Yes, my dear Aylwin, I knew that when the issues of Life are greatly
beyond the common, and when our hearts are torn as yours has been
torn, and when our souls are on fire with a flame such as that which
I saw was consuming you, the awful possibilities of this universe--of
which we, civilised men or savage, know nothing--will come before us,
and tease our hearts with strange wild hopes, 'though all the
"proofs" of all the logicians should hold them up to scorn.'
I am, my dear Aylwin,
Your sincere Friend,
T. D'ARCY.
XVII
THE TWO DUKKERIPENS
Was the mystery at an end? Was there one point in this story of
stories which this letter of D'Arcy's had not cleared up? Yes, indeed
there was one. What motive--or rather, what mixture of motives--had
impelled Sinfi to play her part in restoring Winifred to me? Her
affection for me was, I knew, as strong as my own affection for her.
But this I attributed largely to the mysterious movements of the
blood of Fenella Stanley which we both shared. In many matters there
was a kinship of taste between us, such as did not exist between me
and Winnie, who was far from being scornful of conventions, and to
whom the little Draconian laws of British 'Society' were not objects
of mere amusement, as they were to me and Sinfi.
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