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300 300 THE PORTRAIT OF A LADY. " Of course that seems to you too fatuous." " No" said Isabel, after a little ; " it seems to me touching." " That's the same thing. It makes me so ridiculous that you pity me." Isabel stroked out her long gloves again. " I know you have a great affection for me. I can't get rid of that." " For heaven's sake don't try. Keep that well in sight. It will convince you how intensely I want you to do well." " And how little you trust me ! " There was a moment's silence ; the warm noon-tide seemed to listen. " I trust you, but I don't trust him," said Ealph. Isabel raised her eyes and gave him a wide, deep look. "You have said it now; you will suffer for it." " Not if you are just." " I am very just," said Isabel. " What better proof of it can there be than that I am not angry with you? I don't know what is the matter with me, but I am not. I was when you began, but it has passed away. Perhaps I ought to be angry, but Mr. Osmond wouldn't think so. He wants me to know everything ; that's what I like him for. You have nothing to gain, I know that. I have never been so nice to you, as a girl, that you should have much reason for wishing me to remain one. You give very good advice ; you have often done so. No, I am very quiet ; I have always believed in your wisdom," Isabel went on, boasting of her quietness, yet speaking with a kind of contained exaltation. It was her passionate desire to be just ; it touched Ealph to the heart, affected him like a caress from a creature he had injured. He wished to interrupt, to reassure, her ; for a moment he was absurdly inconsistent ; he would have retracted what he had said. But she gave him no chance ; she went on, having caught a glimpse, as she thought, of the heroic line, and desiring to advance in that direction. " I see you have got some idea ; I should like very much to hear it. I am sure it's disinterested ; I feel that. It seems a strange thing to argue about, and of course I ought to tell you definitely that if you expect to dissuade me you may give it up. You will not move me at all ; it is too late. As you say, I am caught. Certainly it won't be pleasant for you to remember this, but your pain will be in your own thoughts. I shall never reproach you." " I don't think you ever will," said Ralph. " It is not in the least the sort of marriage I thought you would make." 11 What sort of marriage was that, pray 1 "