Page 597 - the-portrait-of-a-lady

Chapter 42

She had answered nothing because his words had put
the situation before her and she was absorbed in looking
at it. There was something in them that suddenly made vi-
brations deep, so that she had been afraid to trust herself
to speak. After he had gone she leaned back in her chair
and closed her eyes; and for a long time, far into the night
and still further, she sat in the still drawing-room, given
up to her meditation. A servant came in to attend to the
fire, and she bade him bring fresh candles and then go to
bed. Osmond had told her to think of what he had said; and
she did so indeed, and of many other things. The sugges-
tion from another that she had a definite influence on Lord
Warburton-this had given her the start that accompanies
unexpected recognition. Was it true that there was some-
thing still between them that might be a handle to make
him declare himself to Pansy-a susceptibility, on his part,
to approval, a desire to do what would please her? Isabel
had hitherto not asked herself the question, because she had
not been forced; but now that it was directly presented to
her she saw the answer, and the answer frightened her. Yes,
there was something-something on Lord Warburton’s part.
When he had first come to Rome she believed the link that
united them to be completely snapped; but little by little
she had been reminded that it had yet a palpable existence.

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