Sybil.  I am so glad... so proud...

John.  And others know it, Sybil, as well as I. Only yesterday the Comtesse said to me, ’No man could get on so fast unaided.  Cherchez la femme, Mr. Shand.’

Sybil.  Auntie said that?

John.  I said ‘Find her yourself, Comtesse.’

Sybil.  And she?

John.  She said ‘I have found her,’ and I said in my blunt way, ’You mean Lady Sybil,’ and she went away laughing.

Sybil.  Laughing?

John.  I seem to amuse the woman.

[Sybil grows sad.]

Sybil.  If Mrs. Shand—­It is so cruel to her.  Whom did you say she had gone to the station to meet?

John.  Her father and brothers.

Sybil.  It is so cruel to them.  We must think no more of this.  It is mad... ness.

John.  It’s fate.  Sybil, let us declare our love openly.

Sybil.  You can’t ask that, now in the first moment that you tell me of it.

John.  The one thing I won’t do even for you is to live a life of underhand.

Sybil.  The... blow to her.

John.  Yes.  But at least she has always known that I never loved her.

Sybil.  It is asking me to give... up everything, every one, for you.

John.  It’s too much.

[John is humble at last.]

Sybil.  To a woman who truly loves, even that is not too much.  Oh! it is not I who matter—­it is you.

John.  My dear, my dear.

Sybil.  So gladly would I do it to save you; but, oh, if it were to bring you down!

John.  Nothing can keep me down if I have you to help me.

Sybil.  I am dazed, John, I...

John.  My love, my love.

Sybil.  I... oh... here...

John.  Be brave, Sybil, be brave.

Sybil. ..........

[In this bewilderment of pearls she melts into his arms.  Maggie happens to open the door just then; but neither fond heart hears her.]

John.  I can’t walk along the streets, Sybil, without looking in all the shop windows for what I think would become you best. [As awkwardly as though his heart still beat against corduroy, he takes from his pocket a pendant and its chain.  He is shy, and she drops pearls over the beauty of the ruby which is its only stone.] It is a drop of my blood, Sybil.

[Her lovely neck is outstretched, and he puts the chain round it.  Maggie withdraws as silently as she had come; but perhaps the door whispered ‘d—­n’ as it closed, for Sybil wakes out of Paradise.]

Sybil.  I thought—–­Did the door shut?

John.  It was shut already.

[Perhaps it is only that Sybil is bewildered to find herself once again in a world that has doors.]