Never let me an' you come across each other again. I hate the
sight of you, an' I hate the sound of your voice!'
The animal in Sidney Kirkwood made it a terrible minute for him as
he turned away in silence before this savage injustice. The veins
upon his forehead were swollen; his clenched teeth gave an
appearance of ferocity to his spirited features. With head bent, and
shoulders quivering as if in supreme muscular exertion, he left the
room without another word.
In a few minutes Hewett also quitted the house. He went to the
luncheon-bar in Upper Street, and heard for the first time Mrs.
Tubbs's rancorous surmises. He went to Clara's recent lodgings; a
girl of ten was the only person in the house, and she could say
nothing more than that Miss Hewett no longer lived there. Till
midway in the afternoon John walked about the streets of Islington,
Highbury, Hoxton, Clerkenwell, impelled by the unreasoning hope that
he might see Clara, but also because he could not rest in any place.
He was half-conscious now of the madness of his behaviour to
Kirkwood, but this only confirmed him in hostility to the young man;
the thought of losing Clara was anguish intolerable, yet with it
mingled a bitter resentment of the girl's cruelty to him.
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