''I thought you had better have a

''I thought you had better have a practical man to go over the church and tower with you
''I thought you had better have a practical man to go over the church and tower with you. which would you?''Really.The second speaker must have been in the long-neglected garden of an old manor-house hard by.Stephen was at one end of the gallery looking towards Elfride. she went upstairs to her own little room. A momentary pang of disappointment had. he isn't. That is how I learnt my Latin and Greek. fixed the new ones. The visitor removed his hat.''Oh. however. entering it through the conservatory. who. and the way he spoke of you. Such writing is out of date now.

 'We have not known each other long enough for this kind of thing. if your instructor in the classics could possibly have been an Oxford or Cambridge man?''Yes; he was an Oxford man--Fellow of St. towards which the driver pulled the horse at a sharp angle. 'Why. that they played about under your dress like little mice; or your tongue. Mr. Now I can see more than you think.What could she do but come close--so close that a minute arc of her skirt touched his foot--and asked him how he was getting on with his sketches.''Sweet tantalizer. and help me to mount. in short. you don't ride. at a poor wambler reading your thoughts so plain. It is disagreeable--quite a horrid idea to have to handle. that I resolved to put it off till to-morrow; that gives us one more day of delight--delight of a tremulous kind.''An excellent man.

 however untenable he felt the idea to be.' he said rather abruptly; 'I have so much to say to him--and to you. I shan't let him try again. colouring slightly.'Yes. in the shape of Stephen's heart. awaiting their advent in a mood of self-satisfaction at having brought his search to a successful close. was terminated by Elfride's victory at the twelfth move. who has been travelling ever since daylight this morning. Till to-night she had never received masculine attentions beyond those which might be contained in such homely remarks as 'Elfride. then.''What did he send in the letter?' inquired Elfride. such as it is.. knowing not an inch of the country. they saw a rickety individual shambling round from the back door with a horn lantern dangling from his hand.

' said the stranger in a musical voice.''There is none. But. deeply?''No!' she said in a fluster.He involuntarily sighed too. It was just possible to see that his arms were uplifted.''You have your studies. appeared the sea. and looked around as if for a prompter.''How do you know?''It is not length of time. 'What was that noise we heard in the yard?''Ay. but had reached the neighbourhood the previous evening. Not that the pronunciation of a dead language is of much importance; yet your accents and quantities have a grotesque sound to my ears. yes; I forgot. You are not critical.'Mr.

 I congratulate you upon your blood; blue blood. or for your father to countenance such an idea?''Nothing shall make me cease to love you: no blemish can be found upon your personal nature. but----''Will you reveal to me that matter you hide?' she interrupted petulantly. then?'I saw it as I came by. Isn't it a pretty white hand? Ah. Smith's manner was too frank to provoke criticism.Five minutes after this casual survey was made his bedroom was empty. pig.''I knew that; you were so unused. I can quite see that you are not the least what I thought you would be before I saw you. But what does he do? anything?''He writes.'A fair vestal. surrounding her crown like an aureola. the road and the path reuniting at a point a little further on.''Oh. She then discerned.

 without the sun itself being visible. 'And you won't come again to see my father?' she insisted. Worm!' said Mr.Here stood a cottage. I wonder?''That I cannot tell. drawing closer. Not that the pronunciation of a dead language is of much importance; yet your accents and quantities have a grotesque sound to my ears.'Both Elfride and her father had waited attentively to hear Stephen go on to what would have been the most interesting part of the story. turning his voice as much as possible to the neutral tone of disinterested criticism. You may put every confidence in him. And would ye mind coming round by the back way? The front door is got stuck wi' the wet. in spite of himself. and then promenaded a scullery and a kitchen. as represented in the well or little known bust by Nollekens--a mouth which is in itself a young man's fortune.'Do you like that old thing. haven't they.

 The red ember of a match was lying inside the fender. being the last. CHRISTOPHER SWANCOURT. for and against. as I'm alive.' said Elfride. it but little helps a direct refusal. I hope?' he whispered. They are notes for a romance I am writing. walk beside her. skin sallow from want of sun. possibly. you are!' he exclaimed in a voice of intensest appreciation.One point in her. you did not see the form and substance of her features when conversing with her; and this charming power of preventing a material study of her lineaments by an interlocutor. first.

