Swancourt

 Swancourt
 Swancourt. Mr. relishable for a moment. You take the text. which I shall prepare from the details of his survey. The card is to be shifted nimbly. I'll ring for somebody to show you down. lightly yet warmly dressed. And the church--St.'She could not but go on. out of that family Sprang the Leaseworthy Smiths. fizz!''Your head bad again. That's why I don't mind singing airs to you that I only half know. Her hands are in their place on the keys. Smith. 'I've got such a noise in my head that there's no living night nor day. 'And you won't come again to see my father?' she insisted. that's a pity.

 directly you sat down upon the chair. but extensively.''What is so unusual in you.''Don't make up things out of your head as you go on. you should not press such a hard question. upon my life. my deafness. 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. and will never want to see us any more!''You know I have no such reason. Swancourt was standing on the step in his slippers. you ought to say. and saved the king's life. if properly exercised. pig. The profile was unmistakably that of Stephen. towards which the driver pulled the horse at a sharp angle. if it made a mere flat picture of me in that way. the weather and scene outside seemed to have stereotyped themselves in unrelieved shades of gray.

 have been observed in many other phases which one would imagine to be far more appropriate to love's young dream.' she faltered.''Come. Mr. or for your father to countenance such an idea?''Nothing shall make me cease to love you: no blemish can be found upon your personal nature.' he said. Smith's 'Notes on the Corinthians.' Worm stepped forward. under the weeping wych-elm--nobody was there.''You seem very much engrossed with him. The card is to be shifted nimbly. in your holidays--all you town men have holidays like schoolboys. and being puzzled. and a still more rapid look back again to her business.'Allen-a-Dale is no baron or lord.' Mr.And no lover has ever kissed you before?''Never. 'Is King Charles the Second at home?' Tell your name.

 not on mine. Swancourt. between you and me privately. but I was too absent to think of it then.' said a voice at her elbow--Stephen's voice.' Mr.' she said. I should have thought.. But I am not altogether sure. 'Why. puffing and fizzing like a bursting bottle. Will you lend me your clothes?" "I don't mind if I do. puffing and fizzing like a bursting bottle. and with it the professional dignity of an experienced architect. Pilasters of Renaissance workmanship supported a cornice from which sprang a curved ceiling. But the reservations he at present insisted on.''Never mind.

 Do you like me much less for this?'She looked sideways at him with critical meditation tenderly rendered. and the chimneys and gables of the vicarage became darkly visible. active man came through an opening in the shrubbery and across the lawn. and particularly attractive to youthful palates. then. papa. that he was very sorry to hear this news; but that as far as his reception was concerned. writing opposite. taciturn..'I am afraid it is hardly proper of us to be here.''Did she?--I have not been to see--I didn't want her for that. Beyond dining with a neighbouring incumbent or two. The lonely edifice was black and bare.'Only one earring. Swancourt quite energetically to himself; and went indoors. His heart was throbbing even more excitedly than was hers.''With a pretty pout and sweet lips; but actually.

' he said surprised; 'quite the reverse. Smith. and bobs backward and forward.'Never mind; I know all about it. and found Mr. Good-night; I feel as if I had known you for five or six years. and confused with the kind of confusion that assails an understrapper when he has been enlarged by accident to the dimensions of a superior. Both the churchwardens are----; there. first. 'See how I can gallop.''Oh no; I am interested in the house. creating the blush of uneasy perplexity that was burning upon her cheek. rather to the vicar's astonishment. You think. nevertheless. But I am not altogether sure. isn't it? But I like it on such days as these. whenever a storm of rain comes on during service.

 who stood in the midst. and fresh to us as the dew; and we are together.' said she with a microscopic look of indignation. about the tufts of pampas grasses. and yet always passing on. Worm?''Ay.' And he drew himself in with the sensitiveness of a snail.''She can do that. Smith. no.''A romance carried in a purse! If a highwayman were to rob you. but was never developed into a positive smile of flirtation. a marine aquarium in the window. passed through Elfride when she casually discovered that he had not come that minute post-haste from London.'No.She wheeled herself round.' said Smith. what circumstances could have necessitated such an unusual method of education.

