36 THE PORTRAIT OF A LADY. "Warburton is wrong, then!" Ralph Touchett exilaimed. " He flatters himself he has made that discovery." His mother shook' her head. " Lord Warburton won't under- stand her ; he needn't try." " He is very intelligent," said Ealph ; " but it's right he should be puzzled once in a while." " Isabel will enjoy puzzling a lord," Mrs. Touchett remarked. Her son frowned a little. " What does she know about lords 1 " " Nothing at all ; that will puzzle him all the more." Ealph greeted these words with a laugh, and looked out of the window a little. Then "Are you not going down to see my father 1 " he asked. " At a quarter to eight," said Mrs. Touchett. Her son looked at his watch. " You have another quarter of an hour, then ; tell me some more about Isabel." But Mrs. Touchett declined his invitation, declaring that he must find out for himself. " Well," said Ralph, " she will certainly do you credit. But won't she also give you trouble ? " "I hope not ; but if she does, I shall not shrink from it. I never do that." " She strikes me as very natural," said Ralph. " Natural people are not the most trouble." " No," said Ralph ; " you yourself are a proof of that. You are extremely natural, and I am sure you have never troubled any one. But tell me this ; it just occurs to me. Is Isabel capable of making herself disagreeable 1 " " Ah," cried his mother, "you ask too many questions ! Find that out for yourself." His questions, however, were not exhausted. " All this time," he said, " you have not told me what you intend to do with her." "Do with her 1 ? You talk as if she were a yard of calico. I shall do absolutely nothing with her, and she herself will do everything that she chooses. She gave me notice of that." "What you meant then, in your telegram, was that her character was independent." " I never know what I mean by my telegrams especially those I send from America. Clearness is too expensive. Come down to your father." " It is not yet a quarter to eight," said Ralph. " I must allow for his impatience," Mrs. Touchett answered. Ralph knew what to think of his father's impatience ; but
