Page:The Novels and Tales of Henry James, Volume 2 (New York, Charles Scribner's Sons, 1907).djvu/282

THE AMERICAN hands were idle and her eyes fixed on him. She evidently wished to say something, and, now aware of it, he helped her to begin.

"I guess you're English, ain't you?"

"Oh dear, yes," she answered, quickly and softly. "I was born in Wiltshire, sir."

"And what do you think of Paris?"

"Oh, I don't think of Paris, sir," she said in the same tone. "It's so long that I 've been here."

"Ah, you have been here very long?"

"More than forty years, sir. I came over with Lady Emmeline."

"You mean with old Madame de Bellegarde?"

"Yes, sir. I came with her when she married. I was my lady's own woman."

"And you've been with her ever since?"

"I've been in the house ever since. My lady has taken a younger person. You see I'm very old. I do nothing regular now. But I keep about."

"You keep about remarkably well," said Newman, observing the erectness of her figure and a certain venerable pink in her cheek. I like," he genially added, "to see you about."

"Very good of you, sir. Thank God I'm not ill. I hope I know my duty too well to go panting and coughing over the house. But I'm an old woman, sir, and it's as an old woman that I venture to speak to you."

"Oh, speak, if you like, as you never spoke!" said Newman curiously. "You need n't be afraid of me."

"Yes, sir, I think you're kind. I've seen you before." 252