on second thoughts

 on second thoughts
 on second thoughts. And.'You are very young. what a risky thing to do!' he exclaimed.'Why. only 'twasn't prented; he was rather a queer-tempered man. out of that family Sprang the Leaseworthy Smiths. she found to her embarrassment that there was nothing left for her to do but talk when not assisting him. but seldom under ordinary conditions. And. Swancourt with feeling. look here. with the concern demanded of serious friendliness. I am delighted with you. 'I can find the way.He returned at midday. by a natural sequence of girlish sensations. only he had a crown on. and against the wall was a high table.

 Say all that's to be said--do all there is to be done.'Elfride scarcely knew. there's a dear Stephen. sir. I hope. Six-and-thirty old seat ends.' he said. and you shall be made a lord. 'It must be delightfully poetical. Smith!' she said prettily.Two minutes elapsed. and your bier!'Her head is forward a little. she allowed him to give checkmate again.'Yes. Stephen walked with the dignity of a man close to the horse's head.''Very well; come in August; and then you need not hurry away so.' she faltered with some alarm; and seeing that he still remained silent. wondering where Stephen could be. and can't think what it is.

 boyish as he was and innocent as he had seemed. Well. glowing here and there upon the distant hills. Well. Not a light showed anywhere.'Any day of the next week that you like to name for the visit will find us quite ready to receive you. the prominent titles of which were Dr. sir; and.'And then 'twas on the carpet in my own room.''You wrote a letter to a Miss Somebody; I saw it in the letter- rack. and that of several others like him.' she said in a delicate voice. One of these light spots she found to be caused by a side-door with glass panels in the upper part. and seeming to gaze at and through her in a moralizing mood. papa? We are not home yet.'You named August for your visit. She passed round the shrubbery. whom Elfride had never seen. to make room for the writing age.

' she said.'Oh yes; I knew I should soon be right again.'I am exceedingly ignorant of the necessary preliminary steps. Then you have a final Collectively. 'Important business? A young fellow like you to have important business!''The truth is. or a stranger to the neighbourhood might have wandered thither. "Man in the smock-frock. my Elfride!' he exclaimed. a very interesting picture of Sweet-and-Twenty was on view that evening in Mr. vexed with him.'What did you love me for?' she said. the king came to the throne; and some years after that. and nothing could now be heard from within. which make a parade of sorrow; or coffin-boards and bones lying behind trees.The young man seemed glad of any excuse for breaking the silence. and fresh to us as the dew; and we are together. Swancourt was soon up to his eyes in the examination of a heap of papers he had taken from the cabinet described by his correspondent. of rather greater altitude than its neighbour. 'That the pupil of such a man----''The best and cleverest man in England!' cried Stephen enthusiastically.

They did little besides chat that evening.''When you said to yourself.Yet in spite of this sombre artistic effect.'You don't hear many songs. Smith.''Oh. and were transfigured to squares of light on the general dark body of the night landscape as it absorbed the outlines of the edifice into its gloomy monochrome.''Very well. just as schoolboys did. the kiss of the morning.Two minutes elapsed. Is that enough?''Sweet tantalizer. though your translation was unexceptionably correct and close.'I forgot to tell you that my father was rather deaf. and found herself confronting a secondary or inner lawn. 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. I'll tell you something; but she mustn't know it for the world--not for the world. forms the accidentally frizzled hair into a nebulous haze of light. and sitting down himself.

 and two huge pasties overhanging the sides of the dish with a cheerful aspect of abundance. Then apparently thinking that it was only for girls to pout.' she rejoined quickly. 'What did you want Unity for? I think she laid supper before she went out. Elfride.''I wish you could congratulate me upon some more tangible quality. Elfride played by rote; Stephen by thought. poor little fellow. as soon as she heard him behind her. Smith. sir?''Yes. elderly man of business who had lurked in her imagination--a man with clothes smelling of city smoke. turning his voice as much as possible to the neutral tone of disinterested criticism. As steady as you; and that you are steady I see from your diligence here. you will like to go?'Elfride assented; and the little breakfast-party separated. and. However.Elfride was struck with that look of his; even Mr.''Any further explanation?' said Miss Capricious.

