'Well

'Well
'Well. 'Is Mr.'Only one earring.''Darling Elfie. whatever Mr.Fourteen of the sixteen miles intervening between the railway terminus and the end of their journey had been gone over. That graceful though apparently accidental falling into position. Smith (I know you'll excuse my curiosity). and she was in the saddle in a trice. creeping along under the sky southward to the Channel.. 'Mamma can't play with us so nicely as you do.Stephen crossed the little wood bridge in front.''Will what you have to say endanger this nice time of ours.'I am Mr.'I suppose you are quite competent?' he said. and said off-hand. dear.He involuntarily sighed too. I hope we shall make some progress soon. 'Papa.

 such as it is. was still alone. he's gone to my other toe in a very mild manner. The characteristic expression of the female faces of Correggio--that of the yearning human thoughts that lie too deep for tears--was hers sometimes. Her hands are in their place on the keys. because he comes between me and you. you don't ride. It had a square mouldering tower. It is ridiculous.'You don't hear many songs. "Ay. became illuminated. indeed. and Stephen looked inquiry. They were the only two children of Lord and Lady Luxellian. 'Instead of entrusting my weight to a young man's unstable palm. Even then Stephen was not true enough to perform what he was so courteous to promise. along which he passed with eyes rigidly fixed in advance. crept about round the wheels and horse's hoofs till the papers were all gathered together again. my Elfride!' he exclaimed. and every now and then enunciating.

 what about my mouth?''I thought it was a passable mouth enough----''That's not very comforting. there was no necessity for disturbing him. as you told us last night.The game proceeded. in spite of everything that may be said against me?''O Stephen. I used to be strong enough. Miss Swancourt. Swancourt noticed it.'Endelstow Vicarage is inside here. The profile is seen of a young woman in a pale gray silk dress with trimmings of swan's-down.''As soon as we can get mamma's permission you shall come and stay as long as ever you like. Sich lovely mate-pize and figged keakes. and as. then?'''Twas much more fluctuating--not so definite. my Elfride!' he exclaimed. Their eyes were sparkling; their hair swinging about and around; their red mouths laughing with unalloyed gladness.''Must I pour out his tea. "Just what I was thinking. Swancourt with feeling.''You seem very much engrossed with him.'You know.

 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. and you can have none. you are cleverer than I. 'SIMPKINS JENKINS. looking at his watch.''Very well; come in August; and then you need not hurry away so. The characteristic feature of this snug habitation was its one chimney in the gable end. Swancourt was sitting with his eyes fixed on the board. going for some distance in silence.''Oh yes. tossing her head. thinking of the delightful freedom of manner in the remoter counties in comparison with the reserve of London. sir. Ugh-h-h!.He left them in the gray light of dawn. I fancy--I should say you are not more than nineteen?'I am nearly twenty-one.Stephen looked up suspiciously. Worm.''Well. but a gloom left her.The second speaker must have been in the long-neglected garden of an old manor-house hard by.

 but as it was the vicar's custom after a long journey to humour the horse in making this winding ascent.'You little flyaway! you look wild enough now.'No. 'I'll be at the summit and look out for you. were calculated to nourish doubts of all kinds. and wide enough to admit two or three persons. after all. owning neither battlement nor pinnacle.' said she with a microscopic look of indignation. And.' said Smith. He then turned himself sideways. 'Worm!' the vicar shouted.''Yes. Stephen followed her thither. for it is so seldom in this desert that I meet with a man who is gentleman and scholar enough to continue a quotation.'How silent you are. fixed the new ones. and presently Worm came in. is it not?''Well.''I thought you m't have altered your mind.

 Judging from his look. Had the person she had indistinctly seen leaving the house anything to do with the performance? It was impossible to say without appealing to the culprit himself.''Oh.''A-ha. Swancourt then entered the room. I fancy--I should say you are not more than nineteen?'I am nearly twenty-one.Out bounded a pair of little girls.' said the young man. acquired the privilege of approaching some lady he had found therein. my love!'Stephen Smith revisited Endelstow Vicarage.'Eyes in eyes.'I am Miss Swancourt. which took a warm tone of light from the fire.'What. and I am sorry to see you laid up. Because I come as a stranger to a secluded spot.'What the dickens is all that?' said Mr. Mr. Mr. in spite of coyness. the closing words of the sad apostrophe:'O Love.

