Page:The Portrait of a Lady (1882).djvu/151

143 THE PORTRAIT OF A LADY. 143 " Has he been here, dear ] " Miss Stackpole inquired, softly. Isabel turned away, and for some moments answered nothing. " You acted very wrongly," she said at last. " I acted for the best, dear. I only hope you acted as well." " You are not the judge. I can't trust you," said Isabel. This declaration was unflattering, but Henrietta was much too unselfish to heed the charge it conveyed ; she cared only for what it intimated with regard to her friend. "Isabel Archer," she declared, with equal abruptness and solemnity, " if you marry one of these people, I will never speak to you again ! " " Before making so terrible a threat, you had better wait till I am asked," Isabel replied. Never having said a word to Miss Stackpole about Lord Warburton's overtures, she had now no impulse whatever to justify herself to Henrietta by telling her that she had refused that nobleman. " Oh, you'll be asked quick enough, once you get off on the continent. Annie Climber was asked three times in Italy poor plain little Annie." " Well, if Annie Climber was not captured, why should Ibe^" " I don't believe Annie was pressed ; but you'll be." " That's a flattering conviction," said Isabel, with a laugh. '" I don't flatter you, Isabel, I tell you the truth ! " cried her friend. " I hope you don't mean to tell me that you didn't give Mr. Goodwood some hope." " I don't see why I should tell you anything ; as I said to you just now, I can't trust you. But since you are so much interested in Mr. Goodwood, I won't conceal from you that he returns immediately to America." "You don't mean to say you have sent him off? " Henrietta broke out in dismay. " I asked him to leave me alone ; and I ask you the same, Henrietta." Miss Stackpole stood there with expanded eyes, and then she went to the mirror over the chimney-piece and took off her bonnet. " I hope you have enjoyed your dinner," Isabel remarked, lightly, as she did so. But Miss Stackpole was not to be diverted by frivolous pro- positions, nor bribed by the offer of autobiographic opportunities. " Do you know where you are going, Isabel Archer 1 " "Just now I am going to bed," said Isabel, with persistent frivolity.