Page:The Portrait of a Lady (1882).djvu/342

334 334= THE PORTRAIT OF A LADY. " Like the good reigns in history," Osmond suggested. He appeared to think his duties as a host had now terminated, he had performed them very conscientiously. Nothing could have been more adequate, more nicely measured, than his courtesy to his wife's old friend. It was punctilious, it was explicit, it was everything but natural a deficiency which Lord Warburton, who, himself, had on the whole a good deal of nature, may be supposed to have perceived. " I will leave you and Mrs. Osmond together," he added. " You have reminiscences into which T don't enter." " I am afraid you lose a good deal ! " said Lord Warburton, in a tone which perhaps betrayed over-much his appreciation of Osmond's generosity. He stood a moment, looking at Isabel with an eye that gradually became more serious. " I am really very glad to see you." " It is very pleasant. You are very kind." " Do you know that you are changed a little ? " Isabel hesitated a moment. " Yes a good deal." " I don't mean for the worse, of course ; and yet how can I say for the better ? " " I think I shall have no scruple in saying that to you," said Isabel, smiling. " Ah well, for me -it's a long time. It would be a pity that there shouldn't be something to show for it." They sat down, and Isabel asked him about his sisters, with other inquiries of a somewhat perfunctory kind. He answered her questions as if they interested him, and in a few moments she saw or believed she saw that he would prove a more comfortable companion than of yore. Time had breathed upon his heart, and without chilling this organ, had freely ventilated it. Isabel felt her usual esteem for Time rise at a bound. Lord Warburton's manner was certainly that of a contented man who would rather like one to know it. " There is something I must tell you without more delay," he said. " I have brought Ralph Touchett with me." " Brought him with you 1 " Isabel's surprise was great. " He is at the hotel ; he was too tired to come out, and has gone to bed." " I will go and see him," said Isabel, quickly. " That is exactly what I hoped you would do. I had an idea that you hadn't seen much of him since your marriage that in fact your relations were a a little more formal. That's why I hesitated like an awkward Englishman."