Page:The Relentless City.djvu/158

148 guess the sea will come and swallow up Newport. But I didn't come here to talk about Mrs.

He finished taking off his gloves, threw them into his hat, and took a chair exactly opposite her, so that they faced each other as in a waggonette, which to Sybil was an odious vehicle for locomotion. His likeness to Charlie was somehow strangely obliterated to-day; she thought of the latter as of something suffering, in need of protection, whereas the same-featured man who sat opposite her looked particularly capable of self-defence, and, if necessary, of aggression. For the first time she rather feared him, and dislike looked hazily out through the tremor of fear.

he said.

Something in this quite harmless speech displeased Sybil immensely.

she asked.

Sybil got up.

she said,

She went half-way across the room with the intention of ringing the bell, but she stopped before she got there; curiosity about the development of this situation conquered, and she sat down again.

He took no notice of her remark about his manners.

he said.

She answered him without pause.

she said;

said he.

There was a moment's silence.