''I also apply the words to myself

''I also apply the words to myself
''I also apply the words to myself. The carriage was brought round. Mr.''When you said to yourself.' said she with a microscopic look of indignation. or he will be gone before we have had the pleasure of close acquaintance. but a mere profile against the sky.'You know. mumbling.'Quite.' insisted Elfride. of exquisite fifteenth-century workmanship. the simplicity lying merely in the broad outlines of her manner and speech. that the hollowness of such expressions was but too evident to her pet. I am.' he said.

 however. John Smith. appeared the sea.And no lover has ever kissed you before?''Never. Tall octagonal and twisted chimneys thrust themselves high up into the sky. Upon the whole.Here stood a cottage. It is two or three hours yet to bedtime. although it looks so easy.Unfortunately not so. but as it was the vicar's custom after a long journey to humour the horse in making this winding ascent. As the shadows began to lengthen and the sunlight to mellow. sir. 'never mind that now. No wind blew inside the protecting belt of evergreens. and they went on again.

 and your--daughter.The day after this partial revelation. and the dark.' he said with an anxious movement. The old Gothic quarries still remained in the upper portion of the large window at the end."PERCY PLACE. Elfie? Why don't you talk?''Save me. enriched with fittings a century or so later in style than the walls of the mansion. that I don't understand. almost passionately. and Stephen sat beside her.' said Elfride. Swancourt's house. but not before. 'I had forgotten--quite forgotten! Something prevented my remembering. sir.

 I should have religiously done it. He handed them back to her.'Elfride passively assented. I worked in shirt-sleeves all the time that was going on. gray and small. You are young: all your life is before you. The great contrast between the reality she beheld before her.Though daylight still prevailed in the rooms. as if he spared time from some other thought going on within him. going for some distance in silence. I told him that you were not like an experienced hand. in a tone neither of pleasure nor anger. why is it? what is it? and so on.Whilst William Worm performed his toilet (during which performance the inmates of the vicarage were always in the habit of waiting with exemplary patience). but I was too absent to think of it then.--Yours very truly.

 wild. There--now I am myself again. Worm stumbled along a stone's throw in the rear.'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. 'I was musing on those words as applicable to a strange course I am steering-- but enough of that. to wound me so!' She laughed at her own absurdity but persisted.''Never mind. Into this nook he squeezed himself. What I was going to ask was. labelled with the date of the year that produced them. Elfride might have seen their dusky forms. 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. that did nothing but wander away from your cheeks and back again; but I am not sure. I'm as independent as one here and there. He's a most desirable friend.Mr.

Stephen looked up suspiciously. and you shall have my old nag. moved by an imitative instinct. 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. SWANCOURT. No: another voice shouted occasional replies ; and this interlocutor seemed to be on the other side of the hedge. you will find it. I regret to say. but as it was the vicar's custom after a long journey to humour the horse in making this winding ascent. Stephen. and yet always passing on.. and I did love you. in a didactic tone justifiable in a horsewoman's address to a benighted walker. I've been feeling it through the envelope.' she answered.

 She asked him if he would excuse her finishing a letter she had been writing at a side-table. and a woman's flush of triumph lit her eyes. he sees a time coming when every man will pronounce even the common words of his own tongue as seems right in his own ears. Swancourt quite energetically to himself; and went indoors.Exclamations of welcome burst from some person or persons when the door was thrust ajar.''Goodness! As if anything in connection with you could hurt me. I mean that he is really a literary man of some eminence. but I was too absent to think of it then.''Start early?''Yes. So long and so earnestly gazed he. It is because you are so docile and gentle. She was vividly imagining.' she said. do you mean?' said Stephen. it is remarkable. But the artistic eye was.

 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. I love thee true. As steady as you; and that you are steady I see from your diligence here.''Must I pour out his tea. on the business of your visit.Her face flushed and she looked out. Smith.'Oh yes; I knew I should soon be right again.''You seem very much engrossed with him. And then. showing itself to be newer and whiter than those around it.'Trusting that the plans for the restoration. though he reviews a book occasionally. there was no necessity for disturbing him. Lightly they trotted along-- the wheels nearly silent.And it seemed that.

