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1"To see him is to worship him; to know him is to trust him." "Sibyl, you are mad about him." She laughed and took his
2arm. "You dear old Jim, you talk as if you were a hundred. Some day you will be in love yourself. Then you will know
3what it is. Don't look so sulky. Surely you should be glad to think that, though you are going away, you leave me
4happier than I have ever been before. Life has been hard for us both, terribly hard and difficult. But it will be
5different now. You are going to a new world, and I have found one. Here are two chairs; let us sit down and see the
6smart people go by." They took their seats amidst a crowd of watchers. The tulip-beds across the road flamed like
7throbbing rings of fire. A white dust--tremulous cloud of orris-root it seemed--hung in the panting air. The brightly
8coloured parasols danced and dipped like monstrous butterflies. She made her brother talk of himself, his hopes, his
9prospects. He spoke slowly and with effort. They passed words to each other as players at a game pass counters. Sibyl
10felt oppressed. She could not communicate her joy. A faint smile curving that sullen mouth was all the echo she could
11win. After some time she became silent. Suddenly she caught a glimpse of golden hair and laughing lips, and in an open
12carriage with two ladies Dorian Gray drove past. She started to her feet. "There he is!" she cried. "Who?" said Jim
13Vane. "Prince Charming," she answered, looking after the victoria. He jumped up and seized her roughly by the arm. "Show
14him to me. Which is he? Point him out. I must see him!" he exclaimed; but at that moment the Duke of Berwick's
15four-in-hand came between, and when it had left the space clear, the carriage had swept out of the park. "He is gone,"
16murmured Sibyl sadly. "I wish you had seen him." "I wish I had, for as sure as there is a God in heaven, if he ever does
17you any wrong, I shall kill him." She looked at him in horror. He repeated his words. They cut the air like a dagger.
18The people round began to gape. A lady standing close to her tittered. "Come away, Jim; come away," she whispered. He
19followed her doggedly as she passed through the crowd. He felt glad at what he had said. When they reached the Achilles
20Statue, she turned round. There was pity in her eyes that became laughter on her lips. She shook her head at him. "You
21are foolish, Jim, utterly foolish; a bad-tempered boy, that is all. How can you say such horrible things? You don't know
22what you are talking about. You are simply jealous and unkind. Ah! I wish you would fall in love. Love makes people
23good, and what you said was wicked." "I am sixteen," he answered, "and I know what I am about. Mother is no help to you.
24She doesn't understand how to look after you. I wish now that I was not going to Australia at all. I have a great mind
25to chuck the whole thing up. I would, if my articles hadn't been signed." "Oh, don't be so serious, Jim. You are like
26one of the heroes of those silly melodramas Mother used to be so fond of acting in. I am not going to quarrel with you.
27I have seen him, and oh! to see him is perfect happiness. We won't quarrel. I know you would never harm any one I love,
28would you?" "Not as long as you love him, I suppose," was the sullen answer. "I shall love him for ever!" she cried.
29"And he?" "For ever, too!" "He had better." She shrank from him. Then she laughed and put her hand on his arm. He was
30merely a boy. At the Marble Arch they hailed an omnibus, which left them close to their shabby home in the Euston Road.
31It was after five o'clock, and Sibyl had to lie down for a couple of hours before acting. Jim insisted that she should
32do so. He said that he would sooner part with her when their mother was not present. She would be sure to make a scene,
33and he detested scenes of every kind. In Sybil's own room they parted. There was jealousy in the lad's heart, and a
34fierce murderous hatred of the stranger who, as it seemed to him, had come between them. Yet, when her arms were flung
35round his neck, and her fingers strayed through his hair, he softened and kissed her with real affection. There were
36tears in his eyes as he went downstairs. His mother was waiting for him below. She grumbled at his unpunctuality, as he
37entered. He made no answer, but sat down to his meagre meal. The flies buzzed round the table and crawled over the
38stained cloth. Through the rumble of omnibuses, and the clatter of street-cabs, he could hear the droning voice
39devouring each minute that was left to him. After some time, he thrust away his plate and put his head in his hands. He
40felt that he had a right to know. It should have been told to him before, if it was as he suspected. Leaden with fear,
41his mother watched him. Words dropped mechanically from her lips. A tattered lace handkerchief twitched in her fingers.
42When the clock struck six, he got up and went to the door. Then he turned back and looked at her. Their eyes met. In
43hers he saw a wild appeal for mercy. It enraged him. "Mother, I have something to ask you," he said. Her eyes wandered
44vaguely about the room. She made no answer. "Tell me the truth. I have a right to know. Were you married to my father?"
45She heaved a deep sigh. It was a sigh of relief. The terrible moment, the moment that night and day, for weeks and
46months, she had dreaded, had come at last, and yet she felt no terror. Indeed, in some measure it was a disappointment
47to her. The vulgar directness of the question called for a direct answer. The situation had not been gradually led up
48to. It was crude. It reminded her of a bad rehearsal. "No," she answered, wondering at the harsh simplicity of life. "My
49father was a scoundrel then!" cried the lad, clenching his fists. She shook her head. "I knew he was not free. We loved
50each other very much. If he had lived, he would have made provision for us. Don't speak against him, my son. He was your
51father, and a gentleman. Indeed, he was highly connected." An oath broke from his lips. "I don't care for myself," he
52exclaimed, "but don't let Sibyl.... It is a gentleman, isn't it, who is in love with her, or says he is? Highly
53connected, too, I suppose." For a moment a hideous sense of humiliation came over the woman. Her head drooped. She wiped
54her eyes with shaking hands. "Sibyl has a mother," she murmured; "I had none." The lad was touched. He went towards her,
55and stooping down, he kissed her. "I am sorry if I have pained you by asking about my father," he said, "but I could not
56help it. I must go now. Good-bye. Don't forget that you will have only one child now to look after, and believe me that
57if this man wrongs my sister, I will find out who he is, track him down, and kill him like a dog. I swear it." The
58exaggerated folly of the threat, the passionate gesture that accompanied it, the mad melodramatic words, made life seem
59more vivid to her. She was familiar with the atmosphere. She breathed more freely, and for the first time for many
60months she really admired her son. She would have liked to have continued the scene on the same emotional scale, but he
61cut her short. Trunks had to be carried down and mufflers looked for. The lodging-house drudge bustled in and out. There
62was the bargaining with the cabman. The moment was lost in vulgar details. It was with a renewed feeling of
63disappointment that she waved the tattered lace handkerchief from the window, as her son drove away. She was conscious
64that a great opportunity had been wasted. She consoled herself by telling Sibyl how desolate she felt her life would be,
65now that she had only one child to look after. She remembered the phrase. It had pleased her. Of the threat she said
66nothing. It was vividly and dramatically expressed. She felt that they would all laugh at it some day.
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