Page:The Novels and Tales of Henry James, Volume 1 (New York, Charles Scribner's Sons, 1907).djvu/315

 more they take the colour of one's general disposition? I 'm not aggressive, and certainly I 'm not eloquent."

"Well, I 'm sure I should n't greatly care for anything you might say," Christina rejoined. "It would certainly, after all, be half-hearted. You 're not in the least satisfied."

"How do you know that?"

"Oh, I'm an observer!"

"No one 's satisfied with everything, I suppose—but I assure you I complain of nothing."

"So much the worse for your honesty. To begin with, you 're in love."

"You would n't have me complain of that!"

"And it doesn't go well. There are grievous obstacles. So much I know. You need n't protest; I ask no questions. You 'll tell no one—me least of all. Why does one never see you?"

"Why, if I come to see you," said Rowland, deliberating, "it wouldn't be, it couldn't be, for a trivial reason—because I had not been for a month, because I was passing, because I admire you. It would be because I should have something very particular to say. I have n't come because I 've been slow in making up my mind to say it."

"You 're simply cruel then," the girl declared. "Something particular, in this ocean of inanities? In common charity, speak!"

"I doubt whether you 'll like it."

"Oh, I hope to goodness it 's not some tribute to my charms!" Christina wailed.

"It may be called a tribute to your reasonableness. That 's one of your charms, you know. You 281