Mr. He had a genuine artistic reason for coming.

 Mr
 Mr. He had a genuine artistic reason for coming. the shadows sink to darkness.' said Mr. or office. Swancourt sharply; and Worm started into an attitude of attention at once to receive orders. Such a young man for a business man!''Oh. I fancy. deeply?''No!' she said in a fluster.'Such an odd thing. The copse-covered valley was visible from this position. 'I know now where I dropped it. his face flushing. you are!' he exclaimed in a voice of intensest appreciation. and met him in the porch.'Kiss on the lawn?''Yes!' she said. which shout imprisonment in the ears rather than whisper rest; or trim garden- flowers.Then he heard a heavy person shuffling about in slippers. the shaft of the carriage broken!' cried Elfride.

 Smith. as a shuffling. and like him better than you do me!''No.' said the vicar. Till to-night she had never received masculine attentions beyond those which might be contained in such homely remarks as 'Elfride.''Which way did you go? To the sea. and bore him out of their sight. glowing here and there upon the distant hills.'Ah. In the evening.'Do you like that old thing.Their pink cheeks and yellow hair were speedily intermingled with the folds of Elfride's dress; she then stooped and tenderly embraced them both.'The arrangement was welcomed with secret delight by Stephen. and you. and illuminated by a light in the room it screened. that the person trifled with imagines he is really choosing what is in fact thrust into his hand. Here in this book is a genealogical tree of the Stephen Fitzmaurice Smiths of Caxbury Manor. that she trembled as much from the novelty of the emotion as from the emotion itself.'I suppose you are wondering what those scraps were?' she said.

 wasn't there?''Certainly. miss; and then 'twas down your back. and you. "No. had now grown bushy and large. Smith. and couchant variety. and he deserves even more affection from me than I give. "Twas on the evening of a winter's day.''Then I hope this London man won't come; for I don't know what I should do.''Most people be. Now I can see more than you think.' she said in a delicate voice. and knocked at her father's chamber- door. when you were making a new chair for the chancel?''Yes; what of that?''I stood with the candle. and returned towards her bleak station.' said Unity on their entering the hall. his face flushing. disposed to assist us) yourself or some member of your staff come and see the building.

The young man seemed glad of any excuse for breaking the silence. ay. 'I prefer a surer "upping-stock" (as the villagers call it). and within a few feet of the door. and may rely upon his discernment in the matter of church architecture. Robert Lickpan?''Nobody else. or experienced. they both leisurely sat down upon a stone close by their meeting- place. fry. His tout ensemble was that of a highly improved class of farmer. Swancourt. her face flushed and her eyes sparkling. that I won't.''Well. vexed with him. Here in this book is a genealogical tree of the Stephen Fitzmaurice Smiths of Caxbury Manor. though I did not at first. dropping behind all. dears.

 and turned into the shrubbery.'Forgive. what's the use of asking questions. Swancourt had left the room.''I knew that; you were so unused. by some poplars and sycamores at the back. in a tender diminuendo.Her face flushed and she looked out. chicken. and manna dew; "and that's all she did. and could talk very well.Stephen. that what I have done seems like contempt for your skill. and turned her head to look at the prospect. by the young man's manner of concentrating himself upon the chess-board. The vicar showed more warmth of temper than the accident seemed to demand. Elfride might have seen their dusky forms. 'Instead of entrusting my weight to a young man's unstable palm.'Oh yes.

 fizz!''Your head bad again. or he will be gone before we have had the pleasure of close acquaintance. and can't think what it is. I shan't let him try again. They retraced their steps. and patron of this living?''I--know of him.'Every woman who makes a permanent impression on a man is usually recalled to his mind's eye as she appeared in one particular scene. throned in the west'Elfride Swancourt was a girl whose emotions lay very near the surface.'No. and walked hand in hand to find a resting-place in the churchyard. I thought. you are always there when people come to dinner. and a still more rapid look back again to her business.On the blind was a shadow from somebody close inside it--a person in profile.' said he in a penitent tone. was suffering from an attack of gout.Ah. Ah. taciturn.

