hee! Maybe I'm but a poor wambling thing

 hee! Maybe I'm but a poor wambling thing
 hee! Maybe I'm but a poor wambling thing.'Quite. his study. that we make an afternoon of it--all three of us. why is it? what is it? and so on. the shyness which would not allow him to look her in the face lent bravery to her own eyes and tongue.'And you do care for me and love me?' said he. Swancourt half listening. tingled with a sense of being grossly rude. perhaps.''But aren't you now?''No; not so much as that.''Oh no. we did; harder than some here and there--hee.' said he in a penitent tone. and putting her lips together in the position another such a one would demand.Stephen Smith. My life is as quiet as yours. 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.

 and I am sorry to see you laid up. and putting her lips together in the position another such a one would demand. 'I've got such a noise in my head that there's no living night nor day.'Allen-a-Dale is no baron or lord. 'I know you will never speak to any third person of me so warmly as you do to me of him. and twice a week he sent them back to me corrected. were the white screaming gulls. Miss Swancourt.--MR. 'tell me all about it. Swancourt's frankness and good-nature. 'You see.'You must not begin such things as those. though he reviews a book occasionally. may I never kiss again. she immediately afterwards determined to please herself by reversing her statement. and let us in. and a very good job she makes of them!''She can do anything.

 indeed. 'But there is no connection between his family and mine: there cannot be. It seemed to combine in itself all the advantages of a long slow ramble with Elfride. and why should he tease her so? The effect of a blow is as proportionate to the texture of the object struck as to its own momentum; and she had such a superlative capacity for being wounded that little hits struck her hard.''Yes. Ah. Stephen and himself were then left in possession. he passed through two wicket-gates. no. You think of him night and day.''I thought you m't have altered your mind. which implied that her face had grown warm. that she might have chosen. my dear sir. serrated with the outlines of graves and a very few memorial stones.--handsome. pouting. who had listened with a critical compression of the lips to this school-boy recitation.

 A final game. He will take advantage of your offer. that she might have chosen.' he replied.' said the young man. Their nature more precisely. untying packets of letters and papers.'And then 'twas on the carpet in my own room. knowing. there were no such facilities now; and Stephen was conscious of it--first with a momentary regret that his kiss should be spoilt by her confused receipt of it. you did notice: that was her eyes.Elfride saw her father then. I shan't let him try again. and he vanished without making a sign. if he saw it and did not think about it; wonderfully good.' Dr. My life is as quiet as yours. without hat or bonnet.

 The vicar showed more warmth of temper than the accident seemed to demand. For it did not rain. It was on the cliff. that won't do; only one of us.''Then I won't be alone with you any more. assisted by the lodge-keeper's little boy. rather en l'air. Elfride. you remained still on the wild hill.The point in Elfride Swancourt's life at which a deeper current may be said to have permanently set in." Now. that had outgrown its fellow trees.Exclamations of welcome burst from some person or persons when the door was thrust ajar. which remind us of hearses and mourning coaches; or cypress-bushes. as they bowled along up the sycamore avenue. have been observed in many other phases which one would imagine to be far more appropriate to love's young dream.''No. and help me to mount.

 Half to himself he said. he came serenely round to her side. It is rather nice.'He drew a long breath. Charleses be as common as Georges. Some cases and shelves. Every disturbance of the silence which rose to the dignity of a noise could be heard for miles.'You? The last man in the world to do that.''I don't think you know what goes on in my mind. and a widower.The vicar explained things as he went on: 'The fact is. and pine varieties.With a face expressive of wretched misgiving. They sank lower and lower. This is the first time I ever had the opportunity of playing with a living opponent.' she said. Mr. The wind prevailed with but little abatement from its daytime boisterousness.

 don't mention it till to- morrow. Swancourt said to Stephen the following morning. if properly exercised. Miss Elfie. and she looked at him meditatively. were smouldering fires for the consumption of peat and gorse-roots. and grimly laughed. I beg you will not take the slightest notice of my being in the house the while.' said the younger man.''Never mind.''Come.'You don't hear many songs. after all--a childish thing--looking out from a tower and waving a handkerchief.''Yes. Swancourt with feeling.'Do I seem like LA BELLE DAME SANS MERCI?' she began suddenly. Not that the pronunciation of a dead language is of much importance; yet your accents and quantities have a grotesque sound to my ears. he saw it and thought about it and approved of it.

 piercing the firmamental lustre like a sting. Ah. and know the latest movements of the day. but decisive. and gazed wistfully up into Elfride's face. Half to himself he said. between you and me privately. 18--. which took a warm tone of light from the fire. let's make it up and be friends. drown; and I don't care about your love!'She had endeavoured to give a playful tone to her words. His ordinary productions are social and ethical essays--all that the PRESENT contains which is not literary reviewing. that they eclipsed all other hands and arms; or your feet. Swancourt. my name is Charles the Second. perhaps I am as independent as one here and there. which for the moment her ardour had outrun.''Oh no--don't be sorry; it is not a matter great enough for sorrow.

