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A mental struggle

(1892)

p. 53

A Mental Struggle. 45
dull blood that hems us in on every side. Ah ! what a
little shocked look, Imogen! But the truth, the truth,
and nothing but the truth for me ! I feel a touch of
electricity run through me when I hear I am to make
myself charming, not to those who can remind me of what
is ' due to birth and position,' as Dame Deverill hath it,
but to those beyond the pale."
" I like them—that is, some of them," says Lady Olivia
diffidentl}^ " But to you, dear, they will be strangers,
and-------"
" Ah! that is their greatest charm so far as I am
concerned," interrupts Miss Yelverton lightly. " Being
strangers, they cannot as yet be up to aU my frightful
crimes and misdemeanours. Perhaps at first, therefore,
they will be gracious to me—will smile and give me
honeyed words. I shouldn't wonder, indeed, if I even
succeeded in captivating young Brown. There is a young
Brown, eh ?"
" Oh, yes," says Imogen, with a pretty shrug of her un¬
civil shoulders that plainly betrays how deeply grateful she
would be if there were not.
"There is still hope, then. I may be able to take ona
incubus off your shoulders," laughs Sylvia. " That is,"
seriously, "if he is not already head over ears in love with
you "—pointing to Imogen—" or Patricia. Which of them
is it ?" asks she mischievously, turning to Lady Oli-via.
" Is it a necessity that one must lose one's heart in a
week ?" returns Lady Olivia, with an evasiveness that is
hardly to be expected from her. " He shoots all day with
Sandie, sees Imogen daring dinner-time, and talks to
Patricia for the half-hour that precedes the lighting of
the bedroom candles : could he compress much love-making
into these bare opporturjities ? You see the field is open
to you."
As she says this, she calls to mind that late conversation
with her husband in the bedroom some nights ago, and feela
that her speech is slightly hypocritical.
" I do see," says Miss Yelverton, turning her clear hazel
eyes first on Lady Olivia and then on Imogen. " He talks
o Patricia—which means that Imogen will not be kind to

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1.8.2

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