by L. T. Meade
CHAPTER II
Sibyl skipped down to the drawing-room with her spirits brimful ofhappiness. She opened the door wide and danced in.
"Here I come," she cried, "here I come, buttercups and daisies andviolets and me." She looked from one parent to the other, held out herflowing short skirts with each dimpled hand, and danced across theroom.
Mrs. Ogilvie had tears in her eyes; she had just come to thesentimental part of her quarrel. At sight of the child she rosehastily, and walked to the window. Philip Ogilvie went down the room,put both his hands around Sibyl's waist, and lifted her to a levelwith his shoulders.
"What a fairy-like little girl this is!" he cried.
"You are Spring come to cheer us up."
"I am glad," whispered Sibyl; "but let me down, please, father, I wantto kiss mother."
Mr. Ogilvie dropped her to the ground. She ran up to her mother.
"Father says I am Spring, look at me," she said, and she gazed intothe beautiful, somewhat sullen face of her parent.
Mrs. Ogilvie had hoped that Sibyl would not notice her tears, butSibyl, gentle as she looked, had the eyes of a hawk.
"Something is fretting my ownest mother," she whispered under herbreath, and then she took her mother's soft hand and covered it withkisses. After kissing it, she patted it, and then she returned to herfather's side.
Neither Mr. nor Mrs. Ogilvie knew why, but as soon as Sibyl enteredthe room it seemed ridiculous for them to quarrel. Mrs. Ogilvie turnedwith an effort, said something kind to her husband, he respondedcourteously, then the dinner gong sounded, and the three entered thedining-room.
It was one of the customs of the house that Sibyl, when they dinedalone, should always sit with her parents during this hour. Mrs.Ogilvie objected to the plan, urging that it was very bad for thechild. But Ogilvie thought otherwise, and notwithstanding all themother's objections the point was carried. A high chair was placed forSibyl next her father, and she occupied it evening after evening,nibbling a biscuit from the dessert, and airing her views in acomplacent way on every possible subject under the sun.
"I call Miss Winstead crosspatch now," she said on this occasion. "Sheis more cranky than you think. She is, really, truly, father."
"You must not talk against your governess, Sibyl," said her motherfrom the other end of the table.
"Oh, let her speak out to us, my dear," said the father. "What wasMiss Winstead cross about to-day, Sibyl?"
"Spelling, as usual," said Sibyl briefly, "but more special 'cos LordJesus made me pretty."
"Hush!" said the mother again.
Sibyl glanced at her father. There was a twinkle of amusement in hiseyes which he could scarcely keep back.
"My dear," he said, addressing his wife, "do you think Miss Winsteadis just the person----"
"I beg of you, Philip," interrupted the mother, "not to speak of thechild's teacher before her face. Sibyl, I forbid you to make unkindremarks."
"It's 'cos they're both so perfect," thought Sibyl, "but it's hard onme not to be able to 'splain things. If I can't, what is to be done?"
She munched her biscuit sorrowfully, and looked with steadfast eyesacross the room. She supposed she would have to endure Miss Winstead,crosspatch as she was, and she did not enjoy the task which mother andLord Jesus had set her.
The footman was in the act of helping Mr. Ogilvie to champagne, andSibyl paused in her thoughts to watch the frothy wine as it filledthe glass.
"Is it nice?" she inquired.
"Very nice, Sibyl. Would you like to taste it?"
"No, thank you, father. Nurse says if you drink wine when you're alittle girl, you grow up to be drunk as a hog."
"My dear Sibyl," cried the mother, "I really must speak to nurse. Whata disgraceful thing to say!"
"Let us turn the subject," said the father.
Sibyl turned it with a will.
"I 'spect I ought to 'fess to you," she said. "I was cross myselfto-day. Seems to me I'm not getting a bit perfect. I stamped my footwhen Miss Winstead made me write all my spelling over again. Father,is it necessary for a little girl to spell long words?"
"You would not like to put wrong spelling into your letters to me,would you?" was the answer.
"I don't think I'd much care," said Sibyl, with a smile. "You'd knowwhat I meant, wouldn't you, whether I spelt the words right or not?All the same," she added, "I'll spell right if you wish it--I mean,I'll try."
"That's a good girl. Now tell me what else you did naughty?"
"When Sibyl talks about her sins, would it not be best for her to doso in private?" said the mother again.
"But this is private," said Mr. Ogilvie, "only her father and mother."
