Page:The Portrait of a Lady (1882).djvu/141

133 THE PORTRAIT OF A LADY 133 " Henrietta is not delicate ! " she exclaimed with a certain bit terness. " It was a great liberty to take." " I suppose I am not delicate either. The fault is mine as much as hers." As Isabel looked at him it seemed to her that his jaw had never been more square. This might have displeased her ; nevertheless she rejoined inconsequently " No, it is not your fault so much as hers. What you have done is very natural." "It is indeed ! " cried Caspar Goodwood, with a voluntary laugh. " And now that I have come, at any rate, may I not stay ?" " You may sit down, certainly." And Isabel went back to her chair again, while her visitor took the first place that offered, in the manner of a man accus- tomed to pay little thought to the sort of chair he sat in. "I have been hoping every day for an answer to my letter," he said. " You might have written me a few lines." "It was not the trouble of writing that prevented me; I could as easily have written you ' four pages as one. But my silence was deliberate ; I thought it best." He sat with his eyes fixed on hers while she said this ; then he lowered them and attached them to a spot in the carpet, as if he were making a strong effort to say nothing but what he ought to say. He was a strong man in the wrong, and he was acute enough to see that an uncompromising exhibition of his strength would only throw the falsity of his position into relief. Isabel was not incapable of finding it agreeable to have an advantage of position over a person of this quality, and though she was not a girl to flaunt her advantage in his face, she was woman enough to enjoy being able to say " You know you ought not to have written to me yourself !" and to say it with a certain air of triumph. Caspar Goodwood raised his eyes to hers again ; they wore an expression of ardent remonstrance. He had a strong sense of justice, and he was ready any day in the. year over and above this to argue the question of his rights. " You 'said you hoped never to hear from me again ; I know that. But I never accepted the prohibition. I promised you that you should hear very soon. ; ' " I did not say that I hoped never to hear from you," said Isabel. " Not for five years, then ; for ten years. It is the same thing." " Do you find it so % It seems to me there is a great difference.