"'
At this moment a servant entered and said Mr. Wilderspin was waiting
in the hall.
All hope having now fled of my getting a private word
with Cyril that afternoon, I was preparing to slip I away; but he
would not let me go.
'I don't want Wilderspin to know about the caricature till it is
finished,' whispered he to me; 'so I told Bunner never to let him
come suddenly upon me. You'd better be off, mother,' he said to the
old woman, 'and come again to-morrow.'
She bustled up and, throwing off the Japanese finery, left the room,
while Cyril removed the drawing from the easel and hid it away.
'Isn't she delightful?' ejaculated Cyril.
'Delightful! What, that old wretch? All that interests me in her is
the change in her voice after she says she will die laughing.'
'Oh,' said Cyril, 'she seems to be troubled with a drunken son in the
country somewhere, who is always getting into scrapes. Wilderspin's
in love with her daughter, a wonderfully beautiful girl, the finding
of whom at the very moment when he was in despair for the want of the
right model gave the final turn to his head.
Pages:
448
449
450
451
452
453
454
455
456
457
458
459
460
461
462
463
464
465
466
467
468
469
470
471
472