Page:Gissing - The Nether World, vol. I, 1889.djvu/229

 of money, and if Kirkwood had knowledge of that, would it not explain his interest in Jane Snowdon?

“For shame to listen to such things!” cried Mrs. Hewett, angrily, when her husband once repeated the landlady’s words. “I’d be ashamed of myself, John! If you don’t know him no better than that, you ought to by this time.”

And John did, in fact, take to himself no little shame, but his unsatisfied affection turned all the old feelings to bitterness. In spite of himself, he blundered along the path of perversity. Sidney, too, had his promptings of obstinate humour. When he distinctly recognised Hewett’s feeling it galled him; he was being treated with gross injustice, and temper suggested reprisals which could answer no purpose but to torment him with self-condemnation. However, he must needs consult his own dignity; he could not keep defending himself against ignoble charges. For the present, there was no choice but to accept John’s hints, and hold apart as much as was