17/22 I became certain that I must go away. I am very sorry, mother." "The message of the mountains!" said her mother with a sneer, and Sylvia answered quietly: "Yes." "Very well," said Mrs.Thesiger.She had been deeply stung by her daughter's words, by her wish to go, and if she delayed her consent, it was chiefly through a hankering to punish Sylvia. But the thought came to her that she would punish Sylvia more completely if she let her go. She smiled cruelly as she looked at the girl's pure and gentle face. And, after all, she herself would be free--free from Sylvia's unconscious rivalry, free from the competition of her freshness and her youth, free from the grave criticism of her eyes. |