Mrs. Ogilvie glanced at a footman who stood not far off, and who wasin vain endeavoring to suppress a smile.
"I washed my doll's clothes, although nurse told me not," continuedSibyl, "and I made a mess in the night nursery. I spilt the water andwetted my pinny, and I _would_ open the window, although it wasraining. I ran downstairs, too, and asked Watson to give me a macaroonbiscuit. He wasn't to blame--Watson wasn't."
The unfortunate footman whose name was now introduced hastily turnedhis back, but his ears looked very red as he arranged some glasses onthe sideboard.
"Father," whispered Sibyl, "do you know that Watson has got asweetheart, and----"
"Hush! hush!" said Mr. Ogilvie, "go on with your confessions."
"They're rather sad, aren't they, father? Now I come to think of it,they are very, very sad. I didn't do one right thing to-day 'cept tomake myself pretty. Miss Winstead was so angry, and so was nurse, butwhen I am with them I don't mind a bit being naughty. I wouldn't be aflabby good girl for all the world."
"Oh, Angel, what is to become of you?" said her father.
Sibyl looked full at him, her eyes sparkled, then a curious changecame into them. He was good--perfect; it was lovely to think of it,but she felt sure that she could never be perfect like that. All thesame, she did not want to pain him. She slipped her small hand intohis, and presently she whispered:
"I'll do anything in all the world to please you and mother and LordJesus."
"That is right," said the father, who gave a swift thought at themoment to the temptation which he knew was already on its way, andwhich he would never yield to but for the sake of the child.
The rest of the dinner proceeded without many more remarks, andimmediately afterwards Sibyl kissed both her parents and wentupstairs.
"Good-night, little Spring," said her father, and there was a note ofpain in his voice.
She gave him an earnest hug, and then she whispered--
"Is it 'cos I'm a wicked girl you're sad?"
"No," he answered, "you are not wicked, my darling; you are the best,the sweetest in all the world."
"Oh, no, father," answered Sibyl, "that is not true. I am not the bestnor the sweetest, and I wouldn't like to be too good, 'cept for you.Good-night, darling father."
Mr. and Mrs. Ogilvie returned to the drawing-room.
"You spoil that child," said the wife, "but it is on a par witheverything else you do. You have no perception of what is right. Idon't pretend to be a good mother, but I don't talk nonsense to Sibyl.She ought not to speak about nurse and governess before servants, andit is disgraceful of her to drag the footman and his concerns into theconversation at dinner. She ought not, also, to boast about doingnaughty things."
"I wish you would leave the child alone," said Ogilvie in an annoyedvoice; "she is good enough for me, little pet, and I would not haveher altered for the world. But now, Mildred, to return to our cause ofdissension before dinner, we must get this matter arranged. What doyou mean to do about your invitation to Grayleigh Manor?"
"I have given you my views on that subject, Philip; I am going."
"I would much rather you did not."
"I am sorry." Mrs. Ogilvie shrugged her shoulders. "I am willing toplease you in all reasonable matters; this is unreasonable, thereforeI shall take my own way."
"It is impossible for me to accompany you."
"I can live without you for a few days, and I shall take the child."
"Sibyl! No, I do not wish it."
"I fear you must put up with it. I have written to say that Sibyl andI will go down on Saturday."
Ogilvie, who had been seated, now rose, and went to the window. Helooked out with a dreary expression on his face.
"You know as well as I do the reasons why it would be best for you notto go to Grayleigh Manor at present," he said. "You can easily writeto give an excuse. Remember, we were both asked, and the fact that Icannot leave town is sufficient reason for you to decline."
"I am going," said Mrs. Ogilvie. Her eyes, which were large and dark,flashed with defiance. Ogilvie looked at her with a frown between hisbrows.
"Is that your last word?" he inquired.
"It is, I go on Saturday. If you were not so disagreeable anddisobliging you could easily come with me, but you never do anythingto please me."
"Nor you to please me, Mildred," he was about to say, but herestrained himself. After a pause he said gently, "There is one thingthat makes the situation almost unbearable."
"And what is that?" she asked.
"The attitude of little Sibyl toward us both. She thinks us--Mildred,she thinks us perfect. What will happen to the child when her eyes areopened?"
"Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof," was Mrs. Ogilvie'sflippant remark. "But that attitude is much encouraged by you. Youmake her morbid and sensitive."
