THE PORTKAIT OF A LADY. 275 " reasonably," because the proposal was not uttered in the spirit of enthusiasm. She had prefigured her visit" as made in solitude ; she should like it better so. Nevertheless, to her great consider- ation for Madame Merle she was prepared to sacrifice this mystic sentiment. Her friend meditated, with her usual suggestive smile. "After all," she presently said, "why should we both go; having, each of us, so much to do during these last hours 1 " "Very good; I can easily go alone." " I don't know about your going alone to the house of a handsome bachelor. He has been married but so long ago ! " Isabel stared. " When Mr. Osmond is away, what does it matter 1 " "They don't know he is away, you see." " They ? Whom do you mean ? " " Every one. But perhaps it doesn't matter." " If you were going, why shouldn't I ? " Isabel asked. " Because I am an old frump, and you are a beautiful young woman." " Granting all that, you have not promised." " How much you think of your promises ! " said Madame Merle, with a smile of genial mockery. " I think a great deal of my promises. Does that surprise you 1 " " You are right," Madame Merle reflected audibly. " I really think you wish to be kind to the child." " I wish very much to be kind to her." " Go and see her, then ; no one will be the wiser. And tell her I would have come if you had not. Or rather," Madame Merle added " don't tell her; she won't care." As Isabel drove, in the publicity of an open vehicle, along the charming winding way which led to Mr. Osmond's hill-top, she wondered what Madame Merle had meant by no one being the wiser. Once in a while, at large intervals, this lady, in whose discretion, as a general thing, there was something almost brilliant, dropped a remark of ambiguous quality, struck a note that sounded false. What cared Isabel Archer for the vulgar judg- ments of obscure people 1 and did Madame Merle suppose that she was capable of doing a deed in secret? Of course not she must have meant something else something which in the press of the hours that preceded her departure she had not had time to explain. Isabel would return to this some day ; there were certain things as to which she liked to be clear. She heard Pansy strumming at the piano in another apartment, as she T 2
