She remarked, besides, that not only was Teddy Phats
excluded from their councils, but she herself was sent out of the way,
whenever Hycy paid them a visit, which uniformly occurred at a late
hour, in the night.
Another circumstance also occurred about this time which puzzled her not
a little: we mean the unusual absence of Philip for about a fortnight
from home. Now, there certainly nothing more offensive, especially to a
female, than the fact of excluding her from the knowledge of any secret,
a participation in which she may consider as a right. In her case
she felt that it argued want of confidence, and as she had never yet
betrayed any trust or secret reposed in her, she considered their
conduct towards her, not merely as an insult, but such as entitled them
to nothing at her hands but resentment, and a determination to thwart
their plans, whatever they might be, as soon as she should succeed in
making herself acquainted with them. What excited her resentment the
more bitterly was the arrival of a strange man and woman in company with
Philip, as she was able to collect, from the metropolis, to the former
of whom they all seemed to look with much deference as to a superior
spirit of the secret among them this man and his wife were clearly
in possession, as was evident from their whisperings and other
conversations, which they held apart, and uniformly out of her hearing.
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