Page:The Portrait of a Lady (1882).djvu/16

8 3 THE PORTRAIT OF A LADY. "You mean they won't be abolished? Yery well, then, I will lay hands on one as soon as possible, and tie her round my neck as a life-preserver." " The ladies will save us," said the old man ; " that is, the best of them will for I make a difference between them. Make up to a good one and marry her, and your life will become much more interesting." A momentary silence marked perhaps on the part of his auditors a sense of the magnanimity of this speech, for it was a secret neither for his son nor for his visitor that his own experiment in matrimony had not been a happy one. As he said, however, he made a difference ; and these words may have been intended as a confession of personal error ; though of course it was not in place for either of his companions to remark that apparently the lady of his choice had not been one of the best. " If I marry an interesting woman, I shall be interested : is that what you say 1 " Lord Warburton asked. " I am not at all keen about marrying your son misrepresented me ; but there is no knowing what an interesting woman might do with me." " I should like to see your idea of an interesting woman," said his friend. " My dear fellow, you can't see ideas especially such ethereal ones as mine. If I could only see it myself that would be a great step in advance." " Well, you may fall in love with whomsoever you please ; but you must not fall in love with my niece," said the old man. His son broke into a laugh. " He will think you mean that as a provocation ! My dear father, you have lived with the English for thirty years, and you have picked up a good many cf the things they say. But you have nevei learned the things they don't say ! ". "I say what I please," the old man declared, with all his serenity. " I haven't the honour of knowing your niece," Lord War- burton said. " I think it is the first time I have heard of her." "She is a niece of my wife's ; Mrs. Touchett brings her to England." Then young Mr. Touchett explained. " My mother, you know, has been spending the winter in America, and we are expecting her back. She writes that she' has discovered a niece, and that she has invited her to come with her." " i see ver y kind of her/' said Lord Warburton. " Is the young lady interesting 1 "