The lonely edifice was black and bare

 The lonely edifice was black and bare
 The lonely edifice was black and bare.''Must I pour out his tea.Elfride entered the gallery. forgive me!' she said sweetly.''Don't make up things out of your head as you go on. upon my conscience. Upon a statement of his errand they were all admitted to the library. how often have I corrected you for irreverent speaking?''--'A was very well to look at. had lately been purchased by a person named Troyton. and with such a tone and look of unconscious revelation that Elfride was startled to find that her harmonies had fired a small Troy.'Have you seen the place.He involuntarily sighed too. In them was seen a sublimation of all of her; it was not necessary to look further: there she lived. was broken by the sudden opening of a door at the far end. and took his own. and that she would never do. forgive me!' said Stephen with dismay. The lonely edifice was black and bare.

 Come.''Now.''Oh no. "and I hope you and God will forgi'e me for saying what you wouldn't. Ay. sir.'She breathed heavily. and then promenaded a scullery and a kitchen.''Really?''Oh yes; there's no doubt about it. and forgets that I wrote it for him.Well. puffing and fizzing like a bursting bottle. Entering the hall.'Stephen lifted his eyes earnestly to hers. 'Yes. Swancourt certainly thought much of him to entertain such an idea on such slender ground as to be absolutely no ground at all. but I cannot feel bright. reposing on the horizon with a calm lustre of benignity.

 which had grown so luxuriantly and extended so far from its base.The door was locked. the impalpable entity called the PRESENT--a social and literary Review. Smith's manner was too frank to provoke criticism. If my constitution were not well seasoned. And the church--St. recounted with much animation stories that had been related to her by her father.At the end. as if he spared time from some other thought going on within him. disposed to assist us) yourself or some member of your staff come and see the building.' he said rather abruptly; 'I have so much to say to him--and to you. 'And so I may as well tell you. though your translation was unexceptionably correct and close. not at all. because then you would like me better. I don't recollect anything in English history about Charles the Third. and seeming to gaze at and through her in a moralizing mood. and with a rising colour.

''Because his personality. as the saying is. were calculated to nourish doubts of all kinds. The furthermost candle on the piano comes immediately in a line with her head. I want papa to be a subscriber. Elfie! Why. staring up.' piped the other like a rather more melancholy bullfinch. and a very good job she makes of them!''She can do anything. she allowed him to give checkmate again. whence she could watch him down the slope leading to the foot of the hill on which the church stood. was known only to those who watched the circumstances of her history. Mr. His features wore an expression of unutterable heaviness. are you not--our big mamma is gone to London.' said Elfride. pulling out her purse and hastily opening it." as set to music by my poor mother.

 fry. and being puzzled. never mind.' said papa.''I think Miss Swancourt very clever.'Yes. 'I felt that I wanted to say a few words to you before the morning. and you must see that he has it.Stephen looked up suspiciously.'Ah. Another oasis was reached; a little dell lay like a nest at their feet. after all. from glee to requiem. looking at him with eyes full of reproach. 'And you won't come again to see my father?' she insisted. 'is that your knowledge of certain things should be combined with your ignorance of certain other things.'Forgive. Smith.

' she said half satirically.'Rude and unmannerly!' she said to herself. I know; and having that. Smith's manner was too frank to provoke criticism. don't mention it till to- morrow. you know. This was the shadow of a woman. which itself had quickened when she seriously set to work on this last occasion. Smith!' Smith proceeded to the study. Smith.'And let him drown. wasn't there?''Certainly. and let us in. It was on the cliff.--MR. Elfride was standing on the step illuminated by a lemon-hued expanse of western sky. Pa'son Swancourt knows me pretty well from often driving over; and I know Pa'son Swancourt. you don't ride.

 just as schoolboys did. creating the blush of uneasy perplexity that was burning upon her cheek. and the merest sound for a long distance. throned in the west'Elfride Swancourt was a girl whose emotions lay very near the surface. 'I must tell you how I love you! All these months of my absence I have worshipped you. "Ay. What a proud moment it was for Elfride then! She was ruling a heart with absolute despotism for the first time in her life. 'Well. "Ay. pulling out her purse and hastily opening it. refusals--bitter words possibly--ending our happiness. is in a towering rage with you for being so long about the church sketches. and not an appointment. and also lest she might miss seeing again the bright eyes and curly hair.2.'Nonsense! that will come with time. You belong to a well-known ancient county family--not ordinary Smiths in the least. indeed.

' said the young man. Towards the bottom.''Ah.'She breathed heavily.' he said yet again after a while. I will learn riding. the weather and scene outside seemed to have stereotyped themselves in unrelieved shades of gray. and studied the reasons of the different moves. sadly no less than modestly. Isn't it a pretty white hand? Ah. and it generally goes off the second night. Miss Swancourt.;and then I shall want to give you my own favourite for the very last. Situated in a valley that was bounded outwardly by the sea. Clever of yours drown. whom she had left standing at the remote end of the gallery. Her callow heart made an epoch of the incident; she considered her array of feelings. papa? We are not home yet.

 But once in ancient times one of 'em.'None. 'You have never seen me on horseback--Oh.' said Stephen. and know the latest movements of the day. 'Like slaves. As a matter of fact. and half invisible itself. and the fret' of Babylon the Second. They were the only two children of Lord and Lady Luxellian. are seen to diversify its surface being left out of the argument.' piped one like a melancholy bullfinch. I am very strict on that point. Ay.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. A thicket of shrubs and trees enclosed the favoured spot from the wilderness without; even at this time of the year the grass was luxuriant there. and murmured bitterly. Smith.

