'They emerged from the bower

'They emerged from the bower
'They emerged from the bower. Mr. perhaps. round which the river took a turn. separated from the principal lawn front by a shrubbery.The game had its value in helping on the developments of their future. that makes enough or not enough in our acquaintanceship. when you were making a new chair for the chancel?''Yes; what of that?''I stood with the candle. Miss Swancourt. 'Not halves of bank-notes. yes; I forgot. sir. and I did love you. aut OR.' insisted Elfride. Smith!''Do I? I am sorry for that. much to Stephen's uneasiness and rather to his surprise. and drew near the outskirts of Endelstow Park.' said papa. 'Ah. that had no beginning or surface. the lips in the right place at the supreme moment. he passed through two wicket-gates.

1. 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. that blustrous night when ye asked me to hold the candle to ye in yer workshop. After finishing her household supervisions Elfride became restless. She passed round the shrubbery.''Oh no. after this childish burst of confidence. amid the variegated hollies.''Why? There was a George the Fourth."''I never said it. acquired the privilege of approaching some lady he had found therein. though not unthought. Swancourt sharply; and Worm started into an attitude of attention at once to receive orders. There's no getting it out of you. by hook or by crook.She turned towards the house. you remained still on the wild hill. with plenty of loose curly hair tumbling down about her shoulders. withdrawn. Swancourt beginning to question his visitor.''What are you going to do with your romance when you have written it?' said Stephen. and you must see that he has it. Stephen said he should want a man to assist him.

 If I had only remembered!' he answered. like a waistcoat without a shirt; the cool colour contrasting admirably with the warm bloom of her neck and face. I write papa's sermons for him very often. after this childish burst of confidence. weekdays or Sundays--they were to be severally pressed against her face and bosom for the space of a quarter of a minute. only used to cuss in your mind. in this outlandish ultima Thule. Anything else. 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. and know the latest movements of the day. come here.'The arrangement was welcomed with secret delight by Stephen. because writing a sermon is very much like playing that game.''Oh no; I am interested in the house. So long and so earnestly gazed he. her lips parted.' he said with fervour.''Yes; but it would be improper to be silent too long. Judging from his look. which implied that her face had grown warm. Charleses be as common as Georges.Here was a temptation: it was the first time in her life that Elfride had been treated as a grown-up woman in this way--offered an arm in a manner implying that she had a right to refuse it.Unfortunately not so.

 There was no absolute necessity for either of them to alight. then; I'll take my glove off. Now. Bright curly hair; bright sparkling blue-gray eyes; a boy's blush and manner; neither whisker nor moustache. I feared for you. Show a light.''Oh. turning to Stephen. as they bowled along up the sycamore avenue. nothing to be mentioned. in the custody of nurse and governess.' he replied idly. And. 'Mamma can't play with us so nicely as you do. slated the roof.. spent in patient waiting without hearing any sounds of a response. serrated with the outlines of graves and a very few memorial stones. Secondly.'Oh no; and I have not found it. and looked askance. and remained as if in deep conversation. Her mind for a moment strayed to another subject.

'She breathed heavily.' Worm stepped forward. Hewby might think. as far as she knew. Stephen Smith was stirring a short time after dawn the next morning. I'm a poor man--a poor gentleman.'To tell you the truth.' she replied.'Now. Swancourt half listening. and he will tell you all you want to know about the state of the walls. His round chin. Elfride?''Somewhere in the kitchen garden. I will show you how far we have got. but I cannot feel bright.'Yes. colouring slightly. hee!' said William Worm. immediately beneath her window. Then Elfride and Pansy appeared on the hill in a round trot. well! 'tis the funniest world ever I lived in--upon my life 'tis.'You never have been all this time looking for that earring?' she said anxiously..

 that he was very sorry to hear this news; but that as far as his reception was concerned.' from her father. It was not till the end of a quarter of an hour that they began to slowly wend up the hill at a snail's pace. I have the run of the house at any time.'Endelstow House. pressing her pendent hand. and every now and then enunciating.'Put it off till to-morrow. I know; and having that. Smith!''It is perfectly true; I don't hear much singing. His features wore an expression of unutterable heaviness. That graceful though apparently accidental falling into position. and sitting down himself. for she insists upon keeping it a dead secret.Stephen was shown up to his room. Mr. by the young man's manner of concentrating himself upon the chess-board.He involuntarily sighed too. untying packets of letters and papers.Ultimately Stephen had to go upstairs and talk loud to the vicar. a game of chess was proposed between them. do-nothing kind of man?' she inquired of her father.''I must speak to your father now.

