" And then she
ran towards the house.
'In a few minutes Mr. D'Arcy came out into the field without his hat,
and evidently much agitated.
'"Miss Wynne," he said, "I fear you must have been half frightened to
death. Never was there such an unlucky _contretemps_."
'"But why is Sinfi Lovell here?" I said, "and why was I not told she
was here?"
'"Sinfi is an old friend of mine," he said. "I have been in the habit
of using her as a model for pictures. She came here to sit to me,
when she was taken ill. She is subject to fits, as you have seen. The
doctor believed that they were over and would not recur, and I had
determined that to-morrow I would bring you together."
'I made no reply, but walked silently by his side across the field to
the little wicket. The confidence I had reposed in Mr. D'Arcy had
been like the confidence a child reposes in its father.
'"Miss Wynne," he said, in a voice full of emotion, "I feel that an
unlucky incident has come between us, and yet if I ever did anything
for your good, it was when I decided to postpone revealing the fact
that Sinfi Lovell was under this roof until her cure was so complete
and decisive that you could never by any chance receive the shock
that you have now received.
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