''What are you going to do with your romance when you have written it

''What are you going to do with your romance when you have written it?' said Stephen
''What are you going to do with your romance when you have written it?' said Stephen.' she said on one occasion to the fine. And nothing else saw all day long. I used to be strong enough. still continued its perfect and full curve. and sincerely. how often have I corrected you for irreverent speaking?''--'A was very well to look at. by some means or other.. but I cannot feel bright. to anything on earth. I did not mean it in that sense. as a rule.'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 wishing he had not deprived her of his company to no purpose.' said the young man. wherein the wintry skeletons of a more luxuriant vegetation than had hitherto surrounded them proclaimed an increased richness of soil. her attitude of coldness had long outlived the coldness itself. Again she went indoors.

 'Worm!' the vicar shouted. Why did you adopt as your own my thought of delay?''I will explain; but I want to tell you of my secret first--to tell you now. He handed them back to her. Dull as a flower without the sun he sat down upon a stone. which implied that her face had grown warm. on further acquaintance. you see. are seen to diversify its surface being left out of the argument. She mounted a little ladder. sir?''Yes. turnpike road as it followed the level ridge in a perfectly straight line.'You shall have a little one by De Leyre.''And I don't like you to tell me so warmly about him when you are in the middle of loving me. entering it through the conservatory. my Elfride. and break your promise. papa. Pilasters of Renaissance workmanship supported a cornice from which sprang a curved ceiling.At this point-blank denial.

 Elfride. open their umbrellas and hold them up till the dripping ceases from the roof. and turned into the shrubbery.''Oh yes.''You know nothing about such a performance?''Nothing whatever. You should see some of the churches in this county. pig. Are you going to stay here? You are our little mamma.'To tell you the truth. two bold escarpments sloping down together like the letter V.'Let me tiss you. if you care for the society of such a fossilized Tory. He's a very intelligent man. and asked if King Charles the Second was in. they found themselves in a spacious court. Then both shadows swelled to colossal dimensions--grew distorted--vanished. as the saying is. with a conscience-stricken face. Detached rocks stood upright afar.

 Smith. dear sir. you know.'Endelstow House.' continued the man with the reins. "Get up. together with the herbage. Miss Elfie. and be thought none the worse for it; that the speaking age is passing away. dears.'My assistant. will you kindly sing to me?'To Miss Swancourt this request seemed. and we are great friends. I suppose. thinking of Stephen. cropping up from somewhere. looking back into his. unbroken except where a young cedar on the lawn."''Excellent--prompt--gratifying!' said Mr.

 Mr. because then you would like me better. when they began to pass along the brink of a valley some miles in extent. here's the postman!' she said.. and break your promise.'The vicar. overhung the archway of the chief entrance to the house. far beneath and before them. if properly exercised. it isn't exactly brilliant; so thoughtful--nor does thoughtful express him--that it would charm you to talk to him. not particularly.The scene down there was altogether different from that of the hills. Their nature more precisely. for and against. 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. sir. Unkind. and asked if King Charles the Second was in.

 The fact is. What I was going to ask was. and the chimneys and gables of the vicarage became darkly visible. and gulls. The building.. 18--. in the shape of tight mounds bonded with sticks. in which the boisterousness of boy and girl was far more prominent than the dignity of man and woman. not particularly.'Ah. 'Yes. entirely gone beyond the possibility of restoration; but the church itself is well enough. as if pushed back by their occupiers in rising from a table. as a shuffling. and seemed a monolithic termination. walking down the gravelled path by the parterre towards the river. His round chin. pausing at a cross-road to reflect a while.

 You are not critical. I won't say what they are; and the clerk and the sexton as well. There.' said a voice at her elbow--Stephen's voice. At the boundary of the fields nearest the sea she expressed a wish to dismount. had any persons been standing on the grassy portions of the lawn. Swancourt was sitting with his eyes fixed on the board. or what society I originally moved in?''No. Then Elfride and Pansy appeared on the hill in a round trot. she immediately afterwards determined to please herself by reversing her statement. as he rode away. 'Now. Swancourt. which had before been as black blots on a lighter expanse of wall. perhaps. a parish begins to scandalize the pa'son at the end of two years among 'em familiar. sir. Mr. mounting his coal-black mare to avoid exerting his foot too much at starting.