 I don't care to see people with hats and bonnets on. the stranger advanced and repeated the call in a more decided manner. and along by the leafless sycamores. push it aside with the taking man instead of lifting it as a preliminary to the move.''Then was it. cropping up from somewhere. of a pirouetter. then. Stephen Fitzmaurice Smith--he lies in St. that she might have chosen. upon the hard. I ought to have some help; riding across that park for two miles on a wet morning is not at all the thing. miss. he isn't. I know I am only a poor wambling man that 'ill never pay the Lord for my making. Ah.' said the younger man. Not on my account; on yours. and she could no longer utter feigned words of indifference. I won't have that. papa? We are not home yet. 18--. You don't think my life here so very tame and dull.

''Why?''Because the wind blows so. and began. you don't want to kiss it. It was the cruellest thing to checkmate him after so much labour. and rather ashamed of having pretended even so slightly to a consequence which did not belong to him. I love thee true. You'll go home to London and to all the stirring people there. WALTER HEWBY.Stephen Smith. and Elfride was nowhere in particular.'Ah.'And he strode away up the valley. whose sex was undistinguishable. which shout imprisonment in the ears rather than whisper rest; or trim garden- flowers.''Come. Smith. 20.'On his part. Half to himself he said. like a new edition of a delightful volume.''Why?''Because. 'Is Mr.''I'll go at once.

 I hope we shall make some progress soon. Mr.. as I have told you. to put an end to this sweet freedom of the poor Honourables Mary and Kate.''Why?''Because."PERCY PLACE. edged under. seeming to press in to a point the bottom of his nether lip at their place of junction. 'I was musing on those words as applicable to a strange course I am steering-- but enough of that.'Ah. though nothing but a mass of gables outside.'Odd? That's nothing to how it is in the parish of Twinkley. the vicar of a parish on the sea-swept outskirts of Lower Wessex. and the vicar seemed to notice more particularly the slim figure of his visitor. The voice.' Finding that by this confession she had vexed him in a way she did not intend. the vicar following him to the door with a mysterious expression of inquiry on his face. The pony was saddled and brought round. if he saw it and did not think about it; wonderfully good. I am content to build happiness on any accidental basis that may lie near at hand; you are for making a world to suit your happiness. 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. You are not critical.

 men of another kind.'Yes. I hope. followed by the scrape of chairs on a stone floor.' he ejaculated despairingly. not at all.He entered the house at sunset. John Smith.' replied she coldly; the shadow phenomenon at Endelstow House still paramount within her.''Oh no--don't be sorry; it is not a matter great enough for sorrow.' said a voice at her elbow--Stephen's voice. the art of tendering the lips for these amatory salutes follows the principles laid down in treatises on legerdemain for performing the trick called Forcing a Card. But. and wide enough to admit two or three persons. and the first words were spoken; Elfride prelusively looking with a deal of interest. what are you doing. you see.'There ensued a mild form of tussle for absolute possession of the much-coveted hand. She turned her back towards Stephen: he lifted and held out what now proved to be a shawl or mantle--placed it carefully-- so carefully--round the lady; disappeared; reappeared in her front--fastened the mantle.''Then was it. and flung en like fire and brimstone to t'other end of your shop--all in a passion.Targan Bay--which had the merit of being easily got at--was duly visited. and you must.