"Morbid! Sibyl morbid! There never was a more open-hearted, frank,healthy creature. Did you not hear her say at dinner that she wouldnot be a flabby good girl for anything? Now, I must tell you thatperhaps wrong as that speech was, it rejoiced my heart."
"And it sickened me," said Mrs. Ogilvie. "You do everything in yourpower to make her eccentric. Now, I don't wish to have an eccentricdaughter. I wish to have a well brought up girl, who will be goodwhile she is young, speak properly, not make herself in any wayremarkable, learn her lessons, and make a successful _debut_ inSociety, all in due course."
"With a view, doubtless, to a brilliant marriage," added the husband,bitterly.
"I am going to knock all of this nonsense out of Sibyl," was hiswife's answer, "and I mean to begin it when we get to GrayleighManor."
Mrs. Ogilvie had hardly finished her words before an angry bang at thedrawing-room door told her that her husband had left her.
Ogilvie went to his smoking-room at the other end of the hall. Therehe paced restlessly up and down. His temples were beating, and thepain at his heart was growing worse.
The postman's ring was heard, and the footman, Watson, entered with aletter.
Ogilvie had expected this letter, and he knew what its purport wouldbe. He only glanced at the writing, threw it on the table near, andresumed his walk up and down.
"It is the child," he thought. "She perplexes me and she tempts me.Never was there a sweeter decoy duck to the verge of ruin. Poor littleinnocent white Angel! Her attitude toward her mother and me issometimes almost maddening. Mildred wants to take that little innocentlife and mould it after her own fashion. But, after all, am I anybetter than Mildred? If I yield to this"--he touched the letter withhis hand--"I shall sweep in gold, and all money anxieties will be laidto rest. Little Sib will be rich by-and-by. This is a big thing, andif I do it I shall see my way to clearing off those debts whichMildred's extravagance, and doubtless my own inclination, have causedme to accumulate. Whatever happens Sibyl will be all right; and yet--Idon't care for wealth, but Mildred does, and the child will be betterfor money. Money presents a shield between a sensitive heart likeSibyl's and the world. Yes, I am tempted. Sibyl tempts me."
He thrust the letter into a drawer, locked the drawer, put the key inhis pocket, and ran up to Sibyl's nursery. She was asleep, and therewas no one else in the room. The blinds were down at the windows, andthe nursery, pretty, dainty, sweet, and fresh, was in shadow.
Ogilvie stepped softly across the room, and drew up the blind. Themoonlight now came in, and shed a silver bar of light across thechild's bed. Sibyl lay with her golden hair half covering the pillow,her hands and arms flung outside the bedclothes.
"Good-night, little darling," said her father. He bent over her, andpressed a light kiss upon her cheek. Feather touch as it was, itaroused the child. She opened her big blue eyes.
"Oh, father, is that you?" she cried in a voice of rapture.
"Yes, it is I. I came to wish you good-night."
"You are good, you never forget," said Sibyl. She clasped her armsround his neck. "I went to bed without saying my prayers. May I saythem now to you?"
"Not for worlds," it was the man's first impulse to remark, but hechecked himself. "Of course, dear," he said.
Sibyl raised herself to a kneeling posture. She clasped her soft armsround her father's neck.
"Pray God forgive me for being naughty to-day," she began, "and prayGod make me better to-morrow, 'cos it will please my darlingest fatherand mother; and I thank you, God, so much for making them good, verygood, and without sin. Pray God forgive Sibyl, and try to make herbetter.
"Now, father, you're pleased," continued the little girl. "It was veryhard to say that, because really, truly, I don't want to be better,but I'll try hard if it pleases you."
"Yes, Sibyl, try hard," said her father, "try very hard to be good.Don't let goodness go. Grasp it tight with both hands and never let itgo. So may God indeed help you." Ogilvie said these words in astrained voice. Then he covered her up in bed, drew down the blinds,and left her.
"He's fretted; it's just 'cos the world is so wicked, and 'cos I'm notas good as I ought to be," thought the child. A moment later she hadfallen asleep with a smile on her face.
Ogilvie went to his club. There he wrote a short letter. It ran asfollows:--
"MY DEAR GRAYLEIGH,--
"Your offer was not unexpected. I thought it over even before it came, and I have considered it since. Although I am fully aware of the money advantages it holds out to me I have decided to decline it. Frankly, I cannot undertake to assay the Lombard Deeps Gold Mine, although your offer has been a great temptation. No doubt you will find another man more suited for your purpose.
"Yours sincerely, "PHILIP OGILVIE."