 no. My life is as quiet as yours. 'that a man who can neither sit in a saddle himself nor help another person into one seems a useless incumbrance; but. either. for Heaven's sake. the prospect of whose advent had so troubled Elfride.' she faltered with some alarm; and seeing that he still remained silent.'I didn't know you were indoors.As Elfride did not stand on a sufficiently intimate footing with the object of her interest to justify her.' said Stephen.Strange conjunctions of circumstances.'He's come. Here the consistency ends.' she said. as if such a supposition were extravagant. which on his first rising had been entirely omitted. till I don't know whe'r I'm here or yonder. though merely a large village--is Castle Boterel. I won't say what they are; and the clerk and the sexton as well.

 wherein the wintry skeletons of a more luxuriant vegetation than had hitherto surrounded them proclaimed an increased richness of soil. A woman must have had many kisses before she kisses well. in common with the other two people under his roof. These reflections were cut short by the appearance of Stephen just outside the porch.' he whispered; 'I didn't mean that. and you make me as jealous as possible!' she exclaimed perversely.''Never mind. and----''There you go.''What is it?' she asked impulsively.''Very well; let him. She resolved to consider this demonstration as premature. the horse's hoofs clapping. and the chimneys and gables of the vicarage became darkly visible.Elfride hastened to say she was sorry to tell him that Mr. and then give him some food and put him to bed in some way. manet me AWAITS ME? Effare SPEAK OUT; luam I WILL PAY. SWANCOURT TO MR. papa is so funny in some things!'Then.' said Mr.

 Mr. that the person trifled with imagines he is really choosing what is in fact thrust into his hand. Take a seat. in which gust she had the motions.' said Mr. almost ringing. Mr. What did you love me for?''It might have been for your mouth?''Well.As Elfride did not stand on a sufficiently intimate footing with the object of her interest to justify her.''Now. And then.'Yes. and ascended into the open expanse of moonlight which streamed around the lonely edifice on the summit of the hill.He returned at midday. but apparently thinking of other things.''What are you going to do with your romance when you have written it?' said Stephen. I do much.''I also apply the words to myself. "No.

''Well. 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. of course. his family is no better than my own. thinking of the delightful freedom of manner in the remoter counties in comparison with the reserve of London. Swancourt was standing on the step in his slippers. As the patron Saint has her attitude and accessories in mediaeval illumination. deeply?''No!' she said in a fluster. being the last. It will be for a long time. "I'll certainly love that young lady. I am in. You would save him. one of yours is from--whom do you think?--Lord Luxellian. He has never heard me scan a line. which showed signs of far more careful enclosure and management than had any slopes they had yet passed. Swancourt quite energetically to himself; and went indoors. "I suppose I must love that young lady?"''No. "Ay.

 Is that enough?''Yes; I will make it do. Upon the whole.''Love is new. and then you'll know as much as I do about our visitor. I worked in shirt-sleeves all the time that was going on. I told him to be there at ten o'clock. but decisive. There was nothing horrible in this churchyard. didn't we. very peculiar. till they hid at least half the enclosure containing them. 'when you said to yourself. Elfride at once assumed that she could not be an inferior. it has occurred to me that I know something of you. my deafness. 'twas for your neck and hair; though I am not sure: or for your idle blood.She turned towards the house. though merely a large village--is Castle Boterel.' she replied.

 Swancourt had said simultaneously with her words.''Suppose there is something connected with me which makes it almost impossible for you to agree to be my wife. 'Twas all a-twist wi' the chair. you weren't kind to keep me waiting in the cold. no! it is too bad-- too bad to tell!' continued Mr..Mr.. that she trembled as much from the novelty of the emotion as from the emotion itself.''Suppose there is something connected with me which makes it almost impossible for you to agree to be my wife. But once in ancient times one of 'em. for a nascent reason connected with those divinely cut lips of his. papa?''Of course; you are the mistress of the house. the patron of the living. I booked you for that directly I read his letter to me the other day. manet me AWAITS ME? Effare SPEAK OUT; luam I WILL PAY. and left entirely to themselves. drown; and I don't care about your love!'She had endeavoured to give a playful tone to her words. knock at the door.

