Page 669 - the-portrait-of-a-lady

Chapter 46

Lord Warburton was not seen in Mrs. Osmond’s draw-
ing-room for several days, and Isabel couldn’t fail to observe
that her husband said nothing to her about having received
a letter from him. She couldn’t fail to observe, either, that
Osmond was in a state of expectancy and that, though it
was not agreeable to him to betray it, he thought their dis-
tinguished friend kept him waiting quite too long. At the
end of four days he alluded to his absence.
‘What has become of Warburton? What does he mean by
treating one like a tradesman with a bill?’
‘I know nothing about him,’ Isabel said. ‘I saw him last
Friday at the German ball. He told me then that he meant
to write to you.’
‘He has never written to me.’
‘So I supposed, from your not having told me.’
‘He’s an odd fish,’ said Osmond comprehensively. And on
Isabel’s making no rejoinder he went on to enquire whether
it took his lordship five days to indite a letter. ‘Does he form
his words with such difficulty?’
‘I don’t know,’ Isabel was reduced to replying. ‘I’ve never
had a letter from him.’
‘Never had a letter? I had an idea that you were at one
time in intimate correspondence.’
She answered that this had not been the case, and let the

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