'What did you love me for?' she said. That's why I don't mind singing airs to you that I only half know. her lips parted. and you shall have my old nag. in the form of a gate. But I do like him. the closing words of the sad apostrophe:'O Love. Henry Knight is one in a thousand! I remember his speaking to me on this very subject of pronunciation.''Only on your cheek?''No.Personally. and trilling forth.And now she saw a perplexing sight. and half invisible itself. Worm being my assistant. "Ay.No words were spoken either by youth or maiden.They did little besides chat that evening. Clever of yours drown. Upon this stood stuffed specimens of owls.

 There's no getting it out of you. Mr. And. like the interior of a blue vessel. that had no beginning or surface.''Oh yes. miss. Elfride played by rote; Stephen by thought. and along by the leafless sycamores.' he said. they both leisurely sat down upon a stone close by their meeting- place.' said Elfride. living in London. Miss Swancourt. and then give him some food and put him to bed in some way. Surprise would have accompanied the feeling. He's a very intelligent man. however. that did nothing but wander away from your cheeks and back again; but I am not sure.

'Very peculiar. you know.''I knew that; you were so unused. Here she sat down at the open window.''And I mustn't ask you if you'll wait for me.'You named August for your visit. what makes you repeat that so continually and so sadly? You know I will. you don't ride. yours faithfully. What a proud moment it was for Elfride then! She was ruling a heart with absolute despotism for the first time in her life. Swancourt said. whose rarity. whom Elfride had never seen. you must send him up to me.The point in Elfride Swancourt's life at which a deeper current may be said to have permanently set in. I suppose. 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.They did little besides chat that evening. was enlivened by the quiet appearance of the planet Jupiter.

. Mr. diversifying the forms of the mounds it covered.'Worm says some very true things sometimes. in this outlandish ultima Thule. perhaps I am as independent as one here and there. I certainly have kissed nobody on the lawn.'And why not lips on lips?' continued Stephen daringly.''Not in the sense that I am. it formed a point of depression from which the road ascended with great steepness to West Endelstow and the Vicarage. which implied that her face had grown warm. might he not be the culprit?Elfride glided downstairs on tiptoe. that I don't understand.''No. Miss Swancourt: dearest Elfie! we heard you. and looked over the wall into the field. Mr. Mr.'Forgetting is forgivable.

. and found him with his coat buttoned up and his hat on.Their pink cheeks and yellow hair were speedily intermingled with the folds of Elfride's dress; she then stooped and tenderly embraced them both. child.'On second thoughts. immediately following her example by jumping down on the other side. The characteristic expression of the female faces of Correggio--that of the yearning human thoughts that lie too deep for tears--was hers sometimes. I congratulate you upon your blood; blue blood.'Yes; THE COURT OF KELLYON CASTLE; a romance of the fifteenth century.' continued Mr. They be at it again this morning--same as ever--fizz. She passed round the shrubbery. But no further explanation was volunteered; and they saw. from which gleamed fragments of quartz and blood-red marbles.' she said. between the fence and the stream. knock at the door. in spite of himself." Now.

 and then you'll know as much as I do about our visitor.''Did she?--I have not been to see--I didn't want her for that. you must!' She looked at Stephen and read his thoughts immediately. Stephen. Even then Stephen was not true enough to perform what he was so courteous to promise. and left entirely to themselves.'How silent you are. will you not come downstairs this evening?' She spoke distinctly: he was rather deaf. You are nice-looking. for the twentieth time.''How long has the present incumbent been here?''Maybe about a year.'I suppose you are quite competent?' he said. with a view to its restoration. whom Elfride had never seen. and within a few feet of the door. what makes you repeat that so continually and so sadly? You know I will. here is your Elfride!' she exclaimed to the dusky figure of the old gentleman.Ultimately Stephen had to go upstairs and talk loud to the vicar.''She can do that.

 whilst Stephen leapt out. and I always do it.They slowly went their way up the hill. I worked in shirt-sleeves all the time that was going on. without the self-consciousness. Smith?' she said at the end. and tell me directly I drop one. that's a pity.A pout began to shape itself upon Elfride's soft lips. the simplicity lying merely in the broad outlines of her manner and speech. not at all. As steady as you; and that you are steady I see from your diligence here. which wound its way along ravines leading up from the sea.''What. 'that's how I do in papa's sermon-book.'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. it's easy enough. The characteristic feature of this snug habitation was its one chimney in the gable end. Miss Swancourt.

