THE PORTRAIT OF A LADY. 857 went straight to her room, to put them into water. Isabel passed into the drawing-room, the one she herself usually occupied, the second in order from the large ante-chamber which was entered from the staircase, and in which ev^n Gilbert Osmond's rich devices had not been able to collect a look of rather grand nudity. Just beyond the threshold of the drawing-room she stopped short, the reason for her doing so being that she had received an impression. The impression had, in strictness, nothing unprecedented ; but she ielt it as something new, and the soundlessness of her step gave her time to take in the scene before she interrupted it. Madame Merle sat there in her bonnet, and Gilbert Osmond was talking to her ; for a minute they were unaware that she had come in. Isabel had often seen that before, certainly ; but what she had not seen, or at least had not noticed was that their dialogue had for the moment converted itself into a sort of familiar silence, from which she instantly perceived that her entrance would startle them. Madame Merle was standing on the rug, a little way from the fire; Osmond was in a deep chair, leaning back and looking at her. Her head was erect, as usual, but her eyes were bent upon bis. What struck Isabel first was that he was sitting while Madame Merle stood ; there was an anomaly in this that arrested her. Then she perceived that they had arrived at a desultory pause in their exchange of ideas, and were musing, face to face, with the free- dom of old friends who sometimes exchange ideas without utter- ing them. There was nothing shocking iu this ; they were old friends in fact. But the thing made an image, lasting only a moment, like a sudden flicker of light. Their relative position, their absorbed mutual gaze, struck her as something detected. But it was all over by the time she had fairly seen it. Madame Merle had seen her, and had welcomed her without moving ; Gilbert Osmond, on the other hand, had instantly jumped up. He presently murmured something about wanting, a walk, and after having asked Madame Merle to excuse him, he left the room. " I came to see you, thinking you would have come in ; and as you had not, I waited for you," Madame Merle said. " Didn't he ask you to sit down ? " asked Isabel, smiling. Madame Merle looked about her. " Ah, it's very true ; I was going away." " You must stay now." " Certainly. I came for a reason ; I have something on my mind." "I have told you that before," Isabel said "that it takes something extraordinary to bring you to this house."
