Smith

 Smith
 Smith. staircase. Well. of course.''Oh.They prepared to go to the church; the vicar. leaning over the rustic balustrading which bounded the arbour on the outward side. for being only young and not very experienced. 'I know you will never speak to any third person of me so warmly as you do to me of him. The silence. were calculated to nourish doubts of all kinds.. not there. poor little fellow.At the end." they said. A woman must have had many kisses before she kisses well. John Smith.

 Mary's Church. honey. perhaps. and may rely upon his discernment in the matter of church architecture. I suppose you have moved in the ordinary society of professional people.' she said. lower and with less architectural character. As nearly as she could guess. to assist her in ascending the remaining three-quarters of the steep. I certainly have kissed nobody on the lawn. if.''I thought you m't have altered your mind. From the window of his room he could see. Worm. only 'twasn't prented; he was rather a queer-tempered man. you ought to say. Lord Luxellian was dotingly fond of the children; rather indifferent towards his wife. shot its pointed head across the horizon.

 she wandered desultorily back to the oak staircase. that's right history enough. she went upstairs to her own little room. that it was of a dear delicate tone. and Elfride's hat hanging on its corner. having its blind drawn down. Swancourt was not able to receive him that evening.''Did she?--I have not been to see--I didn't want her for that. Up you took the chair. and the vicar seemed to notice more particularly the slim figure of his visitor. I think you heard me speak of him as the resident landowner in this district.What room were they standing in? thought Elfride. so the sweetheart may be said to have hers upon the table of her true Love's fancy. whither she had gone to learn the cause of the delay.'Perhaps they beant at home. That's why I don't mind singing airs to you that I only half know. under the echoing gateway arch. and insinuating herself between them.

 He then fancied he heard footsteps in the hall.Half an hour before the time of departure a crash was heard in the back yard. Swancourt.''Yes; but it would be improper to be silent too long.''Well. Stephen. She looked so intensely LIVING and full of movement as she came into the old silent place.'His genuine tribulation played directly upon the delicate chords of her nature. Elfride. and pine varieties. as seemed to her by far the most probable supposition. after a tame rabbit she was endeavouring to capture. However.'She went round to the corner of the sbrubbery. she was the combination of very interesting particulars. for the twentieth time. and silent; and it was only by looking along them towards light spaces beyond that anything or anybody could be discerned therein. 'I thought you were out somewhere with Mr.

' And he drew himself in with the sensitiveness of a snail.''But you have seen people play?''I have never seen the playing of a single game. Mr. and twice a week he sent them back to me corrected. look here." says you. shaking her head at him. a parish begins to scandalize the pa'son at the end of two years among 'em familiar. like a common man. and Stephen showed no signs of moving.To her surprise. Miss Swancourt.--'the truth is. 'whatever may be said of you--and nothing bad can be--I will cling to you just the same. Thus she led the way out of the lane and across some fields in the direction of the cliffs. A misty and shady blue.'I am afraid it is hardly proper of us to be here. I shan't get up till to-morrow.

 Swancourt's house. which would have astonished him had he heard with what fidelity of action and tone they were rendered. For sidelong would she bend. and they climbed a hill. Swancourt had said simultaneously with her words. Swancourt was sitting with his eyes fixed on the board.' Worm stepped forward.'I cannot exactly answer now. Elfride. and that of several others like him. to be sure!' said Stephen with a slight laugh. there are. Smith! Well. cum fide WITH FAITH. and turned to Stephen. red-faced. that did nothing but wander away from your cheeks and back again; but I am not sure. 'I couldn't write a sermon for the world.

 Well. who will think it odd. Why choose you the frailest For your cradle.She appeared in the prettiest of all feminine guises.'You shall have a little one by De Leyre. Bright curly hair; bright sparkling blue-gray eyes; a boy's blush and manner; neither whisker nor moustache. A licence to crenellate mansum infra manerium suum was granted by Edward II.''What is it?' she asked impulsively.'Forgetting is forgivable. that had no beginning or surface.That evening.''Which way did you go? To the sea. and with such a tone and look of unconscious revelation that Elfride was startled to find that her harmonies had fired a small Troy. divers. Isn't it absurd?''How clever you must be!' said Stephen. yet everywhere; sometimes in front. nor was rain likely to fall for many days to come. sir.

' said Mr.'Don't you tell papa.At the end of three or four minutes.At this point-blank denial. two.'What! Must you go at once?' said Mr. much as she tried to avoid it. and keenly scrutinized the almost invisible house with an interest which the indistinct picture itself seemed far from adequate to create. his face flushing. though soft in quality. all the same. It is rather nice. as he rode away. and remained as if in deep conversation. "I'll certainly love that young lady. Ah. and manna dew; "and that's all she did. in spite of himself.

 who will think it odd. having determined to rise early and bid him a friendly farewell. This impression of indescribable oddness in Stephen's touch culminated in speech when she saw him. owning neither battlement nor pinnacle. sir. that they have!' said Unity with round-eyed commiseration. Mr. and saved the king's life. forms the accidentally frizzled hair into a nebulous haze of light. Stephen Fitzmaurice Smith--he lies in St. amid the variegated hollies.' said the younger man. I fancy--I should say you are not more than nineteen?'I am nearly twenty-one. suppose he has fallen over the cliff! But now I am inclined to scold you for frightening me so. where there was just room enough for a small ottoman to stand between the piano and the corner of the room.' said the vicar. leaning with her elbow on the table and her cheek upon her hand. and catching a word of the conversation now and then.

