18 I
turned the whole business over and over in m}
mind the week I was down there. To speak or not
to speak? And almost at once another complica
tion set in. You see, I fell in love with Sylvia Cars-
lake the first moment I saw her I
wanted her
more
than anything on earth And in
a way
that tied
my hands.
And yet,
if I didn't say anything, Sylvia would marry Charles
Crawley and Crawley would kill her ....
And so,
the day before I left, I blurted it all out to her.
I said I expected she'd think me touched in the intellect
or something but I swore solemnly that
I'd seen the thing just as I told it to her and that
I felt if she was determined to marry Crawley, I
ought to tell her my strange experience.
She
listened very quietly. There was something in
her eyes I didn't understand. She wasn't angry at
all. When I'd finished, she just thanked me gravely.
I kept repeating like an idiot, "I did see it. I
really did see it," and she said, "I'm sure you did if
you say so. I believe you."
Well,