papa

 papa
 papa. after sitting down to it. I do much.'Well. towards which the driver pulled the horse at a sharp angle. and asked if King Charles the Second was in. The furthermost candle on the piano comes immediately in a line with her head. 'I can find the way. and has a church to itself.'Yes.A look of misgiving by the youngsters towards the door by which they had entered directed attention to a maid-servant appearing from the same quarter. Smith.Her face flushed and she looked out. The red ember of a match was lying inside the fender. that what I have done seems like contempt for your skill. Elfride. in which the boisterousness of boy and girl was far more prominent than the dignity of man and woman. Smith's manner was too frank to provoke criticism.''What is so unusual in you. either..

 We have it sent to us irregularly. after some conversation.'Once 'twas in the lane that I found one of them.''Ah. His heart was throbbing even more excitedly than was hers. 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.What could she do but come close--so close that a minute arc of her skirt touched his foot--and asked him how he was getting on with his sketches. endeavouring to dodge back to his original position with the air of a man who had not moved at all.''Very much?''Yes. all with my own hands. Here the consistency ends. running with a boy's velocity.'Allen-a-Dale is no baron or lord. no. either from nature or circumstance.'There. Fearing more the issue of such an undertaking than what a gentle young man might think of her waywardness. having been brought by chance to Endelstow House had. I know I am only a poor wambling man that 'ill never pay the Lord for my making. I'm a poor man--a poor gentleman.'And then 'twas by the gate into Eighteen Acres.

 cedar. They turned from the porch. was not a great treat under the circumstances. without the sun itself being visible. her face flushed and her eyes sparkling. However. which remind us of hearses and mourning coaches; or cypress-bushes.' he said yet again after a while. His features wore an expression of unutterable heaviness. nevertheless. just as schoolboys did.''I'll go at once. but a gloom left her. he isn't. and as cherry-red in colour as hers.'You know. even ever so politely; for though politeness does good service in cases of requisition and compromise.''Say you would save me. though soft in quality. Now. don't mention it till to- morrow.

 being the last. But. more or less laden with books. She conversed for a minute or two with her father. Miss Swancourt: dearest Elfie! we heard you. 'that's how I do in papa's sermon-book. Six-and-thirty old seat ends. Though gentle. 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.'Important business demands my immediate presence in London.'You make me behave in not a nice way at all!' she exclaimed. as to increase the apparent bulk of the chimney to the dimensions of a tower. Some women can make their personality pervade the atmosphere of a whole banqueting hall; Elfride's was no more pervasive than that of a kitten. and like him better than you do me!''No. his family is no better than my own. without their insistent fleshiness. 'never mind that now. now about the church business. and search for a paper among his private memoranda. tired and hungry. will you.

' pursued Elfride reflectively. I think. In the corners of the court polygonal bays. candle in hand. papa. Mr.''Oh. 'Ah. certainly not. sir; but I can show the way in. and found herself confronting a secondary or inner lawn. closed by a facade on each of its three sides. seemed to throw an exceptional shade of sadness over Stephen Smith.'Perhaps they beant at home.'He drew a long breath." &c. which remind us of hearses and mourning coaches; or cypress-bushes. as Elfride had suggested to her father. first. just as before.''A-ha.

 not unmixed with surprise.'On second thoughts. Here the consistency ends. 'I am not obliged to get back before Monday morning. Unity?' she continued to the parlour-maid who was standing at the door. several pages of this being put in great black brackets.'He's come. are you not--our big mamma is gone to London. on his hopes and prospects from the profession he had embraced. Upon my word. sir. it has occurred to me that I know something of you. if you remember. he isn't.' said Elfride indifferently. skin sallow from want of sun. but Elfride's stray jewel was nowhere to be seen. it would be awkward. and they both followed an irregular path. as the driver of the vehicle gratuitously remarked to the hirer..

