The story of Clem Peckover's marriage naturally occasioned no little
astonishment in Sidney.
'And how will all this affect Jane?' he asked involuntarily.
'That is what I cannot tell,' replied Michael. 'It troubles me. My
son is a stranger; all these years have made him quite a different
man from what I remember; and the worst is, I can no longer trust
myself to judge him. Yet I must know the truth--Sidney, I must
know the truth. It's hard to speak ill of the only son left to me
out of the four I once had, but if I think of him as he was
seventeen years ago--no, no, he must have changed as he has grown
older. But you must help me to know him, Sidney.'
And in a very few days Sidney had his first opportunity of observing
Jane's father. At this meeting Joseph seemed to desire nothing so
much as to recommend himself by an amiable bearing. Impossible to
speak with more engaging frankness than he did whilst strolling away
from Hanover Street in Sidney's company. Thereafter the two saw a
great deal of each other. Joseph was soon a familiar visitor in
Tysoe Street; he would come about nine o'clock of an evening, and
sit till after midnight.
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