Page:The Novels and Tales of Henry James, Volume 2 (New York, Charles Scribner's Sons, 1907).djvu/518

THE AMERICAN to him, he only felt very tall and unencumbered and alert. He had been sitting beside some shrubbery in such a way as not to be noticeable at a distance; but the Marquis, at hand, had quickly enough perceived him. The couple were then for holding their course; at sight of which Newman stepped so straight in front of them that they were obliged to pause. He lifted his hat slightly and looked at them hard; they were pale with amazement and disgust.

"Pardon my stopping you," he dryly said; "but I must profit by the occasion. I've ten words to say to you. Will you listen to them?"

The Marquis blinked, then turned to his mother. "Can Mr. Newman possibly have anything to say that is worth our listening to?"

"I assure you I've something," Newman went on; "besides, it's my duty to say it. It concerns you ever so closely."

"Your duty?" said the Marquise, her small fine mouth contracting in its odd way as for a whistle. "That's your affair, not ours."

Madame Urbain meanwhile had seized her little girl by the hand, with a gesture of surprise and impatience which struck Newman, intent as he was on his own words, with its plausible extravagance. "If Mr. Newman's going to make a scene in public," she exclaimed, "I shall take my poor child out of the mêlée. She's too young to see such naughtiness!"—and she instantly resumed her walk.

"You had much better listen to me," he persisted with his difficult ease. "Whether you do or not your 488