"Many things happened
yesterday," she added, "which might be offered as some excuse
for an unguarded word."
"Would that it had been unguarded!" said Egremont in a voice
of melancholy. "I could have endured it with less repining.
No, Sybil, I have known you, I have had the happiness and the
sorrow of knowing you too well to doubt the convictions of
your mind, or to believe that they can be lightly removed, and
yet I would strive to remove them. You look upon me as an
enemy, as a natural foe, because I am born among the
privileged. I am a man, Sybil, as well as a noble." Again he
paused; she looked down, but did not speak.
"And can I not feel for men, my fellows, whatever be their
lot? I know you will deny it; but you are in error, Sybil;
you have formed your opinions upon tradition, not upon
experience. The world that exists is not the world of which
you have read; the class that calls itself your superior is
not the same class as ruled in the time of your fathers.
There is a change in them as in all other things, and I
participate that change. I shared it before I knew you,
Sybil; and if it touched me then, at least believe it does not
influence me less now."
"If there be a change," said Sybil, "it is because in some
degree the People have learnt their strength.
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