Episode 9

Miss Elfrides image chose the form in which she was beheld during these minutes of singing,for her permanent attitude of visitation to Stephens eyes during his sleeping and waking hours in after days.The profile is seen of a young woman in a pale gray silk dress with trimmings of swans-down,and opening up from a point in front,like a waistcoat without a shirt;the cool colour contrasting admirably with the warm bloom of her neck and face.

The furthermost candle on the piano comes immediately in a line with her head,and half invisible itself,forms the accidentally frizzled hair into a nebulous haze of light,surrounding her crown like an aureola.Her hands are in their place on the keys,her lips parted,and trilling forth,in a tender diminuendo,the closing words of the sad apostrophe:

O Love,who bewailest The frailty of all things here,Why choose you the frailest For your cradle,your home,and your bier!

Her head is forward a little,and her eyes directed keenly upward to the top of the page of music confronting her.Then comes a rapid look into Stephens face,and a still more rapid look back again to her business,her face having dropped its sadness,and acquired a certain expression of mischievous archness the while;which lingered there for some time,but was never developed into a positive smile of flirtation.

Stephen suddenly shifted his position from her right hand to her left,where there was just room enough for a small ottoman to stand between the piano and the corner of the room.Into this nook he squeezed himself,and gazed wistfully up into Elfrides face.So long and so earnestly gazed he,that her cheek deepened to a more and more crimson tint as each line was added to her song.Concluding,and pausing motionless after the last word for a minute or two,she ventured to look at him again.His features wore an expression of unutterable heaviness.

You dont hear many songs,do you,Mr.Smith,to take so much notice of these of mine?

Perhaps it was the means and vehicle of the song that I was noticing:I mean yourself,he answered gently.

Now,Mr.Smith!

It is perfectly true;I dont hear much singing.You mistake what I am,I fancy.Because I come as a stranger to a secluded spot,you think I must needs come from a life of bustle,and know the latest movements of the day.But I dont.My life is as quiet as yours,and more solitary;solitary as death.

The death which comes from a plethora of life?But seriously,I

can quite see that you are not the least what I thought you would be before I saw you.You are not critical,or experienced,or--

much to mind.Thats why I dont mind singing airs to you that I

only half know.Finding that by this confession she had vexed him in a way she did not intend,she added naively,I mean,Mr.

Smith,that you are better,not worse,for being only young and not very experienced.You dont think my life here so very tame and dull,I know.

I do not,indeed,he said with fervour.It must be delightfully poetical,and sparkling,and fresh,and----

There you go,Mr.Smith!Well,men of another kind,when I get them to be honest enough to own the truth,think just the reverse:

that my life must be a dreadful bore in its normal state,though pleasant for the exceptional few days they pass here.

I could live here always!he said,and with such a tone and look of unconscious revelation that Elfride was startled to find that her harmonies had fired a small Troy,in the shape of Stephens heart.She said quickly:

But you cant live here always.

Oh no.And he drew himself in with the sensitiveness of a snail.

Elfrides emotions were sudden as his in kindling,but the least of womans lesser infirmities--love of admiration--caused an inflammable disposition on his part,so exactly similar to her own,to appear as meritorious in him as modesty made her own seem culpable in her.

Episodes
1 Episode 1
2 Episode 2
3 Episode 3
4 Episode 4
5 Episode 5
6 Episode 6
7 Episode 7
8 Episode 8
9 Episode 9
10 Episode 10
11 Episode 11
12 Episode 12
13 Episode 13
14 Episode 14
15 Episode 15
16 Episode 16
17 Episode 17
18 Episode 18
19 Episode 19
20 Episode 20
21 Episode 21
22 Episode 22
23 Episode 23
24 Episode 24
25 Episode 25
26 Episode 26
27 Episode 27
28 Episode 28
29 Episode 29
30 Episode 30
31 Episode 31
32 Episode 32
33 Episode 33
34 Episode 34
35 Episode 35
36 Episode 36
37 Episode 37
38 Episode 38
39 Episode 39
40 Episode 40
41 Episode 41
42 Episode 42
43 Episode 43
44 Episode 44
45 Episode 45
46 Episode 46
47 Episode 47
48 Episode 48
49 Episode 49
50 Episode 50
51 Episode 51
52 Episode 52
53 Episode 53
54 Episode 54
55 Episode 55
56 Episode 56
57 Episode 57
58 Episode 58
59 Episode 59
60 Episode 60
61 Episode 61
62 Episode 62
63 Episode 63
64 Episode 64
65 Episode 65
66 Episode 66
67 Episode 67
68 Episode 68
69 Episode 69
70 Episode 70
71 Episode 71
72 Episode 72
73 Episode 73
74 Episode 74
75 Episode 75
76 Episode 76
77 Episode 77
78 Episode 78
79 Episode 79
80 Episode 80
81 Episode 81
82 Episode 82
83 Episode 83
84 Episode 84
85 Episode 85
86 Episode 86
87 Episode 87
88 Episode 88
89 Episode 89
90 Episode 90
91 Episode 91
92 Episode 92
93 Episode 93
94 Episode 94
95 Episode 95
96 Episode 96
97 Episode 97
98 Episode 98
99 Episode 99
100 Episode 100
101 Episode 101
102 Episode 102
103 Episode 103
104 Episode 104
105 Episode 105
106 Episode 106
107 Episode 107
108 Episode 108
109 Episode 109
110 Episode 110
111 Episode 111
112 Episode 112
113 Episode 113
114 Episode 114
115 Episode 115
116 Episode 116
117 Episode 117
118 Episode 118
119 Episode 119
120 Episode 120
121 Episode 121
122 Episode 122
123 Episode 123
124 Episode 124
125 Episode 125
126 Episode 126
127 Episode 127
128 Episode 128
129 Episode 129
130 Episode 130
131 Episode 131
132 Episode 132
133 Episode 133
134 Episode 134
135 Episode 135
136 Episode 136
137 Episode 137
138 Episode 138
139 Episode 139
140 Episode 140
141 Episode 141
Episodes

Updated 141 Episodes

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2
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124
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125
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126
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127
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128
Episode 128
129
Episode 129
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Episode 130
131
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132
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133
Episode 133
134
Episode 134
135
Episode 135
136
Episode 136
137
Episode 137
138
Episode 138
139
Episode 139
140
Episode 140
141
Episode 141

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