Page 696 - the-portrait-of-a-lady

biggest he had ever experienced. He was now in England,
hunting-”hunting round’ Henrietta called it. These amuse-
ments were those of the American red men; we had left that
behind long ago, the pleasures of the chase. It seemed to be
generally believed in England that we wore tomahawks and
feathers; but such a costume was more in keeping with Eng-
lish habits. Mr. Bantling would not have time to join her in
Italy, but when she should go to Paris again he expected to
come over. He wanted very much to see Versailles again; he
was very fond of the ancient regime.
They didn’t agree about that, but that was what she liked
Versailles for, that you could see the ancient rigime had
been swept away. There were no dukes and marquises there
now; she remembered on the contrary one day when there
were five American families, walking all round. Mr. Bant-
ling was very anxious that she should take up the subject
of England again, and he thought she might get on better
with it now; England had changed a good deal within two
or three years. He was determined that if she went there he
should go to see his sister, Lady Pensil, and that this time
the invitation should come to her straight. The mystery
about that other one had never been explained.
Caspar Goodwood came at last to Palazzo Roccanera;
he had written Isabel a note beforehand, to ask leave. This
was promptly granted; she would be at home at six o’clock
that afternoon. She spent the day wondering what he was
coming for-what good he expected to get of it. He had pre-
sented himself hitherto as a person destitute of the faculty
of compromise, who would take what he had asked for or

696 The Portrait of a Lady