Page:The Novels and Tales of Henry James, Volume 1 (New York, Charles Scribner's Sons, 1907).djvu/401

 advantage she might offer him, but that his exculpatory passion for Miss Garland of the Back Woods was a figment of her fancy. Miss Garland of the Back Woods—he declared he liked that title—was engaged to another man. He himself had no claim.

"Well then," said Madame Grandoni, "if I like her we 'll have it that you ought to be what you say—perhaps mendaciously—that you 're not. If you fail in this it will be a double misdemeanour. The man she has accepted does n't care a straw for her. Leave me alone and I 'll tell her what I think of the man she has n't!"

As to Christina Light's marriage Madame Grandoni could say nothing positive. The maiden had of late made her several flying visits, in the intervals of the usual pre-matrimonial shopping and dress-fitting; she had spoken of the event with a toss of her head, as a matter which with a wise old friend who viewed things in their essence she need n't pretend to treat as a solemnity. It was for Prince Casamassima to do that. "It 's what they call a marriage of reason," she once had said. "That means, you know, a marriage of madness."

"What have you managed for her—since you must have managed something—in the way of advice?" Rowland asked.

"Very little, but that little has been a good word for the Prince. I know nothing of the mysteries of the young lady's heart. It may be a gold-mine, but at any rate it 's at the bottom of a very long shaft. The marriage in itself, however, is an excellent marriage. It's not only 'great,' but it's good. I think 367