"One is always called morbid," he remarked, "who dares to look towards the truth."
"There are people," Lady Caroom answered, "who look always towards the clouds, even when the sun is shining."
"I am in the minority," Lord Arranmore said, smiling. "I feel myself becoming isolated. Let us abandon the subject."
"No, let us convert you instead," Sybil declared. "We want to look at the sun, and we want to take you with us. You are really a very stupid person, you know. Why do you want to stay all alone amongst the shadows?" Arranmore smiled faintly.
"The sun shines," he said, "only for those who have eyes to see it."
"Blindness is not incurable," she answered.
"Save when the light in the eyes is dead," he answered. "Come, shall we play a game at fourhanded billiards?"
It resolved itself into a match between Lady Caroom and Lord Arranmore, who were both players far above the average. Sybil and Brooks talked, but for once her attention wandered. She seemed listening to the click of the billiard-balls, and watching the man and the woman between whom all conversation seemed dead. Brooks noticed her absorption, and abandoned his own attempts to interest her.
"Your mother and Lord Arranmore," he remarked, "are very old friends."
"They have known one another all their lives," she murmured. "Lord
Arranmore has changed a good deal though since his younger days."