第13章

Worm,how often have I corrected you for irreverent speaking?

A was very well to look at,but you couldnt sit in the chair nohow.Twas all a-twist withe chair,like the letter Z,directly you sat down upon the chair."Get up,Worm,"says you,when you seed the chair go all a-sway wime.Up you took the chair,and flung en like fire and brimstone to tother 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,"says I,"and I hope you and God will forgie me for saying what you wouldnt."To save your life you couldnt help laughing,sir,at a poor wambler reading your thoughts so plain.Ay,Im as wise as one here and there.

I thought you had better have a practical man to go over the church and tower with you,Mr.Swancourt said to Stephen the following morning,so I got Lord Luxellians permission to send for a man when you came.I told him to be there at ten oclock.

Hes a very intelligent man,and he will tell you all you want to know about the state of the walls.His name is John Smith.

Elfride did not like to be seen again at the church with Stephen.

I will watch here for your appearance at the top of the tower,she said laughingly.I shall see your figure against the sky.

And when I am up there Ill wave my handkerchief to you,Miss Swancourt,said Stephen.In twelve minutes from this present moment,he added,looking at his watch,Ill be at the summit and look out for you.

She went round to the corner of the sbrubbery,whence she could watch him down the slope leading to the foot of the hill on which the church stood.There she saw waiting for him a white spot--a mason in his working clothes.Stephen met this man and stopped.

To her surprise,instead of their moving on to the churchyard,they both leisurely sat down upon a stone close by their meeting-place,and remained as 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--she grew cold with waiting,and shivered.It was not till the end of a quarter of an hour that they began to slowly wend up the hill at a snails pace.

Rude and unmannerly!she said to herself,colouring with pique.

Anybody would think he was in love with that horrid mason instead of with----

The sentence remained unspoken,though not unthought.

She returned to the porch.

Is the man you sent for a lazy,sit-still,do-nothing kind of man?she inquired of her father.

No,he said surprised;quite the reverse.He is Lord Luxellians master-mason,John Smith.

Oh,said Elfride indifferently,and returned towards her bleak station,and waited and shivered again.It was a trifle,after all--a childish thing--looking 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 proportionate to the texture of the object struck as to its own momentum;and she had such a superlative capacity for being wounded that little hits struck her hard.

It was not till the end of half an hour that two figures were seen above the parapet of the dreary old pile,motionless as bitterns on a ruined mosque.Even then Stephen was not true enough to perform what he was so courteous to promise,and he vanished without making a sign.

He returned at midday.Elfride looked vexed when unconscious that his eyes were upon her;when conscious,severe.However,her attitude of coldness had long outlived the coldness itself,and she could no longer utter feigned words of indifference.

Ah,you werent kind to keep me waiting in the cold,and break your promise,she said at last reproachfully,in tones too low for her fathers powers of hearing.

Forgive,forgive me!said Stephen with dismay.I had forgotten--quite forgotten!Something prevented my remembering.

Any further explanation?said Miss Capricious,pouting.

He was silent for a few minutes,and looked askance.

None,he said,with the accent of one who concealed a sin.