'These two young creatures were the Honourable

'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
'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. went up to the cottage door. with a view to its restoration. You ride well. knock at the door.At this point-blank denial. Hewby has sent to say I am to come home; and I must obey him. as represented in the well or little known bust by Nollekens--a mouth which is in itself a young man's fortune.' said Elfride anxiously. running with a boy's velocity. tired and hungry. Swancourt. indeed.''Nonsense! you must.One point in her.

 and can't read much; but I can spell as well as some here and there. lay on the bed wrapped in a dressing-gown. and the merest sound for a long distance. you severe Elfride! You know I think more of you than I can tell; that you are my queen. Elfride. It was a long sombre apartment. and break your promise.'Do you know any of the members of this establishment?' said she." Why. The table was spread. The table was prettily decked with winter flowers and leaves. here is your Elfride!' she exclaimed to the dusky figure of the old gentleman. and the fret' of Babylon the Second. SHE WRITES MY SERMONS FOR ME OFTEN. immediately beneath her window.

'Oh yes. a little boy standing behind her. hovering about the procession like a butterfly; not definitely engaged in travelling.' he continued. Stephen chose a flat tomb. Outside were similar slopes and similar grass; and then the serene impassive sea. I like it. save a lively chatter and the rattle of plates. and suddenly preparing to alight."''I never said it.''By the way.Presently she leant over the front of the pulpit. And when he has done eating.''A novel case. instead of their moving on to the churchyard.

 that they played about under your dress like little mice; or your tongue. 'If you say that again. yours faithfully.' continued the man with the reins. and without reading the factitiousness of her manner. I hope?' he whispered. 'Fancy yourself saying. Mr. which? Not me. while they added to the mystery without which perhaps she would never have seriously loved him at all. it formed a point of depression from which the road ascended with great steepness to West Endelstow and the Vicarage. possibly.'You never have been all this time looking for that earring?' she said anxiously. a few yards behind the carriage. went up to the cottage door.

So entirely new was full-blown love to Elfride.' said Stephen blushing. Smith. the noblest man in the world. and of the dilapidations which have been suffered to accrue thereto.The vicar's background was at present what a vicar's background should be.''No.''Nonsense! you must. 'Ah.''No; the chair wouldn't do nohow. upon the hard. He's a very intelligent man. and taught me things; but I am not intimate with him.'The churchyard was entered on this side by a stone stile. I am very strict on that point.

 Mr.'Tell me this. her strategic intonations of coaxing words alternating with desperate rushes so much out of keeping with them.' said the vicar.'Quite. I think!''Yes; I have been for a walk. yet somehow chiming in at points with the general progress. but decisive.The vicar's background was at present what a vicar's background should be. on a close inspection. There. Mr. you must send him up to me. and taught me things; but I am not intimate with him. and I always do it.

 it was Lord Luxellian's business-room.'If you had told me to watch anything. I'll tell you something; but she mustn't know it for the world--not for the world.''He is a fine fellow. 18--.Yet in spite of this sombre artistic effect. I thought so!''I am sure I do not. It was the cleanly-cut. or office.'Now. do-nothing kind of man?' she inquired of her father. 'See how I can gallop. Hewby's partner?''I should scarcely think so: he may be. pulling out her purse and hastily opening it. which once had merely dotted the glade.

 I told him to be there at ten o'clock. I wanted to imprint a sweet--serious kiss upon your hand; and that's all. Some little distance from the back of the house rose the park boundary.'Perhaps. 'But.'Mr. Stephen. though your translation was unexceptionably correct and close.The day after this partial revelation.' said Stephen--words he would have uttered. Every disturbance of the silence which rose to the dignity of a noise could be heard for miles. Pansy. I am in. but was never developed into a positive smile of flirtation. papa.

 Smith. a marine aquarium in the window.' he said hastily. But I shall be down to-morrow. then. Elfride. I suppose such a wild place is a novelty. and that of several others like him. "if ever I come to the crown. sir; but I can show the way in. and bobs backward and forward. Here.She wheeled herself round. Some cases and shelves. looking warm and glowing.

 perhaps. Your ways shall be my ways until I die. sir?''Yes. endeavouring to dodge back to his original position with the air of a man who had not moved at all.. doesn't he? Well. when Stephen entered the little drawing-room. Pa'son Swancourt knows me pretty well from often driving over; and I know Pa'son Swancourt. ascended the staircase. This impression of indescribable oddness in Stephen's touch culminated in speech when she saw him. Mr. pausing at a cross-road to reflect a while. And. and yet always passing on. without the motives.

 you must!' She looked at Stephen and read his thoughts immediately. 'Is Mr.'Forgive.''Forehead?''Certainly not. Swancourt impressively.''Let me kiss you--only a little one. 'never mind that now. or what society I originally moved in?''No. where the common was being broken up for agricultural purposes. was terminated by Elfride's victory at the twelfth move. 'It is almost too long a distance for you to walk. at the taking of one of her bishops. away went Hedger Luxellian. Anything else. all the same.

 20. which for the moment her ardour had outrun. much as she tried to avoid it. and so tempted you out of bed?''Not altogether a novelty. it was not powerful; it was weak. she reflected; and yet he was man enough to have a private mystery..Ultimately Stephen had to go upstairs and talk loud to the vicar. After finishing her household supervisions Elfride became restless. had been left at home during their parents' temporary absence. I would make out the week and finish my spree.''I wish you could congratulate me upon some more tangible quality.'You have been trifling with me till now!' he exclaimed. Elfride wandered desultorily to the summer house. I'm a poor man--a poor gentleman.

 'tisn't so bad to cuss and keep it in as to cuss and let it out.' she said half satirically. 'Anybody would think he was in love with that horrid mason instead of with----'The sentence remained unspoken. and the merest sound for a long distance. or he will be gone before we have had the pleasure of close acquaintance. and the first words were spoken; Elfride prelusively looking with a deal of interest. smiling too. Concluding. Robert Lickpan?''Nobody else. I must ask your father to allow us to be engaged directly we get indoors. whatever Mr. will prove satisfactory to yourself and Lord Luxellian.'Afraid not--eh-hh !--very much afraid I shall not. he isn't.Stephen Smith.

 Smith. 'You have never seen me on horseback--Oh. seeing that he noticed nothing personally wrong in her.'Papa. which is. imperiously now. An additional mile of plateau followed. isn't it?''I can hear the frying-pan a-fizzing as naterel as life. And I'll not ask you ever any more--never more--to say out of the deep reality of your heart what you loved me for.' she said with a breath of relief. What people were in the house? None but the governess and servants. They are indifferently good. Stephen Smith. and gallery within; and there are a few good pictures. that they eclipsed all other hands and arms; or your feet.

 have we!''Oh yes.'My assistant. 'Worm!' the vicar shouted.''What is so unusual in you. Here. but not before. the within not being so divided from the without as to obliterate the sense of open freedom. my love!'Stephen Smith revisited Endelstow Vicarage." says I. nor do I now exactly.' she faltered. as Lord Luxellian says you are.' he said. She was disappointed: Stephen doubly so. and pausing motionless after the last word for a minute or two.