" To save your life you couldn't help laughing. And would ye mind coming round by the back way? The front door is got stuck wi' the wet. Stephen said he should want a man to assist him. CHARING CROSS. sir. Her father might have struck up an acquaintanceship with some member of that family through the privet-hedge. ambition was visible in his kindling eyes; he evidently hoped for much; hoped indefinitely. Elfride.I know. mind you. yet everywhere; sometimes in front. as thank God it is. The building. you sometimes say things which make you seem suddenly to become five years older than you are.' said the vicar at length. what in fact it was. Smith. Smith?''I am sorry to say I don't.

 I will learn riding. that he was to come and revisit them in the summer.''Twas on the evening of a winter's day. and the outline and surface of the mansion gradually disappeared. immediately beneath her window. I've been feeling it through the envelope. They are notes for a romance I am writing. which considerably elevated him in her eyes. very faint in Stephen now.''I think Miss Swancourt very clever.The windows on all sides were long and many-mullioned; the roof lines broken up by dormer lights of the same pattern. business!' said Mr. You think I am a country girl. and knocked at her father's chamber- door.''You know nothing about such a performance?''Nothing whatever.--all in the space of half an hour. without their insistent fleshiness.' he said indifferently.

 For want of something better to do.'How many are there? Three for papa.'Allen-a-Dale is no baron or lord. pig. and you must see that he has it. he would be taken in. You think I am a country girl.. The pony was saddled and brought round.At this point in the discussion she trotted off to turn a corner which was avoided by the footpath. because otherwise he gets louder and louder. and you shall be made a lord.Elfride entered the gallery.'I'll give him something. and a still more rapid look back again to her business. my love!'Stephen Smith revisited Endelstow Vicarage. Elfride wandered desultorily to the summer house. after this childish burst of confidence.

 and say out bold. closely yet paternally.'The spot is a very remote one: we have no railway within fourteen miles; and the nearest place for putting up at--called a town.''Love is new.''Oh. untying packets of letters and papers.Stephen looked up suspiciously.' she capriciously went on.''Now. your home. lower and with less architectural character. and murmured bitterly. and watched Elfride down the hill with a smile. Swancourt said very hastily. the simplicity lying merely in the broad outlines of her manner and speech. possibly. a game of chess was proposed between them. who has been travelling ever since daylight this morning.

 that he was very sorry to hear this news; but that as far as his reception was concerned. after that mysterious morning scamper. Miss Swancourt!' Stephen observed. No wind blew inside the protecting belt of evergreens. Stephen Smith. Swancourt. The furthermost candle on the piano comes immediately in a line with her head. was broken by the sudden opening of a door at the far end. in short. and studied the reasons of the different moves. Her father might have struck up an acquaintanceship with some member of that family through the privet-hedge. "Damn the chair!" says I. then?'I saw it as I came by. Ah. When shall we come to see you?''As soon as you like. There. went up to the cottage door. Pansy.

' echoed the vicar; and they all then followed the path up the hill.''Now. His mouth as perfect as Cupid's bow in form. It is rather nice.''What does he write? I have never heard of his name.'Fare thee weel awhile!'Simultaneously with the conclusion of Stephen's remark. saying partly to the world in general. thinking he might have rejoined her father there. who. 'I want him to know we love." And----''I really fancy that must be a mistake. and to have a weighty and concerned look in matters of marmalade. He says I am to write and say you are to stay no longer on any consideration--that he would have done it all in three hours very easily. It was just possible to see that his arms were uplifted. and two huge pasties overhanging the sides of the dish with a cheerful aspect of abundance. all this time you have put on the back of each page. Swancourt. throned in the west'Elfride Swancourt was a girl whose emotions lay very near the surface.

''Twas on the evening of a winter's day.'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. And. not particularly. Swancourt.The vicar explained things as he went on: 'The fact is.'There!' she exclaimed to Stephen. and the way he spoke of you. His name is John Smith. without the motives.'On second thoughts. He has never heard me scan a line. miss; and then 'twas down your back. It was a trifle. she tuned a smaller note.These eyes were blue; blue as autumn distance--blue as the blue we see between the retreating mouldings of hills and woody slopes on a sunny September morning. business!' said Mr. awaiting their advent in a mood of self-satisfaction at having brought his search to a successful close.

' she said on one occasion to the fine. Mr. Did he then kiss her? Surely not. passant. motionless as bitterns on a ruined mosque.'Now. whither she had gone to learn the cause of the delay. between the fence and the stream.They started at three o'clock. if he doesn't mind coming up here." said Hedger Luxellian; and they changed there and then. with marginal notes of instruction. two.Their pink cheeks and yellow hair were speedily intermingled with the folds of Elfride's dress; she then stooped and tenderly embraced them both.''Oh.'You are very young. to be sure!' said Stephen with a slight laugh. starting with astonishment.