I must see it again--after I have seen her. Where is she? Can
I not see her now?'
'You cannot.'
'Can I not see her to-day?'
'You cannot. I will tell you soon, and I have much to tell you,' said
Wilderspin, looking uneasily round at my mother, who did not seem
inclined to leave us. 'I will tell you all about her when--when you
are sufficiently calm.'
'Tell me now,' I said.
'Gad! this is a strange affair, don't you know? It would puzzle Cyril
Aylwin himself,' said Sleaford. 'What the dooce does it all mean?'
'Is she safe?' I cried to Wilderspin.
There was a pause.
'Is she safe?' I cried again.
'Quite safe,' said Wilderspin, in a tone whose solemnity would have
scared me had the speaker been any other person than this eccentric
creature. 'When you are less agitated, I will tell you all about
her.'
'No! now, now!'
IV
'Well, Mr. Aylwin,' said Wilderspin, 'when I first saw your father's
book, _The Veiled Queen_, it was the vignette on the title-page
that attracted me. In the eyes of that beautiful child-face, even as
rendered by a small reproduction, there was the very expression that
my soul had been yearning after--the expression which no painter of
woman's beauty had ever yet caught and rendered.
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