Page:The Portrait of a Lady (1882).djvu/490

482 482 THE PORTRAIT OF A LADY. in another person. Isabel got up, expecting to see one of the ladies of the sisterhood ; but to her extreme surprise she found herself confronted with Madame Merle. The effect was strange, for Madame Merle was already so present to her vision that her appearance in the flesh was a sort of reduplication. Isabel had been thinking all day of her falsity, her audacity, her ability, her probable suffering ; and these dark things seemed to flash with a sudden light as she entered the room. Her being there at all was a kind of vivid proof. It made Isabel feel faint ; if it had been necessary to speak on the spot, she would have been quite unable. But no such necessity was distinct to her; it seemed to her indeed that she had absolutely nothing to say to Madame Merle. In one's relations with this lady, however, there were never any absolute necessities ; she had a manner which carried off not only her own deficiencies, but those of other people. But- she was different from usual ; she came in slowly, behind the portress, and Isabel instantly perceived that she was not likely to depend upon her habitual resources. For her, 4;oo, the occasion was exceptional, and she had undertaken to treat it by the light of the moment. This gave her a peculiar gravity; she -did not even pretend to smile, and though Isabel saw that she was more than ever playing a part, it seemed to her that on the whole the wonderful woman had never been so natural. She looked at Isabel from head to foot, but not harshly nor defiantly; with a cold gentleness rather, and an absence of any air of allusion to their last meeting. It was as if -she had wished to mark a difference ; she had been irritated then she was reconciled now. " You can leave us alone," she said to the portress ; " in five minutes this lady will ring for you." And then she turned to Isabel, who, after noting what has just been mentioned, had ceased to look at her, and had let her eyes wander as far as the limits of the room would allow. She wished never to look at Madame Merle again. " You are surprised to find me here, and I am afraid you are not pleased," this lady went on. " You don't see why I should have come ; it's as if I had anticipated you. I confess I have been rather indiscreet I ought to have isked your permission." There was none of the oblique move- ment of irony in this ; it was said simply and softly ; but Jsabel, far afloat on a sea of wonder and pain, could not have told her- self with what intention it was uttered. " But I have not been sitting long," Madame Merle continued ; " that is, I have not been long with Pansy. I came to see her because it occurred to oie this afternoon that she must be rather lonely, and perhaps