I did not neglect the cottage, which was now my property, but kept it
in exactly the same state as that in which it had been put by Sinfi
after Winnie had wandered back to Wales.
By isolating myself from all society, by surrounding myself with
mementos of Winifred, memory really did at last seem to be working a
miracle such as was worked for the widowed Ja'afar.
Yet not entirely had memory passed into an objective presence. I
seemed to feel Winnie near me; but that was all. I felt that more
necessary than anything else in perfecting the atmosphere of memory
in which I would live was the society of her in whom alone I had
found sympathy--Sinfi Lovell. Did I also remember the wild theories
of my father and Fenella Stanley about the crwth? To obtain the
company of Sinfi had now become very difficult--her attitude towards
me had so changed. When she allowed me to rejoin the Lovells at
Kingston Vale she did so under the compulsion of my distress. But my
leaving the Gypsies of my own accord left her free from this
compulsion. She felt that she had now at last bidden me farewell
for ever.
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