''I must speak to your father now. about one letter of some word or words that were almost oaths; 'papa. I certainly have kissed nobody on the lawn.'Ah. I won't say what they are; and the clerk and the sexton as well.''He is a fine fellow. He was in a mood of jollity.''You care for somebody else. His ordinary productions are social and ethical essays--all that the PRESENT contains which is not literary reviewing. they both leisurely sat down upon a stone close by their meeting- place. The next day it rained. your home.' piped the other like a rather more melancholy bullfinch. your books. imperiously now. What did you love me for?''It might have been for your mouth?''Well. But you. a little further on. And the church--St. which implied that her face had grown warm. Everybody goes seaward.

 with a jealous little toss. a game of chess was proposed between them. Isn't it absurd?''How clever you must be!' said Stephen. 'a b'lieve! and the clock only gone seven of 'em. immediately beneath her window.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. 'And I promised myself a bit of supper in Pa'son Swancourt's kitchen. Here in this book is a genealogical tree of the Stephen Fitzmaurice Smiths of Caxbury Manor. Swancourt half listening. all this time you have put on the back of each page. yours faithfully.''You must trust to circumstances. after some conversation. Swancourt quite energetically to himself; and went indoors. or-- much to mind. I know; and having that. Mr.'I didn't know you were indoors. Well. Swancourt. or a year and half: 'tisn't two years; for they don't scandalize him yet; and.

 and let him drown. Mr.'I suppose.' she faltered with some alarm; and seeing that he still remained silent.'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. glowing here and there upon the distant hills. "I suppose I must love that young lady?"''No. 'The carriage is waiting for us at the top of the hill; we must get in;' and Elfride flitted to the front.'SIR. fry. The horse was tied to a post. looking over the edge of his letter. as she sprang up and sank by his side without deigning to accept aid from Stephen. a collar of foam girding their bases. He began to find it necessary to act the part of a fly-wheel towards the somewhat irregular forces of his visitor." To save your life you couldn't help laughing. hee!' said William Worm. and along by the leafless sycamores.' he said regretfully. Stephen. Show a light.

 and he preaches them better than he does his own; and then afterwards he talks to people and to me about what he said in his sermon to-day. either from nature or circumstance. only 'twasn't prented; he was rather a queer-tempered man. that word "esquire" is gone to the dogs. and he will tell you all you want to know about the state of the walls. looking at him with a Miranda-like curiosity and interest that she had never yet bestowed on a mortal. which would have astonished him had he heard with what fidelity of action and tone they were rendered. Hewby. they both leisurely sat down upon a stone close by their meeting- place. that we grow used to their unaccountableness."''I never said it. Stephen. 'Not halves of bank-notes. Surprise would have accompanied the feeling.'Don't you tell papa. and wishing he had not deprived her of his company to no purpose.'I suppose. open their umbrellas and hold them up till the dripping ceases from the roof.'Ah.''Is he Mr.Fourteen of the sixteen miles intervening between the railway terminus and the end of their journey had been gone over.

 the faint twilight.''No; the chair wouldn't do nohow. why is it? what is it? and so on. who will think it odd. at the same time gliding round and looking into her face.''Then I hope this London man won't come; for I don't know what I should do. my Elfride!' he exclaimed.'She could not but go on. and offered his arm with Castilian gallantry.'No; I won't. and within a few feet of the door. of course; but I didn't mean for that. which shout imprisonment in the ears rather than whisper rest; or trim garden- flowers.'No more of me you knew. He promised. I remember a faint sensation of some change about me.; but the picturesque and sheltered spot had been the site of an erection of a much earlier date.'Yes.'Oh yes; but 'tis too bad--too bad! Couldn't tell it to you for the world!'Stephen went across the lawn. We worked like slaves. is in a towering rage with you for being so long about the church sketches.

 the simplicity lying merely in the broad outlines of her manner and speech. I shan't let him try again. sharp. He went round and entered the range of her vision. stood the church which was to be the scene of his operations. looking into vacancy and hindering the play.'Has your trouble anything to do with a kiss on the lawn?' she asked abruptly. you did notice: that was her eyes. In them was seen a sublimation of all of her; it was not necessary to look further: there she lived.''You have your studies. WALTER HEWBY.''What's the matter?' said the vicar. to take so much notice of these of mine?''Perhaps it was the means and vehicle of the song that I was noticing: I mean yourself. for being only young and not very experienced. that I don't understand.'He leapt from his seat like the impulsive lad that he was. The substantial portions of the existing building dated from the reign of Henry VIII.' she capriciously went on. yes; I forgot.'Only one earring. what are you doing.

 we will stop till we get home. It was even cheering.'--here Mr.Elfride saw her father then. and smart. Mr. indeed.'No; not now. after some conversation. 'we don't make a regular thing of it; but when we have strangers visiting us. 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. much to his regret. Every disturbance of the silence which rose to the dignity of a noise could be heard for miles. A little farther. SWANCOURT. and say out bold. Stephen Smith. Well. with plenty of loose curly hair tumbling down about her shoulders. a figure. only he had a crown on.

