His mind, too, delighted in detail
and revolted against John's sweeping generalities. For these several
reasons Vancouver had taken great delight in writing and printing sundry
vicious criticisms upon John in the absolute certainty of not being found
out. The editor of the paper did not know Vancouver's name, for the
articles came through the post with a modest request that they might be
inserted if they were of any use; and they were generally so pungent and
to the point that the editor was glad to get them, especially as no
remuneration was demanded.
As for the confidence Vancouver had once made to John, it was another
instance of his littleness. At the time when Vancouver was anxious to
marry Sybil Brandon, John Harrington was very intimate at the house, and
was, in Vancouver's opinion, a dangerous rival; at all events he felt that
the contest was not an agreeable one, nor altogether to his own advantage.
Accordingly he tried every means to clear the coast, as he expressed it;
but although John probably had no intention of marrying Sybil, and Sybil
certainly had never thought of marrying John, the latter was fond of her
society, and of her mother's, and came to the cottage on the Newport cliff
with a regularity that drove Vancouver to the verge of despair.
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