Page:The Novels and Tales of Henry James, Volume 2 (New York, Charles Scribner's Sons, 1907).djvu/208

THE AMERICAN be so good as that one seems. Remember what Shakespeare calls Desdemona: 'a supersubtle Venetian.' Claire de Cintré 's a supersubtle Parisian. She 's a charming creature and has five hundred merits; but you had better keep her supersubtlety in mind." Was Mrs. Tristram simply finding herself jealous of her special favourite on the other side of the Seine, so that in undertaking to provide Newman with an ideal wife she had counted too much on the lapse of her own passions and her immunity from wild yearnings? We may be permitted to doubt it. The inconsistent little lady of the Avenue d'Iéna had an insuperable need of intellectual movement, of critical, of ironic exercise. She had a lively imagination, and was capable at times of holding views, of entertaining beliefs, directly opposed to her most cherished opinions and convictions. She got tired of thinking right, but there was no serious harm in it, as she got equally tired of thinking wrong. In the midst of her mysterious perversities she had admirable flashes of justice. One of these occurred when Newman mentioned to her that he had made their beautiful friend a formal offer of his hand. He repeated in a few words what he had said, and in a great many what she had answered, and Mrs. Tristram listened with extreme interest.

"But after all," he admitted, "there's nothing to congratulate me upon. It is not much of a triumph."

"I beg your pardon; it's a great triumph. It's really dazzling that she did n't silence you at the first word and request you never to come near her again." 178