red
conjunction. She spoke to Stephen privately.

'I am above having such people here, Stephen; but what could I do? And
your father is so rough in his nature that he's more mixed up with them
than need be.'

'Never mind, mother,' said Stephen; 'I'll put up with it now.'

'When we leave my lord's service, and get further up the country--as
I hope we shall soon--it will be different. We shall be among fresh
people, and in a larger house, and shall keep ourselves up a bit, I
hope.'

'Is Miss Swancourt at home, do you know?' Stephen inquired

'Yes, your father saw her this morning.'

'Do you often see her?'

'Scarcely ever. Mr. Glim, the curate, calls occasionally, but the
Swancourts don't come into the village now any more than to drive
through it. They dine at my lord's oftener than they used. Ah, here's a
note was brought this morning for you by a boy.'

Stephen eagerly took the note and opened it, his mother watching him. He
read what Elfride had written and sent before she started for the cliff
that afternoon:

'Yes; I will meet you in the church at nine to-night.--E. S.'

'I don't know, Stephen,' his mother said meaningly, 'whe'r you still
think about Miss Elfride, but if I were you I wouldn't concern about
her. They say that none of old Mrs. Swancourt's money will come to her
step-daughter.'

'I see the evening has turned out fine; I am going out for a little
while to look round the place,' he said, evading the direct query.
'Probably by the time I return our visitors will be gone, and we'll have
a more confidential talk.'

Chapter XXIV

'Breeze, bird, and flower confess the hour.'

The rain had ceased since the sunset, but it was a cloudy night; and
the light of the moon, softened and dispersed by its misty veil, was
distributed over the land in pale gray.

A dark figure stepped from the doorway of John Smith's river-side
cottage, and strode rapidly towards West Endelstow with a light
footstep. Soon ascending from the lower levels he turned a corner,
followed a cart-track, and saw the tower of the church he was in quest
of distinctly shaped forth against the sky. In less than half an hour
from the time of starting he swung himself over the churchyard stile.

The wild irregular enclosure was as much as ever an integral part of the
old hill. The grass was still long, the graves were shaped precisely as
passing years chose to alter them from their orthodox form as laid down
by Ma