Armine, Chapter XV-XVII [pp. 685-708]

1883.] ARMJKE. 707
that it would be so," she said, with another smile. "I thought
that you would please him, though I was not prepared for the
determination he evinces not to lose sight of you."
"I must think better of myself since I am able to please
M. d'Antignac," said Sibyl. "It seems to me incredible, for
while I was talking to him I had a feeling as if he were looking
me through and thinking what a poor, crude creature I was.
But I did not mind the judgment. It seemed to be exercised
with the compassion and gentleness of an angel." Then she
suddenly flushed. "Ferhaps this sounds to you extravagant,"
she said. "But it is really what I felt; and although my friends
will tell you that I am prone to sudden enthusiasms, J tell you
that these enthusiasms have been for things rather than persons.
Clever and original people have often interested me, but I was
never before conscious of the least inclination to bow down as
before something higher than myself. Indeed, it is I who have
always judged. I never before felt myself in the position of
being judged."
"It is good for us that we should bow down occasionally, even
in the most human point of view," said Mile. d'Antignac, looking
kindly at the brilliant young face, "else we are apt to become
spiritually and intellectually arrogant. And it is good, too, that
we should be judged now and theh by some one more impartial
and less intolerant than ourselves. For to judge himself justly is
impossible to man-or woman either. One is either too lenient
or too severe with one's self. Do not infer from this, however,
that I think Raoul was really judging you. He was only`taking the measure' of your mind, with a penetration which he possesses in singular degree; and the result is that he wishes to
see you again. I think that speaks for itself."
"Almost too flatteringly," answered Sibyl, smiling. "But I
need hardly say that I shall be delighted to respond to his wish and
to gratify my own d~sire. May I ask when he receives visitors?"
"Any and every day after noon when he is wel~ enough. But
I must warn you that very often his most intimate friends come
and he cannot see them; for there are times when suffering conquers even him and he exists simply in a state of agony. Those
who ~now him best know that they have always the risk to run,
but they do not mind it. They come, and if he cannot see them
they go away, to come again."
"Surely a disappointment is little for them to bear when lie
is bearing so much," said Sibyl. "And is there no hope of cure,
of alleviation? Can he never be better?"