Page:The Yellow Book - 01.djvu/288

leigh, and Mr. Banish.]Ah! here they are. Now, come along; we haven't a moment to lose. Good-bye, Edith.

[Exeunt (after wishing their adieux) Mrs. de Trappe, Mr. Featherleigh, and Mr. Banish, Lord Doldrummond following them.]

Lady Dol.[Stands alone in the middle of the roomy repeating.]Cyril and—Sarah Sparrow! My son and Sarah Sparrow! And he has met her through the one woman for whom I have been wrong enough to forget my prejudices. What a punishment!

[Julia enters cautiously. She is so unusually beautiful that she barely escapes the terrible charge of sublimity. But there is a certain peevishness in her expression which adds a comfortable smack of human nature to her classic features.]

Julia.I thought mamma would never go. I have been hiding in your boudoir ever since I heard she was here.

Lady Dol.Was Cyril with you?

Julia.Oh, no; he has gone out for a walk.

Lady Dol.Tell me, dearest, have you and Cyril had any disagreement lately? Is there any misunderstanding?

Julia.Oh, no.[Sighs.]

Lady Dol.I remember quite well that before I married Herbert he often suffered from the oddest moods of depression. Several times he entreated me to break off the engagement. His affection was so reverential that he feared he was not worthy of me. I assure you I had the greatest difficulty in overcoming his scruples, and persuading him that whatever his faults were I could help him to subdue them.

Julia.But Cyril and I are not engaged. It is all so uncertain, so humiliating.