“Possession is a great disenchanter,” answered Sybil.
Both the others looked up to see if she had any hidden meaning under her words. But apparently she had not. She was smiling very gayly as she took her place at the head of the table and invited her companions to take their seats.
Throughout the dinner-hour Sybil seemed in very high spirits; she was full of anecdote and wit; she talked and laughed freely. Her companions noticed her unusual gayety; but they ascribed it to the exhilarating effects of her morning drive, and to the anticipations of her mask ball, which now formed the principal subject of conversation at the table.
After dinner, they went into the drawing-room, where Sybil soon left her husband and her guest alone together; or rather, she pretended to leave them so; but really, with that insanity of jealousy which made her forget her womanhood, she merely went out and around the hall into the library, and placed herself behind the folding doors communicating with the drawing room, where she could hear and see all that might be going on between her husband and her rival.
It is proverbial that “listeners never hear any good of themselves.”
Sybil’s case was no exception to this rule. This is what she heard of herself.
“What ever could have ailed Mrs. Berners,” inquired Mrs. Blondelle, with a pretty lisp.
“What could have ailed Sybil? Why, nothing, that I noticed. What should have ailed her?” on his side inquired Mr. Berners.
“She was very much excited!” exclaimed Mrs. Blondelle, with a significant shrug of her shoulders.
“Oh! that was from her exhilarating morning ride, which raised her spirits.”