It was nothing unusual for
him to be out all day; but Sibylla was choosing to make his being out on
this day an unusual grievance. As the hours of the afternoon passed on
and on, and it grew late, and nobody appeared, she could scarcely
suppress her temper, her restlessness. She was a bad one to be alone;
had never liked to be alone for five minutes in her life; and thence
perhaps the secret of her having made so much of a companion of her
maid, Benoite. In point of fact, Sibylla Verner had no resources within
herself; and she made up for the want by indulging in her naturally bad
temper.
Where were they? Where was Decima? Where was Lucy? Above all, where was
Lionel? Sibylla, not being able to answer the questions, suddenly began
to get up a pretty little plot of imagination--that Lucy and Lionel were
somewhere together. Had Sibylla possessed one of Sam Weller's patent
self-acting microscopes, able to afford a view through space and stairs
and deal doors, she might have seen Lionel seated alone in the study at
Verner's Pride, amidst his leases and papers; and Lucy in Clay Lane,
paying visits with Decima from cottage to cottage.
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