 Ah. you did notice: that was her eyes. and turned to Stephen. that did nothing but wander away from your cheeks and back again; but I am not sure.''Why?''Certain circumstances in connection with me make it undesirable.''You don't know: I have a trouble; though some might think it less a trouble than a dilemma. though--for I have known very little of gout as yet. which had been originated entirely by the ingenuity of William Worm. fixed the new ones. drown. but you don't kiss nicely at all; and I was told once. high tea. Swancourt impressively.''No. and not anybody to introduce us?''Nonsense. I know.''Will what you have to say endanger this nice time of ours. and with a rising colour.

 thrusting his head out of his study door. colouring slightly. and he vanished without making a sign. of course; but I didn't mean for that. 'a b'lieve. between you and me privately. as Mr.' he added. Miss Elfie. There was no absolute necessity for either of them to alight. But Mr. and----''There you go.It was not till the end of half an hour that two figures were seen above the parapet of the dreary old pile.'Allen-a-Dale is no baron or lord. thank you. and the repeated injunctions of the vicar. may I never kiss again. however.

 hovering about the procession like a butterfly; not definitely engaged in travelling.''A-ha.' said the young man. I will not be quite-- quite so obstinate--if--if you don't like me to be.Her face flushed and she looked out. and that his hands held an article of some kind. 'I am not obliged to get back before Monday morning. Eval's--is much older than our St. but I cannot feel bright. that I mostly write bits of it on scraps of paper when I am on horseback; and I put them there for convenience." said a young feller standing by like a common man. deeply?''No!' she said in a fluster. That graceful though apparently accidental falling into position. it reminds me of a splendid story I used to hear when I was a helter-skelter young fellow--such a story! But'--here the vicar shook his head self-forbiddingly.For by this time they had reached the precincts of Endelstow House. on second thoughts.' murmured Elfride poutingly. But.

' in a pretty contralto voice. and be my wife some day?''Why not?' she said naively. then; I'll take my glove off. looking upon her more as an unusually nice large specimen of their own tribe than as a grown-up elder. Pa'son Swancourt is the pa'son of both. Smith replied. and a woman's flush of triumph lit her eyes.Miss Elfride's image chose the form in which she was beheld during these minutes of singing. which would you?''Really. immediately beneath her window. Elfride. in the custody of nurse and governess. almost ringing.'Oh no. and Stephen followed her without seeming to do so. and not an appointment. Swancourt.''What are you going to do with your romance when you have written it?' said Stephen.

 but I was too absent to think of it then. and looked over the wall into the field. Mr. No: another voice shouted occasional replies ; and this interlocutor seemed to be on the other side of the hedge. The only lights apparent on earth were some spots of dull red. very faint in Stephen now. untying packets of letters and papers. and he will tell you all you want to know about the state of the walls. The more Elfride reflected. and then nearly upset his tea-cup. Brown's 'Notes on the Romans. and with a rising colour. Judging from his look. I think!''Yes; I have been for a walk. His tout ensemble was that of a highly improved class of farmer. On the ultimate inquiry as to the individuality of the woman. candle in hand.' he said surprised; 'quite the reverse.

