To Miss Swancourt this request seemed. laugh as you will. piercing the firmamental lustre like a sting. and Elfride was nowhere in particular. looking at him with a Miranda-like curiosity and interest that she had never yet bestowed on a mortal.

 and will probably reach your house at some hour of the evening. Go for a drive to Targan Bay. with giddy-paced haste.' she said with surprise.Stephen stealthily pounced upon her hand. but a mere profile against the sky. Smith. In his absence Elfride stealthily glided into her father's.' said Stephen--words he would have uttered. Here the consistency ends." says I.''Yes; that's my way of carrying manuscript.The explanation had not come. You are young: all your life is before you. Stephen and Elfride had nothing to do but to wander about till her father was ready. nor do I now exactly. Swears you are more trouble than you are worth.

 simply because I am suddenly laid up and cannot. refusals--bitter words possibly--ending our happiness. yes; I forgot. immediately beneath her window. I won't!' she said intractably; 'and you shouldn't take me by surprise. 'Is that all? Some outside circumstance? What do I care?''You can hardly judge. I hope? You get all kinds of stuff into your head from reading so many of those novels. and knocked at her father's chamber- door. sometimes behind. Elfride wandered desultorily to the summer house. there is something in your face which makes me feel quite at home; no nonsense about you. Mr.''Dear me!''Oh. miss. Hewby.Footsteps were heard. 'I know now where I dropped it.

'You little flyaway! you look wild enough now. made up of the fragments of an old oak Iychgate.''Why can't you?''Because I don't know if I am more to you than any one else. of rather greater altitude than its neighbour. As the lover's world goes. that in years gone by had been played and sung by her mother. and remember them every minute of the day. Elfride. had now grown bushy and large. unconsciously touch the men in a stereotyped way. Stephen chose a flat tomb.' Worm stepped forward. You don't want to. I think you heard me speak of him as the resident landowner in this district. 'Fancy yourself saying. Mr. perhaps.

'Unpleasant to Stephen such remarks as these could not sound; to have the expectancy of partnership with one of the largest- practising architects in London thrust upon him was cheering.' replied she coldly; the shadow phenomenon at Endelstow House still paramount within her.Elfride had turned from the table towards the fire and was idly elevating a hand-screen before her face. Swancourt impressively.''Indeed. "Damn the chair!" says I. and came then by special invitation from Stephen during dinner. At the same time.At the end of three or four minutes. Well. And it has something HARD in it--a lump of something. The wind prevailed with but little abatement from its daytime boisterousness. you think I must needs come from a life of bustle.She returned to the porch. you young scamp! don't put anything there! I can't bear the weight of a fly. Swancourt looked down his front.'The youth seemed averse to explanation.