Part 26 (1/2)
”Of course not.”
”Well, sit down and talk to me. Now, I have something to say to you. Do you know that I am devoured with curiosity, and all about a small girl like yourself?”
”Oh f.a.n.n.y,” said Sibyl, immensely flattered, ”I am glad you take an interest in me!”
”I must be frank,” said f.a.n.n.y. ”Up to the present I have taken no special interest in you, except in so far as you are Martha's protege; but when I saw you in that extraordinary dress last night I singled you out at once as a girl with original ideas. Do look me in the face, Sib!”
Sibyl turned. f.a.n.n.y's face was exquisitely chiselled. Each neat little feature was perfect. Her eyes were large and well-shaped, her brows delicately marked, her complexion pure lilies and roses; her hair was thick and smooth, and yet there were little ripples about it which gave it, even in its schoolgirl form, a look of distinction. Sibyl, on the contrary, was an undersized girl, with the fair, colorless face, pale-blue eyes, the lack of eyebrows and eyelashes, the hair thin and small in quant.i.ty, which make the most hopeless type of all as regards good looks.
”I wonder, Sib,” said f.a.n.n.y, ”if you, you little mite, are really eaten up with vanity?”
”I--vain! Why should you say so?”
”I only thought it from your peculiar dress last night.”
Sibyl colored and spoke eagerly. ”Oh, but that wasn't me at all; it was that quite too darling Betty!”
”Do you mean my cousin, Betty Vivian?”
”Of course, who else?”
”Well, what had she to do with it?”
”I will tell you if you like, f.a.n.n.y. She didn't expect me to keep it a secret. I met her when I was out----”
”You--met Betty--when you were out?”
”Yes.” There was a kind of reserve in Sibyl's tone which made f.a.n.n.y scent a possible mystery.
”Where did you meet her?” was the next inquiry.
”Well, she was standing by the stump of an old tree which is hollow inside. It is just at the top of the hill by the bend, exactly where the hill goes down towards the 'forest primeval.'”
”Can't say I remember it,” said f.a.n.n.y. ”Go on, Sib. So Betty was standing there?”
”Yes, oh yes. I saw her in the distance. I was expecting to meet Clarice and Mary Moss; but they failed me, although they had faithfully promised to come. So when I saw Betty I could not resist running up to her; but when I got quite close I stood still.”
”Well, you stood still. Why?”
”Oh Fan, she was doing such a funny thing! She was bending down and looking over into the hollow of the tree. Then, all of a sudden, she thrust her hand in--far down--and took something out of the tree and looked at it. I could just catch sight of what it was----”
”Yes, go on. What was it? Don't be afraid of me, Sib. I have a lot of chocolates in my pocket that I will give you presently.”
”Oh thank you, f.a.n.n.y! It is nice to talk to you. I couldn't see very distinctly what she had in her hand, only she was staring at it, and staring at it; and then she dropped it in again, right down into the depths of the tree; and I saw her bending more than ever, as though she were covering it up.”
”But you surely saw what it was like?”
”It might have been anything--I wasn't very near then. I ran up to her, and asked her what it was.”
”And what did she say?”
”Oh, she said it was a piece of wood, and that she had dropped it into the tree.”