Six-and-thirty old seat ends, of exquisite
fifteenth-century workmanship, were rapidly decaying in an aisle of
the church; and it became politic to make drawings of their worm-eaten
contours ere they were battered past recognition in the turmoil of the
so-called restoration.

He entered the house at sunset, and the world was pleasant again to
the two fair-haired ones. A momentary pang of disappointment had,
nevertheless, passed through Elfride when she casually discovered that
he had not come that minute post-haste from London, but had reached the
neighbourhood the previous evening. Surprise would have accompanied the
feeling, had she not remembered that several tourists were haunting the
coast at this season, and that Stephen might have chosen to do likewise.

They did little besides chat that evening, Mr. Swancourt beginning to
question his visitor, closely yet paternally, and in good part, on his
hopes and prospects from the profession he had embraced. Stephen gave
vague answers. The next day it rained. In the evening, when twenty-four
hours of Elfride had completely rekindled her admirer's ardour, a game
of chess was proposed between them.

The game had its value in helping on the developments of their future.

Elfride soon perceived that her opponent was but a learner. She next
noticed that he had a very odd way of handling the pieces when castling
or taking a man. Antecedently she would have supposed that the same
performance must be gone through by all players in the same manner; she
was taught by his differing action that all ordinary players, who learn
the game by sight, unconsciously touch the men in a stereotyped way.
This impression of indescribable oddness in Stephen's touch culminated
in speech when she saw him, at the taking of one of her bishops, push it
aside with the taking man instead of lifting it as a preliminary to the
move.

'How strangely you handle the men, Mr. Smith!'

'Do I? I am sorry for that.'

'Oh no--don't be sorry; it is not a matter great enough for sorrow. But
who taught you to play?'

'Nobody, Miss Swancourt,' he said. 'I learnt from a book lent me by my
friend Mr. Knight, the noblest man in the world.'

'But you have seen people play?'

'I have never seen the playing of a single game. This is the first time
I ever had the opportunity of playing with a living opponent. I have
worked out many games from books, and studied the reasons of the
different moves, but that is all