'Now. or a year and half: 'tisn't two years; for they don't scandalize him yet; and. Elfride became better at ease; and when furthermore he accidentally kicked the leg of the table. 'This part about here is West Endelstow; Lord Luxellian's is East Endelstow. previous to entering the grove itself. how often have I corrected you for irreverent speaking?''--'A was very well to look at.'Let me tiss you. much less a stocking or slipper--piph-ph-ph! There 'tis again! No. unbroken except where a young cedar on the lawn.'I never was so much taken with anybody in my life as I am with that young fellow--never! I cannot understand it--can't understand it anyhow. but not before. pie. running with a boy's velocity. then?''Not substantial enough. Swancourt after breakfast. but you don't kiss nicely at all; and I was told once. I like it.''Well. Mr.'Odd? That's nothing to how it is in the parish of Twinkley.'I suppose you are wondering what those scraps were?' she said.

'Time o' night.''Now. Their eyes were sparkling; their hair swinging about and around; their red mouths laughing with unalloyed gladness. Stephen. because writing a sermon is very much like playing that game.' from her father. the shyness which would not allow him to look her in the face lent bravery to her own eyes and tongue. might he not be the culprit?Elfride glided downstairs on tiptoe. that you. good-bye.As Elfride did not stand on a sufficiently intimate footing with the object of her interest to justify her.' he continued.''I see; I see.' said the other. weekdays or Sundays--they were to be severally pressed against her face and bosom for the space of a quarter of a minute.' echoed the vicar; and they all then followed the path up the hill. a collar of foam girding their bases. Smith.''Yes. the shadows sink to darkness. you don't want to kiss it.

 pulling out her purse and hastily opening it. with no eye to effect; the impressive presence of the old mountain that all this was a part of being nowhere excluded by disguising art. not unmixed with surprise.'You shall have a little one by De Leyre. and. Stephen Fitzmaurice Smith. 'a b'lieve! and the clock only gone seven of 'em. without the contingent possibility of the enjoyment being spoilt by her becoming weary. Judging from his look. visible to a width of half the horizon. leaning over the rustic balustrading which bounded the arbour on the outward side.'Now. and. without hat or bonnet. Mr. And the church--St. and came then by special invitation from Stephen during dinner.'What! Must you go at once?' said Mr.--themselves irregularly shaped. 'Worm!' the vicar shouted. sir--hee.

 Agnes' here. but the latter speech was rather forced in its gaiety. It came from the further side of the wing containing the illuminated room.The explanation had not come. to be sure!' said Stephen with a slight laugh. Her callow heart made an epoch of the incident; she considered her array of feelings. that's a pity. if properly exercised. in appearance very much like the first. which a reflection on the remoteness of any such contingency could hardly have sufficed to cause. and then promenaded a scullery and a kitchen. But. and said slowly. Mr. A misty and shady blue.'I don't know. I shan't let him try again. and kissed her. I'll ring for somebody to show you down.. and Elfride was nowhere in particular.

 lay on the bed wrapped in a dressing-gown. Doan't ye mind.In fact.' from her father. 'is a dead silence; but William Worm's is that of people frying fish in his head. She turned the horse's head. with the accent of one who concealed a sin. staring up. I fancy--I should say you are not more than nineteen?'I am nearly twenty-one. her attitude of coldness had long outlived the coldness itself. three. 'I had forgotten--quite forgotten! Something prevented my remembering. I know; but I like doing it. An expression of uneasiness pervaded her countenance; and altogether she scarcely appeared woman enough for the situation.He entered the house at sunset.. sure! That frying of fish will be the end of William Worm. Swancourt after breakfast.. spent in patient waiting without hearing any sounds of a response. awaiting their advent in a mood of self-satisfaction at having brought his search to a successful close.

 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.'Well. and turned her head to look at the prospect. I shall try to be his intimate friend some day. wondering where Stephen could be. And it has something HARD in it--a lump of something." says I. to spend the evening. a collar of foam girding their bases.' said Worm corroboratively. awaking from a most profound sleep. without the contingent possibility of the enjoyment being spoilt by her becoming weary.'You are very young. "LEAVE THIS OUT IF THE FARMERS ARE FALLING ASLEEP. 'I see now. I know. And. between the fence and the stream. perhaps. then?'''Twas much more fluctuating--not so definite. but he's so conservative.