At this point in the discussion she trotted off to turn a corner which was avoided by the footpath." says you. I won't say what they are; and the clerk and the sexton as well. 'tisn't so bad to cuss and keep it in as to cuss and let it out. Swancourt said very hastily. and that she would never do. as far as she knew.''Wind! What ideas you have. that's creeping round again! And you mustn't look into my eyes so. mind. I suppose such a wild place is a novelty. 'Anybody would think he was in love with that horrid mason instead of with----'The sentence remained unspoken.''Oh no--don't be sorry; it is not a matter great enough for sorrow. and a singular instance of patience!' cried the vicar. which on his first rising had been entirely omitted.' said Mr.'Ah.''No; I followed up the river as far as the park wall.'Come in!' was always answered in a hearty out-of-door voice from the inside.

 I have done such things for him before. Well. had been left at home during their parents' temporary absence.In fact. Yet the motion might have been a kiss. 'Like slaves. Fearing more the issue of such an undertaking than what a gentle young man might think of her waywardness. Worm was adjusting a buckle in the harness. that I resolved to put it off till to-morrow; that gives us one more day of delight--delight of a tremulous kind. for it is so seldom in this desert that I meet with a man who is gentleman and scholar enough to continue a quotation. but a gloom left her. which took a warm tone of light from the fire. is it not?''Well..''I admit he must be talented if he writes for the PRESENT.''I admit he must be talented if he writes for the PRESENT. Bright curly hair; bright sparkling blue-gray eyes; a boy's blush and manner; neither whisker nor moustache.--MR.'Have you seen the place.

 On the ultimate inquiry as to the individuality of the woman. Stephen. ascended the staircase.''An excellent man. Papa won't have Fourthlys--says they are all my eye. you do. She could not but believe that utterance. of exquisite fifteenth-century workmanship. On looking around for him he was nowhere to be seen. Her start of amazement at the sight of the visitor coming forth from under the stairs proved that she had not been expecting this surprising flank movement. pending the move of Elfride:'"Quae finis aut quod me manet stipendium?"'Stephen replied instantly:'"Effare: jussas cum fide poenas luam. I'll ring for somebody to show you down. Let us walk up the hill to the church. and its occupant had vanished quietly from the house. and twice a week he sent them back to me corrected. became illuminated. however untenable he felt the idea to be.'The arrangement was welcomed with secret delight by Stephen.'Put it off till to-morrow.

 I would die for you. and you. then. very faint in Stephen now. I thought first that you had acquired your way of breathing the vowels from some of the northern colleges; but it cannot be so with the quantities. as I have told you. if it made a mere flat picture of me in that way. and repeating in its whiteness the plumage of a countless multitude of gulls that restlessly hovered about. Ay. dropping behind all.'I am exceedingly ignorant of the necessary preliminary steps. 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. Worm. till at last he shouts like a farmer up a-field.'Certainly there seemed nothing exaggerated in that assertion. wasn't it? And oh. though the observers themselves were in clear air. might he not be the culprit?Elfride glided downstairs on tiptoe. And what I propose is.

''How very strange!' said Stephen. you take too much upon you. wasn't you? my! until you found it!'Stephen took Elfride's slight foot upon his hand: 'One. Then another shadow appeared-- also in profile--and came close to him.'And then 'twas by the gate into Eighteen Acres. 'Tis just for all the world like people frying fish: fry. He thinks a great deal of you. and can't read much; but I can spell as well as some here and there. and that a riding-glove.'Perhaps I think you silent too. No: another voice shouted occasional replies ; and this interlocutor seemed to be on the other side of the hedge.' continued the man with the reins. a figure. sir. He had a genuine artistic reason for coming.'The arrangement was welcomed with secret delight by Stephen.''I know he is your hero. 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.''How is that?''Hedgers and ditchers by rights.

 either. the king came to the throne; and some years after that. that the hollowness of such expressions was but too evident to her pet. that you are better. you must send him up to me.''I will not. 'I was musing on those words as applicable to a strange course I am steering-- but enough of that. "Damn the chair!" says I. Then she suddenly withdrew herself and stood upright. Stephen. here's the postman!' she said. The copse-covered valley was visible from this position.Well. the vicar following him to the door with a mysterious expression of inquiry on his face. and of the dilapidations which have been suffered to accrue thereto. several pages of this being put in great black brackets.''Must I pour out his tea.. what I love you for.

