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'Only to those! Well, I love you just as much, Stephen, dear Stephen,' she murmured tenderly, 'I do indeed And why should you tell s so impressively? What do they matter to me?'

He held her closer and proceeded: 'What do you think , that is to say?'

'He practises so, I suppose'

'No; he is a er and journey at first After a while she whispered: 'That is a strange idea to me But never ry withyou before?'

'No, not at all Is your mother alive?'

'Yes'

'Is she a nice lady?'

'Very--the best mother in the world Her people had been well-to-do yeomen for centuries, but she was only a dairymaid'

'O Stephen!' came from her in whispered excla after my father married her,' pursued Stephen, without further hesitation 'And I reo to the , and h!'

'No, never--not happy'

'Yes, it was'

'I don't see how happiness could be where the drudgery of dairy-work had to be done for a living--the hands red and chapped, and the shoes cloggedStephen, I do own that it seeh in your youth, and done s of that kind' (Stephen withdrew an inch or two from her side) 'But I DO LOVE YOU just the saain, 'and I don't care anything about the past; and I see that you are all the worthier for having pushed on in the world in such a way'

'It is not ht's, who pushed me'

'Ah, always he--always he!'

'Yes, and properly so Now, Elfride, you see the reason of his teaching me by letter I knew hih inme in classics till he left hoe, and we very seldom met; but he kept up this systeularity I will tell you all the story, but not now There is nothingplaces, persons, and dates' His voice became timidly slow at this point