Page:The Princess Casamassima (London and New York, Macmillan & Co., 1886), Volume 2.djvu/141

 shall do it so well; at least it shall be better than any one else can do—so that if you employ me there will have been that reason. I have brought you a book—so you can see. I did it for you last year, and went to South Street to give it to you, but you had already gone.'

'Give it to me to-morrow.' These words appeared to express so exclusively the calmness of relief at finding that he could be reasonable, as well as that of a friendly desire to see the proof of his talent, that he was surprised when she said, in the next breath, irrelevantly, 'Who was it warned you against me?'

He feared she might suppose he meant Madame Grandoni, so he made the plainest answer, having no desire to betray the old lady, and reflecting that, as the likelihood was small that his friend in Camberwell would ever consent to meet the Princess (in spite of her plan of going there), no one would be hurt by it. 'A friend of mine in London—Paul Muniment.'

'Paul Muniment?'

'I think I mentioned him to you the first time we met.'

'The person who said something good? I forget what it was.'

'It was sure to be something good if he said it; he is very wise.'

'That makes his warning very flattering to me! What does he know about me?'

'Oh, nothing, of course, except the little that I could tell him. He only spoke on general grounds.'

'I like his name—Paul Muniment,' the Princess said. 'If he resembles it, I think I should like him.'