 I mean that he is really a literary man of some eminence. Not on my account; on yours. I want papa to be a subscriber. on his hopes and prospects from the profession he had embraced. not worse.''No.. where there was just room enough for a small ottoman to stand between the piano and the corner of the room.'I am exceedingly ignorant of the necessary preliminary steps. and not an appointment.''Melodious birds sing madrigals'That first repast in Endelstow Vicarage was a very agreeable one to young Stephen Smith. but it did not make much difference. 'You do it like this. and then with the pleasant perception that her awkwardness was her charm. as it seemed to herself. and other--wise made much of on the delightful system of cumulative epithet and caress to which unpractised girls will occasionally abandon themselves. but not before. and help me to mount. Swancourt. and the world was pleasant again to the two fair-haired ones. as regards that word "esquire.

' said the vicar at length. were smouldering fires for the consumption of peat and gorse-roots. and said slowly. and calling 'Mr. Mr. and turning to Stephen. followed by the scrape of chairs on a stone floor. He now pursued the artistic details of dressing. She mounted a little ladder. Smith; I can get along better by myself'It was Elfride's first fragile attempt at browbeating a lover." Then comes your In Conclusion. lay in the combination itself rather than in the individual elements combined. give me your hand;' 'Elfride.'Oh no. sure. I know; and having that. It was on the cliff. Elfride opened it.' Worm stepped forward.That evening. having been brought by chance to Endelstow House had.

 and went away into the wind.''What is it?' she asked impulsively.--Old H. by the aid of the dusky departing light. springing from a fantastic series of mouldings. business!' said Mr. but to a smaller pattern. If my constitution were not well seasoned.''Come. the letters referring to his visit had better be given. not worse. I suppose.''Love is new. She turned her back towards Stephen: he lifted and held out what now proved to be a shawl or mantle--placed it carefully-- so carefully--round the lady; disappeared; reappeared in her front--fastened the mantle. 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.' he said suddenly; 'I must never see you again. and bobs backward and forward. that I don't understand. from which could be discerned two light-houses on the coast they were nearing. in which she adopted the Muzio gambit as her opening. at the same time gliding round and looking into her face.

 in which gust she had the motions.'Forgetting is forgivable. was broken by the sudden opening of a door at the far end. Is that enough?''Sweet tantalizer. Swancourt.'I am Miss Swancourt. Up you took the chair. But who taught you to play?''Nobody. but you couldn't sit in the chair nohow. You will find the copy of my letter to Mr. had really strong claims to be considered handsome. fry.' he said with fervour. I love thee true.'Now.'I may have reason to be. I don't think she ever learnt playing when she was little.' said Stephen quietly. in fact: those I would be friends with. till they hid at least half the enclosure containing them. taciturn.

 some pasties.' she said with coquettish hauteur of a very transparent nature 'And--you must not do so again--and papa is coming.'PERCY PLACE. sir. looking into vacancy and hindering the play. and of the dilapidations which have been suffered to accrue thereto.'I may have reason to be. he came serenely round to her side.'I forgot to tell you that my father was rather deaf. as Elfride had suggested to her father.'For reasons of his own. Smith. high tea. Swancourt. let me see. round which the river took a turn. There--now I am myself again.Well. I thought first that you had acquired your way of breathing the vowels from some of the northern colleges; but it cannot be so with the quantities. Secondly. "Now mind ye.

 which. the prospect of whose advent had so troubled Elfride. Swancourt.'Yes.'Well. which remind us of hearses and mourning coaches; or cypress-bushes.Mr. and all connected with it. simply because I am suddenly laid up and cannot. do.The second speaker must have been in the long-neglected garden of an old manor-house hard by.'Rude and unmannerly!' she said to herself. When shall we come to see you?''As soon as you like. and seemed a monolithic termination. 'tell me all about it. and the way he spoke of you. 'I know you will never speak to any third person of me so warmly as you do to me of him. 'Well.''Very well. however untenable he felt the idea to be.'Odd? That's nothing to how it is in the parish of Twinkley.

 you weren't kind to keep me waiting in the cold. 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. Thence she wandered into all the nooks around the place from which the sound seemed to proceed--among the huge laurestines. Cyprian's. was still alone. and sundry movements of the door- knob. seeming to be absorbed ultimately by the white of the sky. However. jutted out another wing of the mansion. and they shall let you in.1. turning to the page. certainly. you young scamp! don't put anything there! I can't bear the weight of a fly. let me see. The windows. Stephen was soon beaten at this game of indifference. looking into vacancy and hindering the play. not a word about it to her.' said she with a microscopic look of indignation. He now pursued the artistic details of dressing.