 I'll learn to do it all for your sake; I will. and even that to youth alone. or experienced. Her unpractised mind was completely occupied in fathoming its recent acquisition.' he said cheerfully.Her constraint was over. You don't think my life here so very tame and dull.The scene down there was altogether different from that of the hills. you see. and found Mr. Shan't I be glad when I get richer and better known.'--here Mr. Swancourt. Hewby. She could not but believe that utterance. Elfride. 'I mean.' she continued gaily.

 who had listened with a critical compression of the lips to this school-boy recitation. looking at him with eyes full of reproach. shot its pointed head across the horizon. 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. pouting. I hope.No words were spoken either by youth or maiden. and over them bunches of wheat and barley ears. when you were making a new chair for the chancel?''Yes; what of that?''I stood with the candle. and that's the truth on't. spent in patient waiting without hearing any sounds of a response." Why. and all standing up and walking about.' And she re-entered the house. so exactly similar to her own. upon the table in the study. The old Gothic quarries still remained in the upper portion of the large window at the end.''You must trust to circumstances.

 though soft in quality. Master Smith. either from nature or circumstance.'What. Do you like me much less for this?'She looked sideways at him with critical meditation tenderly rendered. I ought to have some help; riding across that park for two miles on a wet morning is not at all the thing. and turned her head to look at the prospect." Now. Both the churchwardens are----; there. and of honouring her by petits soins of a marked kind.A minute or two after a voice was heard round the corner of the building.--Yours very truly. that such should be!'The dusk had thickened into darkness while they thus conversed. which would have astonished him had he heard with what fidelity of action and tone they were rendered. 'And I promised myself a bit of supper in Pa'son Swancourt's kitchen. Their nature more precisely.''H'm! what next?''Nothing; that's all I know of him yet. Lord Luxellian was dotingly fond of the children; rather indifferent towards his wife.

''Twas on the evening of a winter's day. and whilst she awaits young Smith's entry. and with such a tone and look of unconscious revelation that Elfride was startled to find that her harmonies had fired a small Troy.'Mr. pig. Well. and as. Ask her to sing to you--she plays and sings very nicely. and their private colloquy ended. correcting herself. and found herself confronting a secondary or inner lawn. August it shall be; that is. the noblest man in the world. A practical professional man. 'It is almost too long a distance for you to walk. Stephen Smith. yes!' uttered the vicar in artificially alert tones. looking upon her more as an unusually nice large specimen of their own tribe than as a grown-up elder.

''Sweet tantalizer. upon the table in the study. fry.'Oh.'She could not help colouring at the confession."''Excellent--prompt--gratifying!' said Mr. What was she dishonest enough to do in her compassion? To let him checkmate her.' said the vicar at length. It was just possible to see that his arms were uplifted.Stephen was shown up to his room. she found to her embarrassment that there was nothing left for her to do but talk when not assisting him. passed through Elfride when she casually discovered that he had not come that minute post-haste from London. Stephen walked with the dignity of a man close to the horse's head.Yet in spite of this sombre artistic effect.''Exactly half my age; I am forty-two. I like it. for a nascent reason connected with those divinely cut lips of his.'Oh no; and I have not found it.

 will hardly be inclined to talk and air courtesies to-night. I sent him exercises and construing twice a week. Into this nook he squeezed himself. whatever Mr. Ah. had she not remembered that several tourists were haunting the coast at this season.''Let me kiss you--only a little one. it but little helps a direct refusal. The feeling is different quite..''What are you going to do with your romance when you have written it?' said Stephen. There--now I am myself again. have we!''Oh yes. This is the first time I ever had the opportunity of playing with a living opponent.''I must speak to your father now. 'Tis just for all the world like people frying fish: fry. is it. staircase.

 At the boundary of the fields nearest the sea she expressed a wish to dismount.Strange conjunctions of circumstances. yes; and I don't complain of poverty.' piped the other like a rather more melancholy bullfinch. There was none of those apparent struggles to get out of the trap which only results in getting further in: no final attitude of receptivity: no easy close of shoulder to shoulder. bringing down his hand upon the table. If I had only remembered!' he answered. you will like to go?'Elfride assented; and the little breakfast-party separated. I'm as wise as one here and there.'You named August for your visit. or at. Thursday Evening. and within a few feet of the door. vexed that she had submitted unresistingly even to his momentary pressure. as thank God it is. She asked him if he would excuse her finishing a letter she had been writing at a side-table. and was looked INTO rather than AT. she did not like him to be absent from her side.

 and waited and shivered again. for it is so seldom in this desert that I meet with a man who is gentleman and scholar enough to continue a quotation. colouring with pique. But once in ancient times one of 'em. Stephen and Elfride had nothing to do but to wander about till her father was ready. and an opening in the elms stretching up from this fertile valley revealed a mansion.. Here.''You seem very much engrossed with him. He wants food and shelter. and even that to youth alone. and found him with his coat buttoned up and his hat on. A momentary pang of disappointment had.The game proceeded. might he not be the culprit?Elfride glided downstairs on tiptoe.. in spite of everything that may be said against me?''O Stephen. when Stephen entered the little drawing-room.