Page:The Novels and Tales of Henry James, Volume 1 (New York, Charles Scribner's Sons, 1907).djvu/319

 and precarious enough when left to himself. The sooner passion 's at rest therefore the sooner he 'll settle down to work, and the fewer emotions he has that are mere emotions and nothing more the better for him. If you cared for him enough to marry him I should have nothing to say; I should never venture to interfere. But I greatly guess you don't, and therefore I suggest most respectfully that you leave him alone."

"If I leave him alone he 'll go on like a new clock, eh?"

"He 'll do better. He 'll have no excuses, no pretexts."

"Oh, he makes me a pretext, does he? I 'm much obliged!" cried Christina with a laugh. "What 's he doing now?"

"I can hardly say. He's like a very old clock indeed. He 's moody, desultory, idle, irregular, fantastic."

"Heavens, what a list! And it's all poor me?"

"No, not all. But you 're a part of it, and I turn to you because you 're a more tangible, sensible, responsible cause than the other things."

Christina raised her hand to her eyes and bent her head thoughtfully. Rowland was puzzled to measure the effect of his venture; she rather surprised him by her mildness. At last, without moving, "If I were to marry him," she asked, "what would have become of his fiancée?"

"I 'm bound to suppose that she would have become extremely unhappy."

Christina said nothing more, and Rowland, to let her make her reflexions, left his place and strolled 285