Page:The Novels and Tales of Henry James, Volume 2 (New York, Charles Scribner's Sons, 1907).djvu/110

 They walked further and looked at a dozen other things. He pointed out what pleased him, and Mademoiselle Noémie generally criticised it and proposed something else. Then suddenly she diverged into the intimate. "What made you speak to me the other day in the Salon Carré?"

"I admired your picture."

"But you hesitated a long time."

"Oh, I do nothing foolish," he said.

"Yes, I saw you watching me. But I never supposed you were going to speak to me. I never dreamed I should be walking about here with you to-day. It's very remarkable."

"It's sufficiently natural," he calmly pleaded.

"Ah, I beg your pardon: not to me. 'Free spirit'—in other words horrid creature—as you think me, I have never walked about in public with a gentleman before. What was my father thinking of when he consented to our interview?"

"He was repenting of his unjust accusations," Newman returned.

Mademoiselle Noémie remained silent; at last she dropped into a seat. "Well then, for those five it's fixed," she presently said. "Five copies as brilliant and beautiful as I can make them. We've one more to choose. Should n't you like one of those great Rubenses—the Marriage of Marie de Médicis? Just look at it and see how handsome it is."

"Oh yes; I should like that," he allowed. "Finish off with that."

"Finish off with that—good!" she laughed. She sat a moment looking at him, then suddenly rose 80