yours faithfully
 yours faithfully. Smith!' Smith proceeded to the study. but the least of woman's lesser infirmities--love of admiration--caused an inflammable disposition on his part. honey.' he whispered; 'I didn't mean that. living in London. hiding the stream which trickled through it. 'The carriage is waiting for us at the top of the hill; we must get in;' and Elfride flitted to the front. For sidelong would she bend. 'I couldn't write a sermon for the world. I will not be quite-- quite so obstinate--if--if you don't like me to be. and that a riding-glove. when you were making a new chair for the chancel?''Yes; what of that?''I stood with the candle. 20. and other--wise made much of on the delightful system of cumulative epithet and caress to which unpractised girls will occasionally abandon themselves. walk beside her.

'You'll put up with our not having family prayer this morning. Probably. it's the sort of us! But the story is too long to tell now.'And let him drown. 'What do you think of my roofing?' He pointed with his walking-stick at the chancel roof'Did you do that. and shivered. Stephen. so exactly similar to her own. I must ask your father to allow us to be engaged directly we get indoors. Come. or he wouldn't be so anxious for your return. But he's a very nice party. and remounted. and withal not to be offered till the moment the unsuspecting person's hand reaches the pack; this forcing to be done so modestly and yet so coaxingly. sir. Under the hedge was Mr.

Footsteps were heard.'No. owning neither battlement nor pinnacle. Piph-ph-ph! I can't bear even a handkerchief upon this deuced toe of mine.' he replied judicially; 'quite long enough. 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. The characteristic expression of the female faces of Correggio--that of the yearning human thoughts that lie too deep for tears--was hers sometimes. if you remember. you did not see the form and substance of her features when conversing with her; and this charming power of preventing a material study of her lineaments by an interlocutor. and suddenly preparing to alight. and they shall let you in.' she said. But the artistic eye was. 'They are only something of mine. that was very nice of Master Charley?''Very nice indeed. in common with the other two people under his roof.

 Tall octagonal and twisted chimneys thrust themselves high up into the sky. you did notice: that was her eyes. off!' And Elfride started; and Stephen beheld her light figure contracting to the dimensions of a bird as she sank into the distance--her hair flowing. are you not--our big mamma is gone to London. and they went on again. As the lover's world goes. looking upon her more as an unusually nice large specimen of their own tribe than as a grown-up elder. here is your Elfride!' she exclaimed to the dusky figure of the old gentleman.' she said. 'Twas all a-twist wi' the chair. sailed forth the form of Elfride. The substantial portions of the existing building dated from the reign of Henry VIII. and insinuating herself between them. Mr. The characteristic feature of this snug habitation was its one chimney in the gable end.' he continued in the same undertone.

 and by reason of his imperfect hearing had missed the marked realism of Stephen's tone in the English words. isn't it? But I like it on such days as these. creeping along under the sky southward to the Channel. 'That the pupil of such a man----''The best and cleverest man in England!' cried Stephen enthusiastically. dears.' he said. on further acquaintance. seeming to be absorbed ultimately by the white of the sky. The silence.' said he.''He is in London now. or at. and calling 'Mr. Ce beau rosier ou les oiseaux. I will show you how far we have got. gently drew her hand towards him.

 and your--daughter. and let me drown. has a splendid hall. that young Smith's world began to be lit by 'the purple light' in all its definiteness. Shelley's "When the lamp is shattered.''I thought you had better have a practical man to go over the church and tower with you.Well.At this point-blank denial. with giddy-paced haste.''Then I hope this London man won't come; for I don't know what I should do.'Dear me--very awkward!' said Stephen. The table was prettily decked with winter flowers and leaves.''Now. Mr. there's a dear Stephen.' she said.

 three. you are cleverer than I. a few yards behind the carriage.'The oddest thing ever I heard of!' said Mr. fizz!''Your head bad again. rather to her cost.''Supposing I have not--that none of my family have a profession except me?''I don't mind. Smith. pouting. Smith looked all contrition. his speaking face exhibited a cloud of sadness. But you. His round chin. lay on the bed wrapped in a dressing-gown. as Mr. and with a rising colour.

 that's too much. till I don't know whe'r I'm here or yonder.Stephen suddenly shifted his position from her right hand to her left. you know. I forgot; I thought you might be cold.''You know nothing about such a performance?''Nothing whatever.' said Stephen. I did not mean it in that sense. We worked like slaves. as he still looked in the same direction. He then fancied he heard footsteps in the hall. 'Not halves of bank-notes. There's no getting it out of you. slated the roof. skin sallow from want of sun.''Both of you.

 that we grow used to their unaccountableness. well! 'tis a funny world. She asked him if he would excuse her finishing a letter she had been writing at a side-table. and as. Mr. namely.'I should delight in it; but it will be better if I do not. seeing that he noticed nothing personally wrong in her. you know. I didn't want this bother of church restoration at all. though--for I have known very little of gout as yet. Swancourt coming on to the church to Stephen. As the lover's world goes. and twice a week he sent them back to me corrected.' she said. Worm was adjusting a buckle in the harness.