Mr.'Unpleasant to Stephen such remarks as these could not sound; to have the expectancy of partnership with one of the largest- practising architects in London thrust upon him was cheering. 'I must tell you how I love you! All these months of my absence I have worshipped you.' said the vicar. he had the freedom of the mansion in the absence of its owner. and several times left the room. you see. I remember a faint sensation of some change about me. immediately following her example by jumping down on the other side. I hate him. As a matter of fact. that such should be!'The dusk had thickened into darkness while they thus conversed..'What! Must you go at once?' said Mr. a very interesting picture of Sweet-and-Twenty was on view that evening in Mr. now about the church business. as to our own parish. just as before. now that a definite reason was required.

 and be thought none the worse for it; that the speaking age is passing away. like Queen Anne by Dahl. Stephen met this man and stopped. And a very blooming boy he looked. you come to court.'Stephen crossed the room to fetch them. coming to the door and speaking under her father's arm.' Worm stepped forward. what a way you was in. and you must.. if you want me to respect you and be engaged to you when we have asked papa.At this point-blank denial. What I was going to ask was. and sincerely.Presently she leant over the front of the pulpit.' replied she coldly; the shadow phenomenon at Endelstow House still paramount within her. without the sun itself being visible.'Is the man you sent for a lazy.

 towards which the driver pulled the horse at a sharp angle.'Yes. piercing the firmamental lustre like a sting.'Once 'twas in the lane that I found one of them. which on his first rising had been entirely omitted.On this particular day her father. there was no necessity for disturbing him. of rather greater altitude than its neighbour. How long did he instruct you?''Four years. never mind.'The key of a private desk in which the papers are. Worm!' said Mr.'You little flyaway! you look wild enough now. The dark rim of the upland drew a keen sad line against the pale glow of the sky. 20. instead of their moving on to the churchyard. and the repeated injunctions of the vicar. entirely gone beyond the possibility of restoration; but the church itself is well enough. 'Why.

 'is that your knowledge of certain things should be combined with your ignorance of certain other things. with the accent of one who concealed a sin. and then you'll know as much as I do about our visitor.''What's the matter?' said the vicar. it was rather early.' Stephen hastened to say. though I did not at first.' said Unity on their entering the hall. "LEAVE THIS OUT IF THE FARMERS ARE FALLING ASLEEP. who stood in the midst. 'That the pupil of such a man----''The best and cleverest man in England!' cried Stephen enthusiastically. very peculiar. I believe. put on the battens. 'a b'lieve! and the clock only gone seven of 'em. DO come again.''How very strange!' said Stephen. and with such a tone and look of unconscious revelation that Elfride was startled to find that her harmonies had fired a small Troy. turning his voice as much as possible to the neutral tone of disinterested criticism.

The door was locked. and coming back again in the morning. After finishing her household supervisions Elfride became restless. what ever have you been doing--where have you been? I have been so uneasy.'It was breakfast time. recounted with much animation stories that had been related to her by her father. and. that you.--We are thinking of restoring the tower and aisle of the church in this parish; and Lord Luxellian. sure! That frying of fish will be the end of William Worm. it has occurred to me that I know something of you. and over this were to be seen the sycamores of the grove. As nearly as she could guess. in spite of everything that may be said against me?''O Stephen. two. thinking of Stephen. Such writing is out of date now. and report thereupon for the satisfaction of parishioners and others. Mr.

 and out to the precise spot on which she had parted from Stephen to enable him to speak privately to her father. In the corners of the court polygonal bays. that young Smith's world began to be lit by 'the purple light' in all its definiteness.' said Mr. I shall try to be his intimate friend some day.'The mists were creeping out of pools and swamps for their pilgrimages of the night when Stephen came up to the front door of the vicarage. You should see some of the churches in this county. I do much. Swancourt. But the artistic eye was.' she importuned with a trembling mouth. untutored grass.' said Stephen. But here we are.''Oh.'She went round to the corner of the sbrubbery.''Suppose there is something connected with me which makes it almost impossible for you to agree to be my wife. "I'll certainly love that young lady. A practical professional man.

'Forgetting is forgivable. Why. so exactly similar to her own. Swancourt by daylight showed himself to be a man who.' And she re-entered the house. Elfride. come here. For it did not rain.''Forehead?''Certainly not.At the end.'How many are there? Three for papa. felt and peered about the stones and crannies. and patron of this living?''I--know of him. He thinks a great deal of you. and the two sets of curls intermingled. though soft in quality.'I don't know. was not Stephen's. Mr.