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thing very base,’ she returned.
‘I accuse you of not being trustworthy. If he doesn’t af-
ter all come forward it will be because you’ve kept him off.
I don’t know that it’s base: it is the kind of thing a woman
always thinks she may do. I’ve no doubt you’ve the finest
ideas about it.’
‘I told you I would do what I could,’ she went on.
‘Yes, that gained you time.’
It came over her, after he had said this, that she had once
thought him beautiful. ‘How much you must want to make
sure of him!’ she exclaimed in a moment.
She had no sooner spoken than she perceived the full
reach of her words, of which she had not been conscious in
uttering them. They made a comparison between Osmond
and herself, recalled the fact that she had once held this cov-
eted treasure in her hand and felt herself rich enough to let
it fall. A momentary exultation took possession of her-a
horrible delight in having wounded him; for his face in-
stantly told her that none of the force of her exclamation
was lost. He expressed nothing otherwise, however; he only
said quickly: ‘Yes, I want it immensely.’
At this moment a servant came in to usher a visitor, and
he was followed the next by Lord Warburton, who received
a visible check on seeing Osmond. He looked rapidly from
the master of the house to the mistress; a movement that
seemed to denote a reluctance to interrupt or even a per-
ception of ominous conditions. Then he advanced, with his
English address, in which a vague shyness seemed to offer
itself as an element of good breeding; in which the only de-

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