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406 406 THE PORTRAIT OF A LADY. "To a certain extent yes. But is he really in loveV' "Very much, I think. I can make that out." " Ah ! " said Isabel, with a certain dry ness. Ralph looked at her a moment ; a shade of perplexity mingled with his mild hilarity. " You said that as if you were disappointed." Isabel got up, slowly, smoothing her gloves, and eyeing them thoughtfully. 11 It's after all no business of mine." " You are very philosophic," said her cousin. And then in a moment " May I inquire what you are talking about ? " Isabel stared a little. " I thought you knew. Lord War- burton tells me he desires to marry Pansy. I have told you that before, without eliciting a comment from you. You might risk one this morning, I think. Is it your belief that he really cares for her 1 " " Ah, for Pansy, no ! " cried Ralph, very positively. " But you said just now that he did." Ralph hesitated a moment. "That he cared for you, Mrs. Osmond." Isabel shook her head, gravely. "That's nonsense, you know." " Of course it is. But the nonsense is Warburton's, not mine." " That would be very tiresome," Isabel said, speaking, as she nattered herself, witn much subtlety. " I ought to tell you indeed," Ralph went on, " that to me he has denied it." " It's very good of you to talk about it together ! Has he also told you that he is in love with Pansy ? " " He has spoken very well of her very properly. He has let me know, of course, that he thinks she would do very well at Lockleigh." " Does he really think it ?" "Ah, what Warburton really thinks !" said Ralph. Isabel fell to smoothing her gloves again ; they were long, loose gloves upon which she could freely expend herself. Soon, however, she looked up, and then " Ah, Ralph, you give me no help ! " she cried, abruptly, passionately. It was the first time she had alluded to the need for help, and the words shook her cousin with their violence. He gave a long murmur of relief, of pity, of tenderness ; it seemed to him that at last the gulf between them had been bridged. It was this that made him exclaim in a moment