Page:The Novels and Tales of Henry James, Volume 2 (New York, Charles Scribner's Sons, 1907).djvu/299

 XIV

next time Newman came to the Rue de l'Université he had the good fortune to find Madame de Cintré alone. He arrived with a definite intention and lost no time in applying it, for she wore even to his impatience an expectant, waiting look. I've been coming to see you for six months now and have never spoken to you a second time of marriage. That was what you asked me—I obeyed. Could any man have done better?"

"You've acted with great delicacy," she said.

"Well, I'm going to change now. I don't mean I'm going to risk offending, but I'm going to go back to where I began. I am back there. I've been all round the circle. Or rather I've never been away from there. I've never ceased to want what I wanted then. Only now I'm more sure of it, if possible; I'm more sure of myself and more sure of you. I know you better, though I don't know anything I did n't believe three months ago. You're everything, you're beyond everything, I can imagine or desire. You know me now—you must know me. I won't say you've seen the best, but you've seen the worst. I hope you've been thinking all this while. You must have seen I was only waiting; you can't suppose I was changing. What will you say to me now? Say that everything is clear and reasonable and that I've been very patient and considerate and deserve my reward. And then 269