A Pair of Blue Eyes

e turf in many a

stood the church which was to be the scene of his operations. The lonely edifice was black and bare, cutting up into the sky from the very tip of the hill. It had a square mouldering tower, owning neither battlement nor pinnacle, and seemed a monolithic termination, of one substance with the ridge, rather than a structure raised thereon. Round the chu

made his bedroom was empty, and its occu

mysterious morning scamper. His mouth was a triumph of its class. It was the cleanly-cut, piquantly pursed-up mouth of William Pitt, as represented in the well or little known bust by Nollekens-a mouth which is in itself a y

a girl's lightness, after a tame rabbit she was endeavouring to capture, her strategic intonations of coaxing words alternating with desperate rushes so

spot from the wilderness without; even at this time of the year the grass was luxuriant there. No wind blew inside the p

ng 'Mr. Smith!' Smith proceeded to the study, and found Mr. Swancou

e of gout for more than two years, and it generally goes off the second night

ve been fo

rt e

es

arly, I

was rathe

To the sea, I suppose.

the river as far

l, I suppose such a wild place is a no

her a novelt

med averse to

n hours. But there's no accounting for tastes, and I am glad to see that yours are no mean

d valleys which, on a close inspection, are seen to diversify its surface being left out of the argument. His face was of a tint that never deepened upon his cheeks nor lightened upon his forehead, but remained uniform throughout; the usual neutral salmon-colour of a man who feeds well-not to say t

on this stood stuffed specimens of owls, divers, and gulls, and over them bunches of wheat and barley ears, labelled with the date of the year that produced them. Some cases and shelves, more or less laden with books, the prominent titles of which were Dr. Brown's 'Notes on the Roman

He began to find it necessary to act the part of a fly-w

g his coal-black mare to avoid exerting his foot too much at starting. St

g, 'Ah, I used to be strong enough, but 'tis altered now! Well, there, I'm as ind

ar, as William Worm appeared; whe

ow, as regards that word "esquire." Why, Mr. Smith, that word "esquire" is gone to the

have begun f

'm sorry to

. 'Tis just for all the world like people frying fish: fry, fry, fry, all day long in my poor head, till I don

is a dead silence; but William Worm's is that of peopl

-fizzing as naterel as life,

emarkable,' s

f inestimable value, in their setting of brown alluvium. Stephen walked with the dignity of a man close to the horse's head, Worm stumbled along a stone's throw in the rear, and Elfride was nowhere in particular, yet e

church restoration at all, but it was necessary to do something in self-defence, on account of

en, with the concern deman

nkley. Both the churchwardens are--; there, I won't sa

trange!' sa

in the parish of Sinnerton. However, as to our ow

rust to cir

ust in Providence if we trust at all. But here we are. A w

r trim garden-flowers, which only raise images of people in new black crape and white handkerchiefs coming to tend them; or wheel-marks, which remind us of hearses and mourning coaches; or cypress-bushes, which make a parade of sorrow; or coffin-boards and bones lying behind trees, showing that we are only leaseholders of our graves. No; nothing but long, wild, untutored grass, diversifying the forms of the mounds it covered,-themselves irregularly shaped, with no eye to effect; the impress

ive orders. Stephen and himself were then left in possession, and the work went on till early in the af

during dinner. She looked so intensely LIVING and full of movement as she came into the old silent place, that young Smith's world

etting on with his sketches, and set herself to learn the principles of practical mensuration as applied to irregula

ant over the fro

h, if I tell you something?' she said wi

won't,' said

n he does his own; and then afterwards he talks to people and to me about what he

aid Stephen. 'I couldn't wr

close to him to explain more vividly. 'You do it like this. Did you ev

nev

ey are all my eye. Then you have a final Collectively, several pages of this being put in great black brackets, writing opposite, "LEAVE THIS OUT IF THE FARMERS ARE FALLING ASLEEP." Then comes your In Conclusion, then A Few Words And I Have Done. Well, all this time you

as if warned by womanly instinct, which for the moment her ardour h

f a hoiden; the grace, without the self-consciousness, of a pirouetter. She conversed for a minute or two with her father, and proceeded homeward, Mr. Swancourt coming on to th

to Stephen. 'But she's not a wild child at all, Mr. Smith. As stea

court very clever,

criticism. 'Now, Smith, I'll tell you something; but she mustn't know it for the world-not for the world, mind, for sh

n do an

ry trick of the trade. But, mind you, Smith, n

ord,' sa

o you think of my roofing?' He pointed wi

u do th

e old rafters, fixed the new ones, put on the battens, slated the roof, all with

where. 'Like slaves, 'a b'lieve-hee, hee! And weren't ye foaming mad, sir, when the nails wouldn't go

ll-

on the roof, only used to cuss in your m

know what goes on

can spell as well as some here and there. Doan't ye mind, sir, that blustrous night when ye aske

what o

liked company, if 'twas only a dog or cat-m

I rem

o nohow. 'A was very well

I corrected you for

sway wi' me. Up you took the chair, and flung en like fire and brimstone to t'other end of your shop-all in a passion. "Damn the chair!" says I. "Just what I was thinking," says you, sir. "I could see it in your face, sir

llowing morning, 'so I got Lord Luxellian's permission to send for a man when you came. I told him to be there at ten o'clock.

. 'I will watch here for your appearance at the top of the tower

rt,' said Stephen. 'In twelve minutes from this present moment,' he ad

ope leading to the foot of the hill on which the church stood. There she saw waiting

if in deep conversation. Elfride looked at the time; nine of the twelve minutes had passed, and Stephen showed no signs of moving. More minutes passed-

ouring with pique. 'Anybody would think he was

ined unspoken, th

rned to

sit-still, do-nothing kind of m

the reverse. He is Lord Luxell

king out from a tower and waving a handkerchief. But her new friend had promised, and why should he tease her so? The effect of a blow is as proportiona

dreary old pile, motionless as bitterns on a ruined mosque. Even then Stephen was not true e

on her; when conscious, severe. However, her attitude of coldness had long outlive

and break your promise,' she said at last reproachfull

h dismay. 'I had forgotten-quite forgot

ation?' said Miss C

a few minutes, a

h the accent of one