It was between one and two that same night that Ogilvie let himself inwith his latchkey.
His wife had been to one or two receptions, and had not yet gone tobed. She was standing in the hall, looking radiant as he had seldomseen her. She was dressed beautifully, and her hair and neck werecovered with diamonds.
"What," he cried, "up still, Mildred? You ought to be in bed."
He did not give her any glance of admiration, beautiful as sheappeared. He shivered slightly with a movement which she did notnotice as she stood before him, the lamplight falling all over herlovely dress and figure.
"I am so glad you have come back, Phil," she said. "I shall sleepbetter now that I have seen you. I hear that Lord Grayleigh hasoffered you the post of engineer on the board of the Lombard DeepsMine Company."
Ogilvie did not answer. After a moment's pause he said in a sullentone--
"Had you not better go to bed? It is much too late for you to be up."
"What does that matter? I am far too excited to sleep, and it is wrongof you to keep things of moment from your wife. This offer means alarge addition to our income. Why, Phil, Phil, we can buy a countryplace now; we can do, oh! so many things. We can pay those terribledebts that worry you. What is the matter? Aren't you pleased? Why doyou frown at me? And you are pale, are you ill?"
"Come into my smoking-room," he said, gravely. He took her hand and,drawing her in, switched on the electric light. Then he turned hiswife round and looked full at her.
"This will make a great difference in our position," she said. Hereyes were sparkling, her cheeks were flushed, her pearly teeth showedbetween her parted lips.
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"What do you mean by our position?" he said.
"You know perfectly well that we have not money enough to keep up thishouse; it is a struggle from first to last."
"And yet I earn close on six thousand a year, Mildred. Have you neverconsidered that you are the person who makes it a struggle?"
"It is impossible; impossible to manage," she said, petulantly.
"It is, when you buy all these worthless baubles"--he touched herdiamonds, and then he started away from her. "Why you should saddleyourself and me with debts almost impossible to meet for the sake ofthese is beyond my comprehension; but if you really do want a freshtoy in the way of an ornament to-morrow you have but to order it--thatis, in moderation."
"Ah! I knew you had accepted," she said, making a quick dancingmovement with her small feet. "Now I am happy; we can have a place ifpossible on the river. I have always longed to live close to theThames. It is most unfashionable not to have a country seat, and thechild will be well off by-and-by. I was told to-night by a City manwho is to be one of the directors of the new company, that if you areclever you can make a cool forty thousand pounds out of this business.He says your name is essential to float the thing with the public."
"You know, perhaps, what all this means?" said Ogilvie, after a pause.
"Why do you speak in that tone, quite with the Sibyl air?"
"Don't dare to mention the child's name at a moment like this. I justwish to tell you, Mildred, in a few words, what it would mean to theworld at large if I assayed the Lombard Deeps Gold Mine."
"Oh, your business terms do so puzzle me," she answered. "I declare Iam getting sleepy." Mrs. Ogilvie yawned slightly.
"It would be better if you went to bed, but as you are here I shallput your mind at rest. If I accepted Grayleigh's offer----"
"If! But you have done so, of course you have."
"If I do, my name as engineer to the company will cause many people tobuy shares. Now, Mildred, I am not sure of the Lombard Deeps GoldMine. I know more about this business than I can explain to you, andyou have a tongue, and women cannot keep secrets."
"As usual, you taunt me," she said, "but what does that matter? Icould bear even an insult from you to-night, I am so excited and sopleased. I believe in the Lombard Deeps Gold Mine. I intend to putall the money I can lay hold of into it. Of course you will assay theLombard Deeps? I never could make out what assaying meant, but itseems to be a way of raking in gold, and I was told to-night by Mr.Halkett that you are the most trusted assayer in London. Has theletter come yet? Has Lord Grayleigh yet offered you the post?"
"The letter has come."
"You would make thousands a year out of it. Phil, oh, Phil, how happyI am! You have replied, have you not?"
"I have."
"Then why do you keep me in suspense? It is settled. What are you soglum about?"
"I have declined the offer. I cannot assay the Lombard Deeps GoldMine."
"Philip!" His wife's voice was at first incredulous, then it rose intoa scream.
"You cannot be speaking the truth," she said.
"My answer is posted. I am not too scrupulous about small things, butI draw the line at a matter of that sort. Go to bed."
She did not speak for a moment, her face turned pale, then she wentclose up to him.
"I hate you," she said; "go your own way in the future," and she lefthim standing silent.