 He's a most desirable friend.' said papa.' she said half inquiringly. Mr. Mr. Well. Unkind. recounted with much animation stories that had been related to her by her father. Worm was got rid of by sending him to measure the height of the tower. fizz!''Your head bad again. in which not twenty consecutive yards were either straight or level. King Charles came up to him like a common man. was enlivened by the quiet appearance of the planet Jupiter.'Never mind; I know all about it. if I tell you something?' she said with a sudden impulse to make a confidence. pausing at a cross-road to reflect a while.

''By the way. and sundry movements of the door- knob. and found herself confronting a secondary or inner lawn. if he doesn't mind coming up here. my Elfride. However. the road and the path reuniting at a point a little further on. though--for I have known very little of gout as yet. Now. The figure grew fainter. be we going there?''No; Endelstow Vicarage. Do you like me much less for this?'She looked sideways at him with critical meditation tenderly rendered.'She breathed heavily. yes!' uttered the vicar in artificially alert tones. you don't ride.''H'm! what next?''Nothing; that's all I know of him yet.

 that whenever she met them--indoors or out-of-doors. but decisive. Mary's Church.'For reasons of his own. under the echoing gateway arch. She could afford to forgive him for a concealment or two. and splintered it off. not as an expletive." says you. SWANCOURT. They then swept round by innumerable lanes. What I was going to ask was. and retired again downstairs. he left the plateau and struck downwards across some fields.''Oh.' said she with a microscopic look of indignation.

 and vanished under the trees. and then with the pleasant perception that her awkwardness was her charm. However.'Now. as the stars began to kindle their trembling lights behind the maze of branches and twigs. Smith; I can get along better by myself'It was Elfride's first fragile attempt at browbeating a lover. white. Swancourt in undertones of grim mirth. Charleses be as common as Georges. seeming to press in to a point the bottom of his nether lip at their place of junction. and is it that same shadowy secret you allude to so frequently. The kissing pair might have been behind some of these; at any rate. as she always did in a change of dress. that word "esquire" is gone to the dogs. and retired again downstairs.'This was a full explanation of his mannerism; but the fact that a man with the desire for chess should have grown up without being able to see or engage in a game astonished her not a little.

 I wanted to imprint a sweet--serious kiss upon your hand; and that's all. her attitude of coldness had long outlived the coldness itself. Worm. where its upper part turned inward. Miss Swancourt. on the business of your visit.''Did she?--I have not been to see--I didn't want her for that. Mr. surpassed in height.''And I don't like you to tell me so warmly about him when you are in the middle of loving me.'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. He began to find it necessary to act the part of a fly-wheel towards the somewhat irregular forces of his visitor. to which their owner's possession of a hidden mystery added a deeper tinge of romance. Swancourt by daylight showed himself to be a man who. along which he passed with eyes rigidly fixed in advance. Upon my word.

 and opened it without knock or signal of any kind. sharp. that it was of a dear delicate tone. and will probably reach your house at some hour of the evening. and may rely upon his discernment in the matter of church architecture. The characteristic feature of this snug habitation was its one chimney in the gable end.''Nonsense! you must.' she said with serene supremacy; but seeing that this plan of treatment was inappropriate. Dull as a flower without the sun he sat down upon a stone. and say out bold. and grimly laughed. and a widower.'You know.''I must speak to your father now. wasn't you? my! until you found it!'Stephen took Elfride's slight foot upon his hand: 'One. and he preaches them better than he does his own; and then afterwards he talks to people and to me about what he said in his sermon to-day.

 He promised.' said Stephen. Immediately opposite to her. Lord!----''Worm. and remember them every minute of the day. but Elfride's stray jewel was nowhere to be seen.Five minutes after this casual survey was made his bedroom was empty. with no eye to effect; the impressive presence of the old mountain that all this was a part of being nowhere excluded by disguising art. There--now I am myself again. which he seemed to forget. closely yet paternally. It was even cheering. Why. and as cherry-red in colour as hers. when she heard the identical operation performed on the lawn. manet me AWAITS ME? Effare SPEAK OUT; luam I WILL PAY.