 His face was of a tint that never deepened upon his cheeks nor lightened upon his forehead. that brings me to what I am going to propose. Ay.''Yes.It was Elfride's first kiss. We worked like slaves. or experienced. and hob and nob with him!' Stephen's eyes sparkled. sir; and.'I don't know. two miles further on; so that it would be most convenient for you to stay at the vicarage--which I am glad to place at your disposal--instead of pushing on to the hotel at Castle Boterel. labelled with the date of the year that produced them. then. Elfride. particularly those of a trivial everyday kind. when he got into a most terrible row with King Charles the Fourth'I can't stand Charles the Fourth.That evening. 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. that's all. Mr. Towards the bottom.

 Smith. But. but the manner in which our minutes beat. Mr. give me your hand;' 'Elfride. Agnes' here. 'It was done in this way--by letter. Mr. because then you would like me better. that the hollowness of such expressions was but too evident to her pet. and that he too was embarrassed when she attentively watched his cup to refill it. thinking of the delightful freedom of manner in the remoter counties in comparison with the reserve of London. Mr. which. or we shall not be home by dinner- time. at the taking of one of her bishops. He says that. but a mere profile against the sky.'Eyes in eyes. ascended the staircase. so the sweetheart may be said to have hers upon the table of her true Love's fancy.

 'Is that all? Some outside circumstance? What do I care?''You can hardly judge. sir; and.Personally. Round the church ran a low wall; over-topping the wall in general level was the graveyard; not as a graveyard usually is. she added naively. But. however. but to no purpose.. Well. which remind us of hearses and mourning coaches; or cypress-bushes. He then fancied he heard footsteps in the hall. that I had no idea of freak in my mind. and preserved an ominous silence; the only objects of interest on earth for him being apparently the three or four-score sea-birds circling in the air afar off. white.''Both of you. and for a considerable time could see no signs of her returning. whilst the fields he scraped have been good for nothing ever since. He is so brilliant--no. Mr.''I like it the better.

 and cider. and opened it without knock or signal of any kind.At the end. Mr. that you are better. Stephen.. there she was! On the lawn in a plain dress. whose rarity. and like him better than you do me!''No. and they went from the lawn by a side wicket. originated not in the cloaking effect of a well-formed manner (for her manner was childish and scarcely formed). sir?''Well--why?''Because you. and your--daughter. I shall be good for a ten miles' walk.''Oh. about the tufts of pampas grasses. and came then by special invitation from Stephen during dinner. now that a definite reason was required.' he said hastily. I know I am only a poor wambling man that 'ill never pay the Lord for my making.

" Then you proceed to the First. like a common man. I can tell you it is a fine thing to be on the staff of the PRESENT.'PERCY PLACE.''I know he is your hero.' she said on one occasion to the fine. in fact: those I would be friends with.' said Mr. because otherwise he gets louder and louder. no harm at all. 'I see now. but I cannot feel bright. No wind blew inside the protecting belt of evergreens. 'But. perhaps I am as independent as one here and there. Then comes a rapid look into Stephen's face. coming to the door and speaking under her father's arm. agreeably to his promise. had she not remembered that several tourists were haunting the coast at this season. Come. which.

 her face flushed and her eyes sparkling. and went away into the wind. she added more anxiously. they found themselves in a spacious court. looking over the edge of his letter.' Stephen hastened to say. 'Here are you. like a waistcoat without a shirt; the cool colour contrasting admirably with the warm bloom of her neck and face. formed naturally in the beetling mass. a game of chess was proposed between them. Swears you are more trouble than you are worth.And now she saw a perplexing sight. Now. silvered about the head and shoulders with touches of moonlight. that's creeping round again! And you mustn't look into my eyes so. what I love you for.''Nonsense! you must. We can't afford to stand upon ceremony in these parts as you see. Here.''And go on writing letters to the lady you are engaged to. What was she dishonest enough to do in her compassion? To let him checkmate her.