A Pair of Blue Eyes

igh in tuf

breakfa

nrelieved shades of gray. The long-armed trees and shrubs of juniper, cedar, and pine varieties, were grayish black; those of the broad-leaved sort, together

one which tended to lower the spirits. It was even cheering. For

and was idly elevating a hand-screen before her fac

ugh an opening in the shrubbery and across the lawn. She vanished, and m

ok here, one of yours is from-whom do you think?-Lord Luxellian. And it has something HARD in

. He handed Stephen his letter, and took his own, putting on his countenance a higher class of

with a countenance quite

CE, Thursd

in a towering rage wi

hes. Swears you are mo

o write and say you a

he would have done it

you were not like an e

t did not make much dif

f I were you I would no

clined to return. I wou

ll blow up just as muc

p away till Monday mor

INS JE

f confusion that assails an understrapper when he has been enlarged by accident to

ard?' said Mi

animity, and with it the professiona

immediate presence in London,

ing over the edge of his letter. 'Important business?

ded even so slightly to a consequence which did not belong to him,-'the tr

is partner. I booked you for that directly I read his letter to me the other day, and the way he sp

r untenable he felt the idea to be. He saw that, whatever Mr. Hewby might think, Mr. Swancourt certainly thought much of him to entertain such an idea on such slender ground as to be absolute

that look of his; even M

own account; not on business. Come to see me as a visitor, you know-say, in

ust, I

glad to get somebody decent to talk to, or at, in this outlandish ulti

esitatingly. 'I am not obliged t

is a letter from Lord Luxellian. I think you heard me speak of him as

ow of

d taken Lady Luxellian with him. He has written to ask me to go to his house, and

in the letter?'

ernoon of it-all three of us. Go for a drive to Targan Bay, come home by way of Endelstow House; and whilst I am looking over the documents you can ramble about the rooms where you like. I ha

e are,' sa

seen the p

I came by,' h

t park for two miles on a wet morning is not at all the thing. If my constitution were not well seasoned, as thank God it is,'-here Mr. Swancourt looked down his front, as if his constitution were visible there,-'I sho

to go and take a few final measurements at the church, the vicar follow

having family prayer this mo

e so,' sai

per thing to do, and I always do it. I am very strict on that point. But you, Smith, there is something in your face which makes me feel quite at home; no nonsense about you, in shor

ory?' said young

d-too bad! Couldn't tell

ing the vicar chuckling privately

un itself being visible. Lightly they trotted along-the wheels nearly silent, the horse's hoofs clapping, almost ringing, upon the hard, w

in which not twenty consecutive yards were either straight or level, to the domain of Lord Luxellian. A woman with

nd hastily opening it. From the interior of her purse a host of bits of paper, like

!' said Stephen w

?' said Mr. Swancourt. 'Not h

hen leapt out, and, assisted by the lodge-keeper's little boy, crept about round the wheels and horse

d, as they bowled along up the sycamore avenue. 'And so I may

ng at the confession, much

. Swancourt half listening, and catching

of the fifteenth century. Such writing is o

e! If a highwayman were to r

n is, that I mostly write bits of it on scraps of paper wh

th your romance when you hav

ied, and turned her head

a facade on each of its three sides. The substantial portions of the existing building dated from the reign of Henry VIII.; but the picturesque and sheltered spot had been the site of an erection of a much earlier date. A

nt variety. Tall octagonal and twisted chimneys thrust themselves high up into the sky, surpassed in height, however, by some poplars and sycamores at the back, which showed their gently rocking summits over ridge and parapet. In the corners of the court

dmitted to the library, and left entirely to themselves. Mr. Swancourt was soon up to his eyes in the examination of a heap of papers he had

n the walls of the mansion. Pilasters of Renaissance workmanship supported a cornice from which sprang a curved ceiling, panelled in the awkward twists and curls of the

society of Luxellian shades of cadaverous complexion fixed by Holbein, Kneller, and Lely, and seeming to gaze at and through her

sed. Their eyes were sparkling; their hair swinging about a

you going to stay here? You are our little mamma, ar

, in appearance very much like th

intermingled with the folds of Elfride's dress;

aken it into their heads lately to call me "little mamma," because I am very fon

the only two children of Lord and Lady Luxellian, and, as it proved, had been left at home during their parents' temporary absence, in the custody of nurse and governess

established rule, that whenever she met them-indoors or out-of-doors, weekdays or Sundays-they were to be severally pressed against her face and bosom for the space of a

tered directed attention to a maid-servant appearing from the same quarter,

ss Swancourt,' piped one l

'Mamma can't play with us so nicely as you do. I don't think she eve

as you li

y coming to see you. I don't care to see people with hat

mission you shall come and stay as

On looking around for him he was nowhere to be seen. Elfride stepped down to the library, thinking he might have rejoined her father there. But

rch for him that youthful impulsiveness prompted, and as, nevertheless, for a nascent reason connected with those divinely cut lips of his, she did not like h

ds light spaces beyond that anything or anybody could be discerned therein. One of these light spots she found to be caused by a side-door with glass pan

door, jutted out another wing of the mansion, lower and with less architectural character. Immediately opposite to her, in th

. Then another shadow appeared-also in profile-and came close to him. This was the shadow of a woman. She turned her back towards Stephen: he lifted and held out what now proved to be a shawl or mantle-placed it carefully-so ca

nutes

I was looking for you,' said a voice at her elb

he members of this es

ne: how should