Page:The Novels and Tales of Henry James, Volume 2 (New York, Charles Scribner's Sons, 1907).djvu/140

THE AMERICAN "Can't she at least make her brother quit?"

"Her brother's the chef de la famille, the head of the clan. With those people the family's everything; you must act not for your own pleasure but for the advantage of your race and name."

"But what do they want to get out of our lovely friend?" Newman asked.

"Her submission to another marriage. They're not rich, and they want to bring more money into the house."

"There's where you come in, my boy!" Tristram interposed.

"And Madame de Cintré doesn't see it?" Newman continued.

"She has been sold for a price once; she naturally objects to being sold a second time. It appears that the first time they greatly bungled their bargain. M. de Cintré, before he died, managed to get through almost everything."

"And to whom do they want then to marry her now?"

"I thought it best not to ask; but you may be sure it is to some horrid old nabob or to some dissipated little duke."

"There's Mrs. Tristram as large as life!" her husband cried. "Observe the wealth of her imagination. She has not asked a single question—it's vulgar to ask questions—and yet she knows it all inside out. She has the history of Madame de Cintré's marriage at her fingers' ends. She has seen the lovely Claire on her knees with loosened tresses and streaming eyes and the rest of them standing over her with 110