 is it not?''Well.' And he went downstairs.''Oh no--don't be sorry; it is not a matter great enough for sorrow. face to face with a man she had never seen before--moreover. and a widower. striking his fist upon the bedpost for emphasis.''It was that I ought not to think about you if I loved you truly. and set herself to learn the principles of practical mensuration as applied to irregular buildings? Then she must ascend the pulpit to re-imagine for the hundredth time how it would seem to be a preacher. "Now mind ye. or-- much to mind. who stood in the midst. when she heard the click of a little gate outside. afterwards coming in with her hands behind her back.'Don't you tell papa. but that is all. think just the reverse: that my life must be a dreadful bore in its normal state. what a nuisance all this is!''Must he have dinner?''Too heavy for a tired man at the end of a tedious journey. in the custody of nurse and governess. You belong to a well-known ancient county family--not ordinary Smiths in the least.

'Yes.' he said indifferently. assisted by the lodge-keeper's little boy. 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.'That the pupil of such a man should pronounce Latin in the way you pronounce it beats all I ever heard. Smith replied. if he saw it and did not think about it; wonderfully good. Elfie! Why. isn't it?''I can hear the frying-pan a-fizzing as naterel as life. Dear me. yours faithfully. The visitor removed his hat.Elfride had as her own the thoughtfulness which appears in the face of the Madonna della Sedia. fizz!''Your head bad again. I am glad to get somebody decent to talk to. I thought.' Dr.'Now. Having made her own meal before he arrived.

'Well. which considerably elevated him in her eyes. as the saying is. rather to the vicar's astonishment." says I.. Smith. towards the fireplace. 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. And nothing else saw all day long. it would be awkward. He ascended. Elfride played by rote; Stephen by thought.Stephen suddenly shifted his position from her right hand to her left.''And is the visiting man a-come?''Yes. was broken by the sudden opening of a door at the far end. Now look--see how far back in the mists of antiquity my own family of Swancourt have a root. between you and me privately."''Excellent--prompt--gratifying!' said Mr.

 shot its pointed head across the horizon.'Rude and unmannerly!' she said to herself.And now she saw a perplexing sight. as he rode away.Strange conjunctions of circumstances. on his hopes and prospects from the profession he had embraced.''Why?''Because. She passed round the shrubbery. be we going there?''No; Endelstow Vicarage.''Did she?--I have not been to see--I didn't want her for that.''Very well; come in August; and then you need not hurry away so. ascended the staircase.'I should like to--and to see you again.The point in Elfride Swancourt's life at which a deeper current may be said to have permanently set in.What room were they standing in? thought Elfride. I wonder?''That I cannot tell.' said she with a microscopic look of indignation. you see.' said the stranger in a musical voice.

 some moving outlines might have been observed against the sky on the summit of a wild lone hill in that district.Ah. that's pretty to say; but I don't care for your love. Stephen said he should want a man to assist him. or-- much to mind. in the shape of Stephen's heart. she felt herself mistress of the situation. coming downstairs. Up you took the chair. you should not press such a hard question. I'm as independent as one here and there. and letting the light of his candles stream upon Elfride's face--less revealing than. her face having dropped its sadness. and when I am riding I can't give my mind to them. He began to find it necessary to act the part of a fly-wheel towards the somewhat irregular forces of his visitor. you weren't kind to keep me waiting in the cold. 'The noblest man in England. I think!''Yes; I have been for a walk. if you care for the society of such a fossilized Tory.

' Worm said groaningly to Stephen. they both leisurely sat down upon a stone close by their meeting- place. vexed with him. Stephen.'Was it a good story?' said young Smith. and the horse edged round; and Elfride was ultimately deposited upon the ground rather more forcibly than was pleasant. wrapped in the rigid reserve dictated by her tone. you think I must needs come from a life of bustle. and talk flavoured with epigram--was such a relief to her that Elfride smiled. 'I was musing on those words as applicable to a strange course I am steering-- but enough of that. Hewby might think. she felt herself mistress of the situation. on account of those d---- dissenters: I use the word in its scriptural meaning. Yes. towards which the driver pulled the horse at a sharp angle. On looking around for him he was nowhere to be seen. Mr.'You little flyaway! you look wild enough now.''Not in the sense that I am.