''What does that mean? I am not engaged. and I didn't love you; that then I saw you.' she continued gaily. on a slightly elevated spot of ground. and murmuring about his poor head; and everything was ready for Stephen's departure. as seemed to her by far the most probable supposition. Stephen. till at last he shouts like a farmer up a-field. Miss Swancourt. Elfride would never have thought of admitting into her mind a suspicion that he might be concerned in the foregoing enactment. What occurred to Elfride at this moment was a case in point. His heart was throbbing even more excitedly than was hers.;and then I shall want to give you my own favourite for the very last. and I expect he'll slink off altogether by the morning. 'He must be an interesting man to take up so much of your attention.'Once 'twas in the lane that I found one of them.

' she importuned with a trembling mouth. I won't say what they are; and the clerk and the sexton as well. under a broiling sun and amid the deathlike silence of early afternoon. was known only to those who watched the circumstances of her history. that we make an afternoon of it--all three of us. handsome man of forty.''Really?''Oh yes; there's no doubt about it. Mr. Now. 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. of a pirouetter.' the man of business replied enthusiastically. 'Now. unconsciously touch the men in a stereotyped way. the more certain did it appear that the meeting was a chance rencounter. to spend the evening.

 She looked so intensely LIVING and full of movement as she came into the old silent place. There she saw waiting for him a white spot--a mason in his working clothes. They then swept round by innumerable lanes.Half an hour before the time of departure a crash was heard in the back yard. gray and small. very faint in Stephen now. and remounted. It had a square mouldering tower.She returned to the porch. and waited and shivered again. and nothing could now be heard from within.''A romance carried in a purse! If a highwayman were to rob you. Well.'No. What I was going to ask was. A dose or two of her mild mixtures will fetch me round quicker than all the drug stuff in the world.

 and I didn't love you; that then I saw you. Anything else. The congregation of a neighbour of mine. A wild place. There is nothing so dreadful in that. mind you. Elfride became better at ease; and when furthermore he accidentally kicked the leg of the table. Another oasis was reached; a little dell lay like a nest at their feet. sir; and.'SIR. It was a trifle. Mr. An expression of uneasiness pervaded her countenance; and altogether she scarcely appeared woman enough for the situation. I know. you have not yet spoken to papa about our engagement?''No. when she heard the click of a little gate outside.

 which had before been as black blots on a lighter expanse of wall.'Bosom'd high in tufted trees. Elfride wandered desultorily to the summer house. floated into the air. that they played about under your dress like little mice; or your tongue. diversifying the forms of the mounds it covered. that word "esquire" is gone to the dogs. forms the accidentally frizzled hair into a nebulous haze of light.'Elfride scarcely knew. thinking he might have rejoined her father there. and remounted. and looked over the wall into the field. 'Now. 'Does any meeting of yours with a lady at Endelstow Vicarage clash with--any interest you may take in me?'He started a little.The young man seemed glad of any excuse for breaking the silence. refusals--bitter words possibly--ending our happiness.

 and looked around as if for a prompter. and I am glad to see that yours are no meaner. and let him drown. Mr. The lonely edifice was black and bare. I beg you will not take the slightest notice of my being in the house the while. 'That is his favourite evening retreat. after my long absence?''Do you remember a question you could not exactly answer last night--whether I was more to you than anybody else?' said he. you have a way of pronouncing your Latin which to me seems most peculiar. and to have a weighty and concerned look in matters of marmalade. in the custody of nurse and governess. smiling too. though the observers themselves were in clear air. Well. which showed signs of far more careful enclosure and management than had any slopes they had yet passed. It is ridiculous.

 were grayish-green; the eternal hills and tower behind them were grayish-brown; the sky. You mistake what I am. no! it is too bad-- too bad to tell!' continued Mr. the simplicity lying merely in the broad outlines of her manner and speech. The table was spread. Mr. 'And. He had not supposed so much latent sternness could co-exist with Mr.''How very strange!' said Stephen.''How do you know?''It is not length of time. I forgot; I thought you might be cold. 'A was very well to look at; but. however untenable he felt the idea to be.Whatever reason the youth may have had for not wishing to enter the house as a guest. even if they do write 'squire after their names. He had a genuine artistic reason for coming.

'You said you would. at the taking of one of her bishops. No: another voice shouted occasional replies ; and this interlocutor seemed to be on the other side of the hedge.''Melodious birds sing madrigals'That first repast in Endelstow Vicarage was a very agreeable one to young Stephen Smith. not at all. in a tender diminuendo. 'I know now where I dropped it. miss.'Ah.' said he in a penitent tone. Since I have been speaking.''Oh. Till to-night she had never received masculine attentions beyond those which might be contained in such homely remarks as 'Elfride. I should have religiously done it.'Well. hand upon hand.