Page:The Portrait of a Lady (1882).djvu/252

244 244 THE PORTRAIT OF A LADY. make a scapegoat of that poor Countess, who had really done no harm, who had only done good in the wrong way. One must certainly draw the line, but while one was about it one should draw it straight ; it was a very crooked chalk-mark that would exclude the Countess Gemini. In that case Mrs. Touchett had better shut up her house ; this perhaps would be the best course so long as she remained in Florence. One must be fair and not make arbitrary differences ; the Countess had doubtless been imprudent ; she had not been so clever as other women. She was a good creature, not clever at all ; but since when had that been a ground of exclusion from the best society ? It was a long time since one had heard anything about her, and there could be no better proof of her having renounced the error of her ways than her desire to become a member of Mrs. Touchett's circle. Isabel could contribute nothing to this interesting dispute, not even a patient attention; she contented herself with having given a friendly welcome to the Countess Gemini, who, whatever her defects, had at least the merit of being Mr. Osmond's sister. As she liked the brother, Isabel thought it proper to try and like the sister ; in spite of the growing perplexity of things she was still perfectly capable of these rather primitive sequences of feel- ing. She had not received the happiest impression of the Countess on meeting her at the villa, but she was thankful for an oppor- tunity to repair this accident. Had not Mr. Osmond declared that she was a good woman 1 To have proceeded from Gilbert Osmond, this was rather a rough statement ; but Madame Merle bestowed upon it a certain improving polish. She told Isabel more about the poor Countess than Mr. Osmond had done, and related the history of her marriage and its consequences. The Count was a member of an ancient Tuscan family, but so poor that he had been glad to accept Amy Osmond, in spite of her being no beauty, with the modest dowry her mother was able to offer a sum about equivalent to that which had already formed her brother's share of their patrimony. Count Gemini, since then, however, had inherited money, and now they were well enough off, as Italians went, though Amy was horribly extravagant. The Count was a low-lived brute ; he had given his wife every excuse. She had no children ; she had lost three within a year of their birth. Her mother, who had pretensions to " culture," wrote descriptive poems, and corresponded on Italian subjects with the English weekly journals her mother had died three years after the Countess's marriage, the father having died long before. One could see this in Gilbert Osmond, Madame Merle thought see that he had been brought up by a woman ; though,