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241 THE PORTRAIT OF A LADY. 241 wonder," added Madame Merle, "whether it has occurred to her." " I think I will ask her," said Mrs. Touchett. Madame Merle reflected a moment. " Don't put it into her head. The thing would he to ask Mr. Osmond." "I can't do that," said Mrs. Touchett ; "it's none of my onsiness." " I will ask him myself," Madame Merle declared, hravely. " It's none of yours, either." " That's precisely why I can afford to ask him ; it is so much less my "business than any one's else, that in me the question will not seem to him embarrassing." " Pray let me know on the first day, then," said Mrs. Touchett. t If I can't speak to him, at least I can speak to her." " Don't be too quick with her ; don't inflame her imagin- ation." " I never did anything to any one's imagination. But I am always sure she will do something I don't like." " You wouldn't like this," Madame Merle observed, without the point of interrogation. " Why should I, pray 2 Mr. Osmond has nothing to offer." Again Madame Merle was silent, while her thoughtful smile drew up her mouth more than usual toward the left corner. " Let us distinguish. Gilbert Osmond is certainly not the first comer. He is a man who under favourable circumstances might very well make an impression. He has made an impression, to my knowledge, more than once." " Don't tell me about his love-affairs ; they are nothing to me ! " Mrs. Touchett cried. " What you say is precisely why I wish he would cease his visits. He has nothing in the world that I know of but a dozen or two of early masters and a grown- up daughter." "The early masters are worth a good deal of money," said Madame Merle, " and the daughter is a very young and very harmless person." " In other words, she is an insipid school-girl. Is that what you mean 1 Having no fortune, she can't hope to marry, as they marry here ; so that Isabel will have to furnish her either with a maintenance or with a dowry." " Isabel probably would not object to being kind to her. I think she likes the child." " Another reason for Mr. Osmond stopping at home ! Other- wise, a week hence, we shall have Isabel arriving at the convic- tion that her mission in life is to prove that a stepmother may R