Page 656 - the-portrait-of-a-lady

Isabel got up, slowly smoothing her gloves and eyeing
them thoughtfully.
‘It’s after all no business of mine.’
‘You’re very philosophic,’ said her cousin. And then in a
moment:
‘May I enquire what you’re talking about?’
Isabel stared. ‘I thought you knew. Lord Warburton tells
me he wants, of all things in the world, to marry Pansy. I’ve
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?’
‘Ah, for Pansy, no!’ cried Ralph very positively.
‘But you said just now he did.’
Ralph waited a moment. ‘That he cared for you, Mrs. Os-
mond.’
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.’ She spoke, as she flattered
herself, with 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’s 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?’

656 The Portrait of a Lady