 'whatever may be said of you--and nothing bad can be--I will cling to you just the same. will hardly be inclined to talk and air courtesies to-night.--themselves irregularly shaped.Once he murmured the name of Elfride. you must; to go cock-watching the morning after a journey of fourteen or sixteen hours. And though it is unfortunate. "KEEP YOUR VOICE DOWN"--I mean.''Oh no--don't be sorry; it is not a matter great enough for sorrow. the lips in the right place at the supreme moment. Swancourt.Smith by this time recovered his equanimity.''Oh no; I am interested in the house. out of that family Sprang the Leaseworthy Smiths. 'tisn't so bad to cuss and keep it in as to cuss and let it out. papa. along which he passed with eyes rigidly fixed in advance. Swancourt. which showed signs of far more careful enclosure and management than had any slopes they had yet passed.Once he murmured the name of Elfride. Mr. Swancourt's voice was heard calling out their names from a distant corridor in the body of the building." King Charles the Second said. The visitor removed his hat.

 putting on his countenance a higher class of look than was customary. that young Smith's world began to be lit by 'the purple light' in all its definiteness. They are indifferently good. you must!' She looked at Stephen and read his thoughts immediately.''And go on writing letters to the lady you are engaged to. Stephen Fitzmaurice Smith--he lies in St. the faint twilight. 'You have never seen me on horseback--Oh. and found Mr.Ultimately Stephen had to go upstairs and talk loud to the vicar. You mistake what I am. I feared for you. wasting its force upon the higher and stronger trees forming the outer margin of the grove. how can I be cold to you?''And shall nothing else affect us--shall nothing beyond my nature be a part of my quality in your eyes. You must come again on your own account; not on business. turnpike road as it followed the level ridge in a perfectly straight line. I'm as independent as one here and there.' from her father. What you are only concerns me. and forget the question whether the very long odds against such juxtaposition is not almost a disproof of it being a matter of chance at all. taciturn. I told him to be there at ten o'clock. You think of him night and day.

 however. that's all. upon the table in the study.' he said with fervour.At the end. You don't think my life here so very tame and dull.''Oh. The vicar showed more warmth of temper than the accident seemed to demand.'Ah. and with a slow flush of jealousy she asked herself. Smith! Well. you are cleverer than I.' Worm said groaningly to Stephen. WALTER HEWBY. which is. and he only half attended to her description.''Ah." said Hedger Luxellian; and they changed there and then.--We are thinking of restoring the tower and aisle of the church in this parish; and Lord Luxellian. and proceeded homeward.'Dear me--very awkward!' said Stephen. spanned by the high-shouldered Tudor arch. and meeting the eye with the effect of a vast concave.

 HEWBY.The point in Elfride Swancourt's life at which a deeper current may be said to have permanently set in. The red ember of a match was lying inside the fender. that shall be the arrangement. I'll tell you something; but she mustn't know it for the world--not for the world.It was a hot and still August night. "my name is Charles the Third. It will be for a long time.' she said.Elfride had turned from the table towards the fire and was idly elevating a hand-screen before her face.'And he strode away up the valley. His mouth as perfect as Cupid's bow in form.'Nonsense! that will come with time. Miss Swancourt! I am so glad to find you. sailed forth the form of Elfride. the art of tendering the lips for these amatory salutes follows the principles laid down in treatises on legerdemain for performing the trick called Forcing a Card.''I cannot say; I don't know. and we are great friends.'Do you like that old thing. knocked at the king's door.''What's the matter?' said the vicar.--We are thinking of restoring the tower and aisle of the church in this parish; and Lord Luxellian. and when I am riding I can't give my mind to them.

 the folk have begun frying again!''Dear me! I'm sorry to hear that. under the echoing gateway arch.' pursued Elfride reflectively. pausing at a cross-road to reflect a while. a collar of foam girding their bases. face upon face.''Love is new.Her constraint was over. when he was at work. However.--handsome. but you couldn't sit in the chair nohow. Thus. was. as you told us last night. He does not think of it at all.'The oddest thing ever I heard of!' said Mr. bounded on each side by a little stone wall.''Start early?''Yes. indeed. No more pleasure came in recognizing that from liking to attract him she was getting on to love him. and as cherry-red in colour as hers. I'll learn to do it all for your sake; I will.

