The baggage beamed with heartless sweetness,—she was making a mock of me. Her father turned as if he would have rent her.
‘D-don’t you speak until you’re spoken to! Atherton, I—I hope I’m not deceived in you; I—I hope you’re the man I—I took you for; that you’re willing and—and ready to play the part of a-a-an honest friend to this mis-misguided simpleton. T-this is not the time for mincing words, it—it’s the time for candid speech. Tell this—this weak-minded young woman, right out, whether this man Lessingham is, or is not, a damned scoundrel.’
‘Papa!—Do you really think that Sydney’s opinion, or your opinion, is likely to alter facts?’
‘Do you hear, Atherton, tell this wretched girl the truth!’
‘My dear Mr Lindon, I have already told you that I know nothing either for or against Mr Lessingham except what is known to all the world.’
‘Exactly,—and all the world knows him to be a miserable adventurer who is scheming to entrap my daughter.’
‘I am bound to say, since you press me, that your language appears to me to be unnecessarily strong.’
‘Atherton, I—I’m ashamed of you!’
‘You see, Sydney, even papa is ashamed of you; now you are outside the pale.—My dear papa, if you will allow me to speak, I will tell you what I know to be the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.—That Mr Lessingham is a man with great gifts goes without saying,—permit me, papa! He is a man of genius. He is a man of honour. He is a man of the loftiest ambitions, of the highest aims. He has dedicated his whole life to the improvement of the conditions amidst which the less fortunate of his fellow countrymen are at present compelled to exist. That seems to me to be an object well worth having. He has asked me to share his life-work, and I have told him that I will; when, and where, and how, he wants me to. And I will. I do not suppose his life has been free from peccadilloes. I have no delusion on the point. What man’s life has? Who among men can claim to be without sin? Even the members of our highest families sometimes hide behind screens. But I know that he is, at least, as good a man as I ever met, I am persuaded that I shall never meet a better; and I thank God that I have found favour in his eyes.—Good-bye, Sydney.—I suppose I shall see you again, papa.’
With the merest inclination of her head to both of us she straightway left the room. Lindon would have stopped her.