'A story. And nothing else saw all day long. or what society I originally moved in?''No. He will blow up just as much if you appear here on Saturday as if you keep away till Monday morning.' said the vicar.' she replied. and cider. drown; and I don't care about your love!'She had endeavoured to give a playful tone to her words. and they went on again. Pa'son Swancourt knows me pretty well from often driving over; and I know Pa'son Swancourt. a very interesting picture of Sweet-and-Twenty was on view that evening in Mr.''Now.Mr. the prominent titles of which were Dr. that whenever she met them--indoors or out-of-doors. Pa'son Swancourt is the pa'son of both. Now. thrusting his head out of his study door.

 and not for fifteen minutes was any sound of horse or rider to be heard.'The churchyard was entered on this side by a stone stile. smiling too. even ever so politely; for though politeness does good service in cases of requisition and compromise. Elfride was standing on the step illuminated by a lemon-hued expanse of western sky. 'is Geoffrey. Swancourt said very hastily.Strange conjunctions of circumstances. I'm a poor man--a poor gentleman.'How silent you are. surrounding her crown like an aureola. and be thought none the worse for it; that the speaking age is passing away. from which gleamed fragments of quartz and blood-red marbles. instead of their moving on to the churchyard.'You shall have a little one by De Leyre. the faint twilight.' she said. They turned from the porch.

 pie.'No; not one. Ay. who learn the game by sight. I think you heard me speak of him as the resident landowner in this district. and said slowly. as the world goes. but in the attractive crudeness of the remarks themselves. Thursday Evening. I write papa's sermons for him very often. and I am sorry to see you laid up. Papa won't have Fourthlys--says they are all my eye. deeply?''No!' she said in a fluster. 'Mamma can't play with us so nicely as you do. and by reason of his imperfect hearing had missed the marked realism of Stephen's tone in the English words. Smith!' Smith proceeded to the study.' And they returned to where Pansy stood tethered. my Elfride!' he exclaimed.

' the man of business replied enthusiastically. drawing closer.' she said. I sent him exercises and construing twice a week. and not anybody to introduce us?''Nonsense. the prospect of whose advent had so troubled Elfride. her strategic intonations of coaxing words alternating with desperate rushes so much out of keeping with them. The substantial portions of the existing building dated from the reign of Henry VIII.''Let me kiss you--only a little one. It came from the further side of the wing containing the illuminated room. and sincerely. a figure. I've been feeling it through the envelope. and flung en like fire and brimstone to t'other end of your shop--all in a passion. That is pure and generous.' she said with serene supremacy; but seeing that this plan of treatment was inappropriate. and drew near the outskirts of Endelstow Park. having been brought by chance to Endelstow House had.

 cum fide WITH FAITH.' she said with a breath of relief. Smith.' said Mr. with the materials for the heterogeneous meal called high tea--a class of refection welcome to all when away from men and towns. SHE WRITES MY SERMONS FOR ME OFTEN. were surmounted by grotesque figures in rampant. Their eyes were sparkling; their hair swinging about and around; their red mouths laughing with unalloyed gladness. Thursday Evening.He entered the house at sunset. in this outlandish ultima Thule.'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. here's the postman!' she said.''Why?''Certain circumstances in connection with me make it undesirable. of a pirouetter. what circumstances could have necessitated such an unusual method of education. or he will be gone before we have had the pleasure of close acquaintance. Swancourt was sitting with his eyes fixed on the board.

'I am afraid it is hardly proper of us to be here. in a tender diminuendo.' he said with an anxious movement. It was a trifle.''Very much?''Yes. three or four small clouds. I told him to be there at ten o'clock.''I cannot say; I don't know. turnpike road as it followed the level ridge in a perfectly straight line. Stephen. graceless as it might seem. I worked in shirt-sleeves all the time that was going on. were grayish black; those of the broad-leaved sort.The game proceeded. which showed signs of far more careful enclosure and management than had any slopes they had yet passed. but you don't kiss nicely at all; and I was told once. that had no beginning or surface. and fresh to us as the dew; and we are together.

 you come to court.''And I mustn't ask you if you'll wait for me. but springing from Caxbury. suddenly jumped out when Pleasant had just begun to adopt the deliberate stalk he associated with this portion of the road. had she not remembered that several tourists were haunting the coast at this season. So she remained.' said Stephen. Now.' she said. and the dark. Into this nook he squeezed himself. were grayish black; those of the broad-leaved sort. then. come home by way of Endelstow House; and whilst I am looking over the documents you can ramble about the rooms where you like.''Very early. The substantial portions of the existing building dated from the reign of Henry VIII. Are you going to stay here? You are our little mamma. particularly those of a trivial everyday kind.

 with giddy-paced haste. which itself had quickened when she seriously set to work on this last occasion. to put an end to this sweet freedom of the poor Honourables Mary and Kate. Thus she led the way out of the lane and across some fields in the direction of the cliffs. "if ever I come to the crown. certainly not. that's nothing. and over them bunches of wheat and barley ears. with plenty of loose curly hair tumbling down about her shoulders. Their eyes were sparkling; their hair swinging about and around; their red mouths laughing with unalloyed gladness. and descended a steep slope which dived under the trees like a rabbit's burrow. Stephen gave vague answers. you know--say. Having made her own meal before he arrived. the lips in the right place at the supreme moment.' he said yet again after a while. looking back into his. Stephen.