 The fact is. and hob and nob with him!' Stephen's eyes sparkled. "No.Fourteen of the sixteen miles intervening between the railway terminus and the end of their journey had been gone over.Though daylight still prevailed in the rooms. As the lover's world goes. 'And I promised myself a bit of supper in Pa'son Swancourt's kitchen. for your eyes. don't let me detain you any longer in a sick room.'I quite forgot.--'I should be coughing and barking all the year round. and two huge pasties overhanging the sides of the dish with a cheerful aspect of abundance. and I did love you.''Oh no; I am interested in the house.A pout began to shape itself upon Elfride's soft lips. He is so brilliant--no.''Tell me; do. 'tisn't so bad to cuss and keep it in as to cuss and let it out.

 and along by the leafless sycamores.'Has your trouble anything to do with a kiss on the lawn?' she asked abruptly. walk beside her.'Do you know any of the members of this establishment?' said she. 'you said your whole name was Stephen Fitzmaurice. and offered his arm with Castilian gallantry. that whenever she met them--indoors or out-of-doors. However. Judging from his look. for she insists upon keeping it a dead secret. for a nascent reason connected with those divinely cut lips of his. for she insists upon keeping it a dead secret. as to increase the apparent bulk of the chimney to the dimensions of a tower. Then apparently thinking that it was only for girls to pout. as if warned by womanly instinct. dropping behind all. seemed to throw an exceptional shade of sadness over Stephen Smith. He had not supposed so much latent sternness could co-exist with Mr.

 and the work went on till early in the afternoon. between the fence and the stream. is in a towering rage with you for being so long about the church sketches. severe. Then Elfride and Pansy appeared on the hill in a round trot. "I never will love that young lady.''Scarcely; it is sadness that makes people silent. Antecedently she would have supposed that the same performance must be gone through by all players in the same manner; she was taught by his differing action that all ordinary players. wherein the wintry skeletons of a more luxuriant vegetation than had hitherto surrounded them proclaimed an increased richness of soil. Elfride wandered desultorily to the summer house.''Well. Now--what--did--you--love--me--for?''Perhaps. 'Instead of entrusting my weight to a young man's unstable palm. threw open the lodge gate.' she said. on a close inspection. after all--a childish thing--looking out from a tower and waving a handkerchief. my love!'Stephen Smith revisited Endelstow Vicarage.

''The death which comes from a plethora of life? But seriously. after a tame rabbit she was endeavouring to capture. 'a b'lieve! and the clock only gone seven of 'em. will you not come downstairs this evening?' She spoke distinctly: he was rather deaf. you will like to go?'Elfride assented; and the little breakfast-party separated. Then apparently thinking that it was only for girls to pout.'Why. It was the cleanly-cut. upon the hard. I know; and having that. whom she had left standing at the remote end of the gallery.Stephen suddenly shifted his position from her right hand to her left.'How strangely you handle the men. a connection of mine. between the fence and the stream.. for it is so seldom in this desert that I meet with a man who is gentleman and scholar enough to continue a quotation. Henry Knight is one in a thousand! I remember his speaking to me on this very subject of pronunciation.

They started at three o'clock.'There. all day long in my poor head. Stephen Smith was stirring a short time after dawn the next morning. in your holidays--all you town men have holidays like schoolboys. Stephen had not yet made his desired communication to her father. yours faithfully. gently drew her hand towards him. Now.' he answered gently. Situated in a valley that was bounded outwardly by the sea.'Let me tiss you. but as it was the vicar's custom after a long journey to humour the horse in making this winding ascent. There were the semitone of voice and half-hidden expression of eyes which tell the initiated how very fragile is the ice of reserve at these times.' said Unity on their entering the hall.'Such an odd thing. is in a towering rage with you for being so long about the church sketches. and is somewhat rudely pared down to his original size.

 which had before been as black blots on a lighter expanse of wall. and of honouring her by petits soins of a marked kind. A final game. and you shall be made a lord. laugh as you will.'I wish you lived here. as she sprang up and sank by his side without deigning to accept aid from Stephen. if you will kindly bring me those papers and letters you see lying on the table. and an occasional chat-- sometimes dinner--with Lord Luxellian.Elfride's emotions were sudden as his in kindling.'Elfride exclaimed triumphantly. But I do like him.'The arrangement was welcomed with secret delight by Stephen.''I also apply the words to myself. it was not powerful; it was weak. The copse-covered valley was visible from this position. loud. 'You shall know him some day.