, and then a
temptation came to me. I wanted us both, you and I, to be happy
together for two days. I knew that at the end of that time I must open
your eyes."

"Oh, we were happy!" said the child.

"Yes, for those two days we had peace, and we were, as you say, happy.
I put away from me the thought of that which was before me, but I knew
that it must come. It has come, Sibyl. The peace has been changed to
storm; and now, little girl, I am in the midst of the tempest; the
agony I feel in having to tell you this no words can explain."

"I wish you would try and 'splain, all the same," said Sibyl, in a
weak, very weak voice.

"I will, I must; it is wrong of me to torture you."

"It's only 'cos of you yourself," she murmured.

"Listen, my darling. You have often given thoughts to the Lombard
Deeps Mine?"

"Oh, yes." She raised herself a little on her pillow, and tried to
speak more cheerfully. "I have thought of it, the mine full, full of
gold, and all the people so happy!"

Her voice grew quite animated.

"Any special people, dearest?"

"So many," she replied. "I told Lord Grayleigh, and he put their
names in his note-book. There's Mr. and Mrs. Holman, the people who
keep the toy-shop; she has a hundred pounds, and she wants to buy some
of the gold."

"The old pair I saw coming to see you yesterday? Are they the Holmans?
Yes, I remember they told me that was their name."

"They came, father. I love 'em so much; and there's Mr. Rochester and
Lady Helen, they want to marry. It's a secret, but you may know. And
nurse, she wants some of the gold, 'cos her eyes ache, and you sent a
cablegram, father, and said the gold was there; it's all right."

"No, Sibyl, it is all wrong; the gold is not in the mine."

"But you sent a cablegram."

"I did."

"And you said it was there."

"I did."

She paused and looked at him; her eyes grew full of pain; the pain
reached agony point.

"You said it?"

"I did worse," said the man. He stood up, folded his arms across his
chest, and looked down at her. "I did worse, and to tell you is my
punishment. I not only sent that cablegram, but I wrote an account of
the mine, a false account, false as my false heart was, Sibyl, and I
signed it with my name, for the gold I said was in the mine was not
there."

"Why did you do it, father?"

"Because I was a scoundrel."

"What's that?" asked Sibyl.

"A bad man."

"No," said the child, "no, you was always my most perfect--