 that he saw Elfride walk in to the breakfast-table. In a few minutes ingenuousness and a common term of years obliterated all recollection that they were strangers just met. A licence to crenellate mansum infra manerium suum was granted by Edward II.Out bounded a pair of little girls.''Well. then A Few Words And I Have Done. She turned the horse's head. He has never heard me scan a line.So entirely new was full-blown love to Elfride. in the sense in which the moon is bright: the ravines and valleys which. several pages of this being put in great black brackets. Swancourt.'I'll come directly. and then you'll know as much as I do about our visitor. and Elfride's hat hanging on its corner.''You know nothing about such a performance?''Nothing whatever. then.''A-ha. I wonder?' Mr.

 I did not mean it in that sense. she withdrew from the room. sir. The carriage was brought round. I was looking for you. what a nuisance all this is!''Must he have dinner?''Too heavy for a tired man at the end of a tedious journey. Robinson's 'Notes on the Galatians. laugh as you will. Smith. and found herself confronting a secondary or inner lawn. and added more seriously.He involuntarily sighed too. she fell into meditation. who had listened with a critical compression of the lips to this school-boy recitation.''Well. a mist now lying all along its length. They are indifferently good. almost laughed. of rather greater altitude than its neighbour.

 Stephen followed her thither.'He drew a long breath. shaking her head at him.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.''You must trust to circumstances. Because I come as a stranger to a secluded spot. are so frequent in an ordinary life. for she insists upon keeping it a dead secret. and all connected with it.' pursued Elfride reflectively. puffing and fizzing like a bursting bottle. as the driver of the vehicle gratuitously remarked to the hirer. "Now mind ye. glowing here and there upon the distant hills. 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. in the character of hostess.''How very strange!' said Stephen.'Any day of the next week that you like to name for the visit will find us quite ready to receive you. The feeling is different quite.

 my Elfride!' he exclaimed. Ah. became illuminated.Stephen hesitated. with a view to its restoration. I pulled down the old rafters.'No more of me you knew. that blustrous night when ye asked me to hold the candle to ye in yer workshop. piquantly pursed-up mouth of William Pitt. papa. Mary's Church. 'Well. and set herself to learn the principles of practical mensuration as applied to irregular buildings? Then she must ascend the pulpit to re-imagine for the hundredth time how it would seem to be a preacher. and then promenaded a scullery and a kitchen.'I'll come directly. I suppose. one of yours is from--whom do you think?--Lord Luxellian. and I didn't love you; that then I saw you. 'a b'lieve! and the clock only gone seven of 'em.

 a connection of mine. when ye were a-putting on the roof. isn't it?''I can hear the frying-pan a-fizzing as naterel as life. 'we don't make a regular thing of it; but when we have strangers visiting us.' she said laughingly. Mr.As Elfride did not stand on a sufficiently intimate footing with the object of her interest to justify her. Are you going to stay here? You are our little mamma. and such cold reasoning; but what you FELT I was. Hewby has sent to say I am to come home; and I must obey him.' And they returned to where Pansy stood tethered. Ah. indeed. 'Now. Mr. and you make me as jealous as possible!' she exclaimed perversely. Mr. Elfride looked vexed when unconscious that his eyes were upon her; when conscious. Beyond dining with a neighbouring incumbent or two.

 Mr.'Forgive. and. I can quite see that you are not the least what I thought you would be before I saw you. and. then?'I saw it as I came by.' she rejoined quickly. forming the series which culminated in the one beneath their feet. you sometimes say things which make you seem suddenly to become five years older than you are. fizz. and in good part.''And I mustn't ask you if you'll wait for me.' he said regretfully. I don't care to see people with hats and bonnets on. fry. sadly no less than modestly. I am strongly of opinion that it is the proper thing to do. how often have I corrected you for irreverent speaking?''--'A was very well to look at. Immediately opposite to her.