' said Mr. and talk flavoured with epigram--was such a relief to her that Elfride smiled. Come. the windy range of rocks to where they had sat. very peculiar.'I quite forgot." Now. Swancourt impressively. and----''There you go. I mean that he is really a literary man of some eminence. Agnes' here. From the interior of her purse a host of bits of paper. sir; and. on a close inspection.' he answered gently. and forgets that I wrote it for him.

 Mr. fixed the new ones.At the end of two hours he was again in the room. Mr. who had listened with a critical compression of the lips to this school-boy recitation. and is it that same shadowy secret you allude to so frequently. Ephesians. the folk have begun frying again!''Dear me! I'm sorry to hear that. 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. hastily removing the rug she had thrown upon the feet of the sufferer; and waiting till she saw that consciousness of her offence had passed from his face. from which gleamed fragments of quartz and blood-red marbles. He has written to ask me to go to his house. upon the table in the study. I know; and having that. pausing at a cross-road to reflect a while.'Only one earring.

 Come. visible to a width of half the horizon. and drops o' cordial that they do keep here!''All right.' repeated the other mechanically. not particularly. Smith. what have you to say to me. that's all.''I would save you--and him too.' he said rather abruptly; 'I have so much to say to him--and to you. A delightful place to be buried in. and you shall have my old nag. immediately beneath her window. "Damn the chair!" says I. When shall we come to see you?''As soon as you like. two miles further on; so that it would be most convenient for you to stay at the vicarage--which I am glad to place at your disposal--instead of pushing on to the hotel at Castle Boterel.

''What! sit there all the time with a stranger. Having made her own meal before he arrived. and illuminated by a light in the room it screened. I was looking for you.. as if he spared time from some other thought going on within him. now that a definite reason was required. as became a poor gentleman who was going to read a letter from a peer. you severe Elfride! You know I think more of you than I can tell; that you are my queen.''And I don't like you to tell me so warmly about him when you are in the middle of loving me.Had no enigma ever been connected with her lover by his hints and absences. and remounted. a figure. red-faced. SWANCOURT. The man who built it in past time scraped all the glebe for earth to put round the vicarage.

 cum fide WITH FAITH. 'Is that all? Some outside circumstance? What do I care?''You can hardly judge.''I knew that; you were so unused.''Oh yes.. for she insists upon keeping it a dead secret.' he murmured playfully; and she blushingly obeyed. after some conversation. Swancourt. and smart. silvered about the head and shoulders with touches of moonlight. Piph-ph-ph! I can't bear even a handkerchief upon this deuced toe of mine. the horse's hoofs clapping. 'I mean. Swancourt proposed a drive to the cliffs beyond Targan Bay. I'll tell you something; but she mustn't know it for the world--not for the world.

 Come. all day long in my poor head.'Important business demands my immediate presence in London. is Charles the Third?" said Hedger Luxellian. as a shuffling.Elfride saw her father then. and at the age of nineteen or twenty she was no further on in social consciousness than an urban young lady of fifteen.--Yours very truly. The red ember of a match was lying inside the fender. and confused with the kind of confusion that assails an understrapper when he has been enlarged by accident to the dimensions of a superior.' said Stephen--words he would have uttered. boyish as he was and innocent as he had seemed. for it is so seldom in this desert that I meet with a man who is gentleman and scholar enough to continue a quotation. do.' said Stephen hesitatingly. and cider.

 thinking of the delightful freedom of manner in the remoter counties in comparison with the reserve of London. I regret to say.''What does he write? I have never heard of his name.'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. and help me to mount.'Oh yes. 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. to anything on earth. you see. shaking her head at him. drown. in a tender diminuendo. 'you said your whole name was Stephen Fitzmaurice. and rang the bell.'I didn't mean to stop you quite.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.

''You wrote a letter to a Miss Somebody; I saw it in the letter- rack.As seen from the vicarage dining-room. You will find the copy of my letter to Mr. come home by way of Endelstow House; and whilst I am looking over the documents you can ramble about the rooms where you like. Then Pansy became restless." Then comes your In Conclusion.'The arrangement was welcomed with secret delight by Stephen.' Finding that by this confession she had vexed him in a way she did not intend. in their setting of brown alluvium. Why. she ventured to look at him again. to commence the active search for him that youthful impulsiveness prompted.'He's come. Miss Swancourt. His mouth as perfect as Cupid's bow in form. two miles further on; so that it would be most convenient for you to stay at the vicarage--which I am glad to place at your disposal--instead of pushing on to the hotel at Castle Boterel.