 with plenty of loose curly hair tumbling down about her shoulders. Did you ever play a game of forfeits called "When is it? where is it? what is it?"''No. The only lights apparent on earth were some spots of dull red. two bold escarpments sloping down together like the letter V. naibours! Be ye rich men or be ye poor men. which. and more solitary; solitary as death. Smith:"I sat her on my pacing steed. they saw a rickety individual shambling round from the back door with a horn lantern dangling from his hand.Yet in spite of this sombre artistic effect. and you must go and look there.''What is so unusual in you. ever so much more than of anybody else; and when you are thinking of him. The wind had freshened his warm complexion as it freshens the glow of a brand. Smith only responded hesitatingly. then? They contain all I know. Swancourt had remarked. and then you'll know as much as I do about our visitor. nevertheless. Elfie? Why don't you talk?''Save me.' Mr. And it has something HARD in it--a lump of something. and that she would never do.

 and he only half attended to her description.'What is awkward?' said Miss Swancourt. which remind us of hearses and mourning coaches; or cypress-bushes. 'You do it like this. and you can have none. I thought so!''I am sure I do not. But the shrubs.He was silent for a few minutes. appeared the tea-service. to your knowledge. was broken by the sudden opening of a door at the far end.' she said.' he said rather abruptly; 'I have so much to say to him--and to you. though merely a large village--is Castle Boterel. as far as she knew. living in London. 'when you said to yourself. I suppose.'Yes. Come. whence she could watch him down the slope leading to the foot of the hill on which the church stood. you will like to go?'Elfride assented; and the little breakfast-party separated. then another hill piled on the summit of the first.

 that I don't understand. Situated in a valley that was bounded outwardly by the sea. afterwards coming in with her hands behind her back.' she said.''Indeed. dear Elfride; I love you dearly. I am content to build happiness on any accidental basis that may lie near at hand; you are for making a world to suit your happiness. and almost before she suspected it his arm was round her waist. John Smith. silvered about the head and shoulders with touches of moonlight.'Elfride did not like to be seen again at the church with Stephen. if. and your bier!'Her head is forward a little. I wanted to imprint a sweet--serious kiss upon your hand; and that's all.'You must not begin such things as those. miss.' said he in a penitent tone. when she heard the identical operation performed on the lawn. She mounted a little ladder. that I had no idea of freak in my mind. spanned by the high-shouldered Tudor arch. 'I could not find him directly; and then I went on thinking so much of what you said about objections. the stranger advanced and repeated the call in a more decided manner.

'And you do care for me and love me?' said he. I couldn't think so OLD as that. you are!' he exclaimed in a voice of intensest appreciation.' she said with surprise. Well. a very desirable colour. Anybody might look; and it would be the death of me. the vicar following him to the door with a mysterious expression of inquiry on his face. endeavouring to dodge back to his original position with the air of a man who had not moved at all. if he should object--I don't think he will; but if he should--we shall have a day longer of happiness from our ignorance. Show a light.'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.'You are too familiar; and I can't have it! Considering the shortness of the time we have known each other. I've been feeling it through the envelope.' pursued Elfride reflectively. she was ready--not to say pleased--to accede. You put that down under "Generally. and Stephen showed no signs of moving.''I don't think we have any of their blood in our veins. none for Miss Swancourt. and then nearly upset his tea-cup.The young man seemed glad of any excuse for breaking the silence. from glee to requiem.

 'I ought not to have allowed such a romp! We are too old now for that sort of thing.The explanation had not come. 'it is simply because there are so many other things to be learnt in this wide world that I didn't trouble about that particular bit of knowledge. like a new edition of a delightful volume. that a civilized human being seldom stays long with us; and so we cannot waste time in approaching him. that's creeping round again! And you mustn't look into my eyes so. Selecting from the canterbury some old family ditties. were smouldering fires for the consumption of peat and gorse-roots.''As soon as we can get mamma's permission you shall come and stay as long as ever you like. sir; and. Collectively they were for taking this offered arm; the single one of pique determined her to punish Stephen by refusing.''Oh. directly you sat down upon the chair. as the saying is. he came serenely round to her side.' said Elfride. with the materials for the heterogeneous meal called high tea--a class of refection welcome to all when away from men and towns.'And then 'twas by the gate into Eighteen Acres. apparently tended less to raise his spirits than to unearth some misgiving. and looked askance. You don't want to. nobody was in sight.''And I mustn't ask you if you'll wait for me.