Page:The Novels and Tales of Henry James, Volume 1 (New York, Charles Scribner's Sons, 1907).djvu/433

 own hard wicked will and to crush me and shame me with her cruelty."

"Ah then," said Rowland, "I 'm as much at sea as you, and my presence here 's an impertinence. I should like to say three words to Miss Light on my own account. But I must wholly decline to talk to her about the Prince. This is simply impossible."

Mrs. Light burst into angry tears. "Because the poor boy is a prince, eh? because he 's of a great family and has an income of millions, eh? That 's why you begrudge him and stand off from him and won't lift a finger for him. I knew there were vulgar people of that way of feeling, but I did n't expect it of you. Make an effort, Mr. Mallet; rise to the occasion; forgive the poor darling his advantages. Be just, be reasonable! It's not his fault, and it's not mine. Pray, has n't he human feelings and is n't he horribly suffering? He 's the best, the truest, the kindest young man in Italy and the most correct and cultivated and incapable of a thought—! If he were standing here in rags I would say it all the same. The man first—the money afterwards: that was always my motto—ask the Cavaliere. What do you take me for? Do you suppose I would give Christina to a vicious person? do you suppose I would sacrifice my precious child, little comfort as I have in her, to a man against whose character a syllable could be breathed? Casamassima 's only too good, too innocently good; he 's a saint of saints; his word is his word and he understands nothing else. There is n't such another in the length and breadth of Europe. What he has been through in this house not a common peasant 399