Page:The Portrait of a Lady (1882).djvu/109

101 THE PORTRAIT OF A LADY. 101 that she did not approve of his coming to Gardencourt. She was already liable to the incursions of one suitor at this place, and though it might be pleasant to be appreciated in opposite quarters, Isabel had a personal shrinking from entertaining two lovers at once, even in a case where the entertainment should consist of dismissing them. She sent no answer to Mr. Goodwood ; but at the end of three days she wrote to Lord Warburton, and the letter belongs to our history. It ran as follows. " DEAR LORD WARBURTON A great deal of careful reflection has not led me to change my mind about the suggestion you were so kind as to make me the other day. I do not find myself able to regard you in the light of a husband, or to regard your home your various homes in the light of my own. These things cannot be reasoned about, and I ve*ry earnestly entreat you not to return to the subject we discussed so exhaustively. We see our lives from our own point of view ; that is the privi- lege of the weakest and humblest of us ; and I shall never be able to see mine in the manner you proposed. Kindly let this suffice you, and do me the justice to believe that I have given your proposal the deeply respectful consideration it deserves. It is with this feeling of respect that I remain very truly yours, " ISABEL ARCHER." While the author of this missive was making up her mind to despatch it, Henrietta Stackpole formed a resolution which was accompanied by no hesitation. She invited Ealph Touchett to take a walk with her in the garden, and when he had assented with that alacrity which seemed constantly to testify to his high expectations, she informed him that she had a favour to ask of him. It may be confided to the reader that at this information the young man flinched ; for we know that Miss Stackpole had struck him as indiscreet. The movement was unreasonable, however ; for he had measured the limits of her discretion as little as he had explored its extent ; and he made a very civil profession of the desire to serve her. He was afraid of her, and he presently told her so. " When you look at me in a certain way," he said, " my knees knock together, my faculties desert me ; I am filled with trepid- ation, and I ask only for strength to execute your commands. You have a look which I have never encountered in any woman."